We're finishing off Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month 2026 with something a little different.

No guests, no guidelines. Just me, twenty years of memories, a few things I wish someone had told me earlier, and some honest thoughts on where I think we go from here.

In episode 114 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm reflecting on nearly two decades of vet nursing - the good bits, the hard bits, the moments I nearly walked away, and the moments that made everything make sense again.

We've talked this month about what we can do, and what vets think of us. But this episode is more personal, vulnerable, and about the bigger picture. We're chatting all about where we've come from, where I think we're heading, and what I'd love us to hold onto along the way.

If you've ever felt like you weren't quite cut out for this, had moments where you felt exasperated by a profession that didn't value your skills, or wondered whether you were really making a difference, you need to hear this episode.

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📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In episode 113 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm doing something different - something I've never done in history of the show.

I'm bringing a vet on to chat with us.

This isn't a clinical episode, though we do chat a little bit of internal medicine (it's impossible not to when you get a medicine RVN and a medic together!).

It's a conversation that I think we ALL need to have, about what vets really think of our role, our knowledge, and our skills - and how vets and nurses can work together to improve both of our roles.

Scott Kilpatrick is a veterinary surgeon and specialist in internal medicine. Scott is not only a vet, but also a vet who works very closely with veterinary nurses and technicians, and couldn't do his job without them. And, when not working in clinical practice, he's one of the directors at VTX - a CPD company tirelessly championing veterinary nursing.

If you've ever felt disheartened by a 'vet-nurse divide' or felt unsure on how to approach your vets about something - using your skills, suggesting a treatment for a patient, or sharing your opinion about a case - I know you'll get so much value from this conversation.

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About Scott:

📲 Learn more about Scott: https://vtx-cpd.com/about/

📲 Learn more about the Veterinary Thought Exchange: https://vtx-cpd.com/

📲 Listen to Scott on the VTX Podcast: https://vtx-cpd.com/podcasts/

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

For a long time, we've talked about how 'utilising vet nurses' is important - and how everything gets better when our skills are really used.

But how well are we REALLY doing that?

In episode 112 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, and the first episode of VNAM 2026, we're talking all about what utilisation really looks like.

We'll explore the workforce crisis driving this conversation, what the evidence says about veterinary nursing - how patient care improves, how practice revenue improves, and how professional longevity and burnout improve - and we'll look at HOW to do more with your patients, in your practice, right now.

If you're a registered or student veterinary nurse, or a credentialled technician, you won't want to miss this episode.

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Resources mentioned this episode

📲 Technician utilisation guidelines: https://www.aaha.org/wp-content/uploads/globalassets/02-guidelines/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines/resources/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines-new.pdf

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In this episode of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm joined by Alyssa Mages, Credentialled Veterinary Technician, panel member on the AAHA Veterinary Technician Utilisation Guidelines, mentor at MentorVet and CVO at Empowering Veterinary Teams.

Alyssa and I sat down for a really important conversation - about the global challenges veterinary nurses and technicians face, about utilising our skills (and what happens when clinics don't), and about how things like burnout, attrition and retention issues are having a significant impact on all of us.

More importantly than that, we discussed not just how things are different in the UK and US, but how our roles are much more similar than it might first seem - and how we can work together to improve utilisation, job satisfaction, autonomy, confidence and retention.

Wherever you are in the world, and whatever your job title - technician, nurse, paraveterinarian or anything in between, I know you'll get so much value from this episode 💜

Resources mentioned this episode:

📲 About Alyssa: https://www.empoweringveterinaryteams.com/who-we-are/

📲 AAHA technician utilisation guidelines: https://www.aaha.org/resources/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines/

📲 The economic cost of burnout in veterinary medicine: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.814104/full

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

In episode 110 of the Medical Nursing Podcast we're sitting down and talking about something we're often afraid to mention - and that's quality of life.

Not end of life, not euthanasia, but quality of life. An often misunderstood term, and one we need to normalise. Because the truth is, quality of life is the ultimate goal every single one of us have for every single one of our patients, every day. We make a bigger difference to it than you realise, and the evidence to back that up is VERY clear.

So we are going to get into the evidence today. We're going to look at what the research really says about which factors most influence quality of life in our patients with chronic conditions, whether that's diabetes, CKD, osteoarthritis, chronic enteropathy, or other long-term diseases. And we're going to explore how we, as veterinary nurses and technicians, can make a difference to this.

Resources mentioned this episode:

📲 Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index: https://painfreecats.org/the-fmpi/

📲 Canine Brief Pain Inventory: https://www.vet.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/canine-bpi.pdf

📲 Pet Diabetes App (including QoL survey): https://www.rvc.ac.uk/clinical-connections/pioneering-pet-diabetes-app

📲 Quality of Life Assessment Tools: https://www.rcvsknowledge.org/resource/quality-of-life-assessment-tools/

📲 Vetmetrica QoL Assessment: https://www.vetmetrica.com/Auth/Login

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In this episode, we're chatting about something every single one of us deals with, whether you're working in general practice, referral, or out-of-hours - and that's chronic kidney disease.

