Taking action to embrace veterinary nursing research

While veterinary nursing is distinct and different to human nursing, there are some key parallels between the two similar professions. Our two vocations are centred on medicine and the science and art of caring for our patients. We share many of the same skills and topics of learning. We also have faced some of the same challenges with respect to professional development and recognition. To deny that we have much to learn from human nursing is to deny an opportunity to learn from our closest cousins, our allies in the provision of care on the frontlines of practice.

In the 1830s, Florence Nightingale went against social norms to forgo family life in favour of pursuing a career in nursing. Her determination would result in significant advancements for the profession. Nightingale used evidence-based practice, and critically evaluated nursing interventions. She began conducting clinical research by collecting and analyzing data on the morbidity and mortality of soldiers in the Crimean War and it wasn't long before she published her first work, Notes on Nursing (1859). By 1900, the field of nursing had advanced significantly and new Zealand was the first country to adopt national registration of nursing with the Nursing Registration Act of 1901. Other countries would soon follow suit and 100 years after Nightingale's first publication, research within the nursing community was thriving supported by sponsored nursing research foundations, dedicated nursing research centres and journals devoted exclusively to nursing research.