Workshop write up: nurse-led nutrition clinics
Abstract
Veterinary nurses have a key role to play in the management of nutrition. In this workshop session, Laura Hughes looked at how to set up a nurse-led clinic, the key parameters to check and how to manage difficult conversations with owners. This article provides a brief overview of the main topics discussed in the workshop.
Pet owners want a nutritional recommendation from a veterinary professional, but only 15% perceive they are given one. Many owners do not realise a discussion is about nutrition unless it is explicitly stated. It is worth remembering that recommendations aren't going on deaf ears – they may not buy the product from the clinic but often will buy it online. In fact, 93% of owners recommended a product by a veterinary professional go on to buy it for their pet.
When setting up a nurse-led nutrition clinic there are several aspects to consider:
Building rapport with clients is key in nutrition clinics, and nominated nurses can help with consistency. The same nurse seeing the same animal is also beneficial to avoid bias when body condition scoring. Photos can be really useful when measuring progress.
Research has shown that people often only take in around 10% of the information they hear, so it is important not to make assumptions.
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