Protection of title is a global issue in our profession, as is regulation, mental health, and low remuneration. These issues, coupled with the shortages in the veterinary profession and the high rate of skills attrition, beg the question — how can we create a more sustainable veterinary profession? There has been a lot of discussion recently about advanced practitioners in veterinary nursing, but there seems to be a generalised lack of understanding about the value of these roles have in the veterinary workforce.
In human nursing, professional identity was a driving factor that contributed to value of the nursing profession. From the first nursing titles in the mid-1800s, to formal qualifications and advanced study — as more graduate and postgraduate nurses entered the profession, there was greater leadership development, and better understanding of the nursing role and their value in the healthcare team. Nursing began to establish its own scientific knowledge base contributing to stronger clinical governance frameworks, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and clinical effectiveness. The evolution of nursing professionalism highlighted the important dynamics and constructs of professional roles within a multidisciplinary healthcare framework.
The value of multidisciplinary teams (MDT) in human healthcare is well understood and there is substantial scientific evidence about how MDTs improve patient outcomes, clinical efficiencies, and job satisfaction. The veterinary industry is arguably in desperate need of MDT frameworks to help bridge the gap between veterinarians and veterinary nurses. Veterinarians currently are siloed, bearing the costs and legislative burden of responsibility, along with practice ownership, management, and consumer pressures. The consequence of this siloing is potentially contributing to the mental health crisis, and global skills shortage.
Establishing industry-wide acceptance of MDTs requires a cultural shift to value and support development of veterinary nursing professionalism.
Veterinary nurses are coming into their own. We are following in the footsteps of human nurses who were here 100 years ago. We are ready for advanced practitioners and we know it will improve our profession, our teams, and patient outcomes. We are ready, we just need direction to help us take this next step.
There is no doubt the global veterinary industry is facing a unique set of challenges to create a sustainable future, but the veterinary nursing profession also is facing a new challenge to fight for our right to develop, grow, and drive our own profession. Our profession numbers in the hundreds of thousands internationally, we are the front lines of the veterinary industry. We know we are ready to evolve and develop more leaders, to establish our own scientific knowledge base, and to lay the foundation for a stronger professional identity and a lifelong career.
Are we ready for advanced veterinary nursing practitioners? Yes. Are we ready to keep the conversation going about building leadership capacity, and evolution of a culture that supports multidisciplinary animal healthcare teams? Yes. Are we ready to claim our place among professionals? Yes. It's about time.