References
Is veterinary nursing a visible profession? Part two
Abstract
With recruitment, returning to work and retention being key to the future of veterinary nursing what are the issues that are common across all these areas? Veterinary nurses have limited visibility in their role. There is also the lack of a media image that reinforces the veterinary nurse skills base and a lack of veterinary nursing presence in the financial aspect of both business and client relations. These factors all contribute to a role that is hard for people to visualise and define. In part two the financial worth of the veterinary nurse is discussed in relation to visibility in the practice and visibility for clients. The impact of this is reviewed in relation to veterinary nursing careers and recruitment, returning to work and retention, including gender inequality.
The VN Futures scheme set up by the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has identified several issues in veterinary nursing today. These are organised into themes affecting the profession, which have produced a number of ambitions for the future (VN Futures Action Group, 2016):
The VN Futures working groups are aiming to address these. You may have seen the issue being referred to as the three ‘Rs’, as the below are the initial factors that were raised as issues in veterinary nursing:
As discussed in part one, the ambitions appear to show a hidden theme. In many senses, veterinary nurses are not a visible profession to clients, to veterinary colleagues and sometimes even to each other in the veterinary nursing community; veterinary nurses are invisible.
Part one discussed the issues of appearance, uniform and the impact of television's portrayal of the nurse's role (Davidson, 2017). These individual issues combine to create a role that can be hard to identify.
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