VN Times Podcast

In this VN Times podcast, editor Lacey Pitcher RVN discusses the broad opportunities of a vet nurse passport with Donna Wills, an RVN and animal physiotherapist.

Donna shares her career pivots and the decisions that have led her to now support from the other side of the consult table to provide more holistic care for animals and their people.

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𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗡𝗔 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗦 𝗥𝗩𝗡, 𝗣𝗴𝗖𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗔 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀, 𝗠𝗜𝗥𝗩𝗔𝗣(𝗩𝗣)

Donna qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2003 and has worked in small animal practices, veterinary hospitals, ECC and rescue homes.

Having qualified as an animal physiotherapist in 2005, Donna set up Animal Physiotherapy Ltd and went on to establish physio clinics in the south of England, hosted by five veterinary practices and the Pet Spa at Harrods – the latter of which led to media work.

Outside of work, Donna is a keen gymnast, and is proud to have represented Britain in the Masters Cup at the age of 42.

VN Happy Hour made a triumphant return for Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month 2024, tackling the topic of parenting in the profession and asking, are we progressing?

VN Times editor Lacey Pitcher was joined by a brilliant panel who shared their wisdom and candour to bring the community together and answer some tricky questions.

Guests included @mortagefreeleigh – a content creator passionate about tax-free childcare and making things less overwhelming – who provided our audience with some great advice and signposting. Lianne then joined our panel of Emma Townson and Miles Asteri, both experienced RVNs who have worked in a range of roles to unpack key themes such as flexible working.

Happy Hour returned with a bang and we hope you enjoy the conversation.

Useful links:

https://mortgagefreeleigh.com/

https://www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/tax-free-childcare/

https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/find-information/?information_filter_search=1&tags%5B%5D=g_0_4230&tags%5B%5D=g_0_4219&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9cCyBhBzEiwAJTUWNbsbBheL94I_eHwPc3pNKHHT6d8l5Za2UbXP3ZEv2u9d77DWQu__qRoCFf8QAvD_BwE

https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/flexible-working-factsheet/

Sponsor

https://www.lintbellsvet.com/pages/mobility-library

https://vetactivelife.com/

In this episode of the VN Times podcast editor Lacey discusses leaving clinical work with Sophie Giddens, a former Equine RVN who has forged a career supporting veterinary clinics while utilising many of her skills acquired in the clinic.

Sophie reflects candidly about not necessarily having a plan when leaving her role, and the power of community and networks while making career connections.

𝗦𝗢𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗘 𝗚𝗜𝗗𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗦

Sophie works at VET.CT as a group case manager and trainer, helping with the training of the case manager team and taking responsibility for IT design and developments that improve the operations team workflows.

After working at an equine hospital as a nurse for 12 years Sophie made the move to a non-clinical role at VET.CT. Being able to move out of clinical practice while still being able to work closely with, and positively impact, the veterinary industry has made the change in career a successful one.

In this VN Times Podcast, editor Lacey Pitcher RVN discusses careers with Kirsty Cavill.

Kirsty has a passion for veterinary nursing that has allowed her to develop and utilise her skills in a variety of ways to not only help improve animal welfare but also provide accessible care in a variety of ways.

Kirsty, an award-winning vet nurse, shares her advice and insight to help other consider how they can support and nurture the human-animal bond.

𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌: 𝘋𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.

In this episode, VN Times editor Lacey Pitcher welcomes experienced RVN Sara Ho-Le to discuss training, leadership and peer mentoring.

Sara’s career has been varied and her passion for emergency and critical care has seen her travel to the other side of the world.

Sara discusses utilising her career passport to nurse down under and how mentor nurses have shaped her career.

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𝗦𝗔𝗥𝗔 𝗛𝗢-𝗟𝗘 𝗥𝗩𝗡

Sara completed her veterinary nursing diploma after passing the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in 2011. After working in clinical practice for several years, Sara obtained RCVS clinical coach status and is passionate about the training and development of student veterinary nurses.

In 2018 Sara returned to study and completed the Certificate in Veterinary Nursing for Emergency and Critical Care (CertVNECC) through VetsNow Ltd. In 2022 Sara obtained the Veterinary Technician Specialist qualification in Emergency and Critical Care through the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians and Nurses (AVECCTN).

Sara has worked in a variety of practices, including first opinion, specialist centres, university teaching hospitals, and not-for-profit organisations in the United Kingdom and Australia.

She currently works as the training and development coordinator at one of Melbourne's largest veterinary hospitals. Sara’s professional interests include emergency and critical care nursing, disease pathophysiology, anaesthesia and analgesia, wound care, and in-clinic teaching and training.

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𝗘𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗩𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

EVE website – https://eve-veted.com/

EVE Instagram – www.instagram.com/eve.vet.ed/

EVE Facebook – www.facebook.com/eve.vet.ed/

In this episode, VN Times editor Lacey Pitcher welcomes experienced RVN Helen Harris to discuss squiggly careers and falling back in love with veterinary nursing.

Helen’s career has been varied including GP, charity and shelter medicine and now, zoo nursing.

Helen discusses starting out as a veterinary nurse and how her various workplaces have shaped not only her career, but her outlook on animal welfare and veterinary medicine.