CKD is one of the most commonly-diagnosed conditions in our senior patients - in both cats and dogs. Despite how often we see this disease, our role as nurses in caring for these patients is often quite limited, and there's still a big disconnect between how we treat these patients in practice and what the evidence suggests about their management.

Today I'm bringing you an evidence-based overview of CKD, focusing on the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) guidelines on its management. We'll explore why CKD is so hard to diagnose early - and why it's so important that we do - alongside how we can use things like staging to plan both effective treatment AND nursing care for our patients. So you can spend less time feeling like you're just watching CKD patients sit on fluids, and more time using your skills and truly advocating for your patients.

Resources mentioned this episode:

📲 Staging CKD: https://www.iris-kidney.com/iris-staging-system

📲 Treating CKD by stage: https://www.iris-kidney.com/iris-guidelines-1

📲 Early detection of CKD: https://www.iris-kidney.com/ckd-early-diagnosis

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions and prescribe all treatments, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In episode 108 of the medical nursing podcast, we're looking at a set of diseases we see all too often - feline lower urinary tract diseases.

Now I say diseases, plural, deliberately - because thinking of FLUTD as a spectrum of diseases, rather than a standalone condition itself, is one of the most important shifts we can make in how we approach it.

I'm going to be bringing you the need-to-know information from the 2025 iCatCare consensus guidelines on the diagnosis and management of lower urinary tract diseases in cats, AND some really useful information from the 2024 AAFP intercat tension guidelines, because as you'll see, the two are far more connected than you might expect.

Over the next half an hour or so, we'll discuss how and why FLUTD occurs, how to stabilise and support obstructed patients, how to nurse cats with lower urinary disease, and how we can do more to support these patients long-term, both in and out of the hospital.

There's far more we can do with these patients than we might think, and by the end of this episode, you'll feel more confident managing these patients, and able to put more of your skills to use.

iCatCare Lower Urinary Disease Guidelines:

📲 https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X241309176

AAFP Intercat Tension Guidelines:

📲 https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X241263465

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Looking for medical nursing CPD?

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In episode 107 of the Medical Nursing Podcast we're talking about probably the most common and frustrating nursing issue we encounter… but the most rewarding to fix - inappetent cats.

You know the ones - the ones who just won't eat despite you having tried almost every flavour, texture and variety of food, in every type of bowl, warmed, not warmed, where you've pretended to eat it first, and practically begged them. And being cats, they've just given you the 'look' and turned away.

I've been there, we've all been there, and we've all been frustrated by it. So what can we do about it? The evidence is clear that inappetence is something needing prompt and careful management, and we've now got clinical guidelines to help us with this.

So sit back, grab a cuppa and together we'll break down the 2022 ISFM Consensus Guidelines on Management of the Hospitalised Inappetent Cat, helping you get more of these patients eating, and use more of your skills while you're at it.

ISFM Consensus Guidelines on Managing the Inappetent Hospitalised Cat:

📲 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X221106353

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BRAND NEW ways to learn with me:

📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast

📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing

🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In episode 106 of the Medical Nursing Podcast we're diving into the 2021 AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats, so you can focus on giving great care to your inappetent patients in practice, confidently, while using more of your skills.

Why? Because I promise you, there is so much more we can do to truly champion nutrition for all of our patients - and by the end of this episode, you're going to see how massive a role we play as nurses and technicians in this.

If you feel like there's more you could be doing to support your inappetant patients, or feel like placing feeding tubes is something you don't do enough, then this episode is for you.

Resources mentioned in this article:

📲 https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WSAVA-Global-Nutrition-Toolkit-English.pdf

📲 https://jaaha.kglmeridian.com/view/journals/aaha/57/4/article-p153.xml

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BRAND NEW ways to learn with me:

📲 Join the Medical Nursing Library Club

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🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing

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This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

Diabetic patients are some of the most nursing-intensive cases we see… and there are LOTS of ways we can support them.

In episode 105 of the podcast we're talking about the 2025 iCatCare consensus guidelines on the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus in cats.

I'm giving you the need-to-know information from the most up-to-date evidence on feline diabetes that we have, so you can give better care to your patients, confidently, without feeling like you need to swallow a textbook to do it.

ALIVE diabetic clinical score:

📲 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023322001253

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BRAND NEW ways to learn with me:

📲 Join the Medical Nursing Library Club

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More free ways to learn with me:

📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode

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🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing

---

This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.