Professional

When is a pet not a pet? Rethinking the ethics of animal terminology

According to Taylor (1986), there are three major philosophical traditions in the ‘West’ which have biased human beings over non-human animals: classical Greek thought; Biblical doctrine; and the...

Whistle-blowing explained: to be or not to be a whistle-blower, that is the question

It is widely accepted that professionals have responsibility to demonstrate professional integrity and behave in ways which are transparent and deserving of the public's trust (Blass, 2010; Royal...

Educating sustainable practitioners of veterinary nursing

‘We need to teach our children and students the fundamental facts of life — that one species’ waste is another species’ food; that matter cycles continually through the web of life; that the energy...

Change implementation in the veterinary practice

‘It is not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most adaptive to change.’.

New disciplinary procedure explained

‘By becoming regulated, the veterinary nursing profession demonstrates to the public that it is willing to set standards and maintain its own professional skills.’.

The professional, legal and ethical issues in VN: a scenario

See Box 1. It is easy to see how this incident is fraught with a range of issues concerning both nurses. However, it is beyond the scope of this article to consider both nurses' actions. As such, the...

Practice—client relationships: handling complaints effectively

Parasuraman et al (1985) conducted studies of the quality of the services provided to clients by a wide range of different service organizations. This research led to the identification of a number...

Evidence-based practice in veterinary nursing

Evidence-based medicine came to the forefront of human medicine more than a decade ago and it is now considered an essential part of human health care, with various journals (e.g. Evidence-based...

Managing conflict at work: why managers fail

Researchers have made a number of attempts to identify and classify the causes of workplace conflict, but because there are so many, no one has come up with a definitive list as yet. Wall and...

Legal, ethical and professional issues for veterinary nurses

One afternoon during a very busy consulting session in a veterinary charity hospital, a seizuring Rottweiler was brought in by the owner. The owner was very distressed and told the receptionist that...

Meeting the needs of patient–interprofessional practice

In order to be recognized as a member of a profession every professional practitioner will have undergone training and achieved a standard set by their professional body. However, being professional...