In this episode, VN Times editor Lacey Pitcher welcomes experienced RVNs Jackie Hay and Michelle Barley, two of the nurses behind UK Vet Nurses Worldwide, an initiative dedicated to advancing animal care worldwide by helping facilitate skilled vet nurses sharing their knowledge and education with others to help improve animal welfare.

Despite experiencing technical issues, Jackie and Michelle rallied in true vet nurse fashion to make things work – even resorting to recording the second half of our interview in a car using mobile internet (pictured) – because the conversation was too valuable not to be had.

Follow UK Vet Nurses Worldwide on social media at:

www.instagram.com/ukvn.ww

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554955708249

You can also support the initiative at www.gofundme.com/f/uk-vet-nurses-worldwide

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𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗥𝗩𝗡

Michelle is a qualified Veterinary Nurse with twenty-nine years’ of experience and she works part-time as a nurse, she has worked with large animals, small animals, equine and exotics.

Michelle was on the Board of Trustees for St Francis Dogs Home, Newquay from 2019 to 2022 and has now become the Fostering Coordinator.

Michelle has a particular passion for dogs and horses and has a keen interest in dog behaviour and currently working towards her behaviour certificate.

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𝗝𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗬 𝗥𝗩𝗡

Jackie has been a qualified vet nurse for 18 years. She enjoys emergency and critical care and gained the Vets Now ECC certificate in 2019.

Throughout her career, Jackie's main focus has been the care of small animals but she has also supported British Divers Marine Life Rescue with the rehabilitation of seal pups. She is passionate about maintaining high-quality care standards and has been a clinical coach supporting student vet nurses.

Jackie was inspired to create the charity UK Veterinary Nurses Worldwide after working with charities in Cyprus, Romania and Sri Lanka where she trained vets and their assistants in anaesthesia, safe practice and animal welfare. The initiative, UKVNWW, will continue this work and promote animal welfare internationally.

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𝗙𝗔𝗬 𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗥𝗩𝗡

Fay initially started with a career in human medicine and later decided to retrain as a veterinary nurse. Since 2016 Fay has been involved with trap, neuter, and release clinics and actively gets involved with outreach projects where she can.

Fay wasn’t a guest on this podcast episode but as a valuable member of the team, we wanted to credit her.

In this episode, VN Times editor Lacey Pitcher talks to RVN Laura Jones, founder of www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com and veterinary technician specialist in small animal medicine.

Laura is a regular speaker at many big conferences around the UK and further afield, but in this podcast we learn about the person behind the accolades and how she is sharing her passion for medicine with other nurses.

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𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗝𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗦𝗰(𝗛𝗼𝗻𝘀), 𝗗𝗶𝗽𝗔𝗩𝗡(𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹), 𝗜𝗦𝗙𝗠𝗗𝗶𝗽𝗙𝗡, 𝗩𝗧𝗦(𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗠), 𝗥𝗩𝗡

Laura began nursing in 2007 and qualified as an RVN in 2010. She went on to gain the RCVS Advanced Nursing Diploma in 2014, before moving to a multidisciplinary referral centre in Hampshire as an Internal Medicine nurse. Here, she completed a top-up degree in Advanced Nursing, graduating in 2017.

In January 2019 Laura moved to The Ralph as Senior Medicine Nurse and, in June of the same year, became a member of the Academy of Internal Medicine Veterinary Technicians, completing the VTS entrance exam in Arizona.

In this VN Times podcast editor Lacey Pitcher speaks to Laura Hughes about the importance of conversations surrounding nutrition.

Laura is a veterinary nurse development manager at Purina PetCare who firmly believes that supporting nurses has a direct impact on animal welfare. This conversation includes:

• what the Purina Institute offers nurses

• CentreSquare resources and tools

• a teaser of what Purina will be offering at BVNA congress

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𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗥𝗔 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗦

Laura qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2002 and worked across first opinion, referral, and rescue centre practices before joining Purina. Since then, she has worked in various roles across the Purina business.

Her current role is to support veterinary nurses in practice as well as technical training for the Purina Veterinary Nutrition Partners.

Laura’s aim is to further develop the awareness of Purina’s research and to inspire more people to be passionate about nutrition.

In this episode, we join Congress Times editor Tom Jackson as he speaks with BVNA president Charlotte Pace, who provides some practical advice for veterinary nurses who may wish to develop the knowledge and skills required to successfully and confidently support cardiology patients in their care.

Charlotte looks at the definition of heart disease – which presents differently in different species – before going on to discuss the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine’s consensus statement guidelines for the classification, diagnosis, and management of cardiomyopathies in cats and dogs.

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𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗔(𝗛𝗼𝗻𝘀), 𝗥𝗩𝗡, 𝗩𝗧𝗦(𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆-𝗜𝗠), 𝗣𝗚𝗖𝗲𝗿𝘁(𝗩𝗲𝘁𝗘𝗱), 𝗙𝗛𝗘𝗔

Charlotte qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2003, while working in practice in London. In the same year she moved to the RVC to work as a medicine nurse. In 2006, she became the dedicated cardiology nurse for the RVC Queen Mother Hospital for Animals.

In 2010, Charlotte passed American veterinary technician exams and became the first nurse to hold the cardiology qualification outside the US. Since 2012, she has taught veterinary nurses on both degree and diploma programmes.

Charlotte returned to veterinary practice in 2015 – she works at Vets4Pets in Cambridge – and continues to write and lecture on veterinary cardiology.

She is BVNA president for 2022-23.