Veterinary Nurse
Job overview
Veterinary nurses work under the supervision of veterinarians in private practice, animal hospitals or at any institution where research on animals is conducted.
Veterinary nurses attend to animals, give them medicine according to prescription, assist with operations and take laboratory samples.
What do people do in this job?
Veterinary nurses must be able to handle animals and take care of them.
At reception they obtain information regarding the animal's state of health or disease and keep a precise record of it.
This will enable the veterinary surgeon to prescribe the right medicine.
Veterinary nurses may be asked to do blood transfusions or apply bandages, administer medicine or do physiotherapy.
People in this occupation must care for all animals, including the new-born and old, and must know which diet every animal needs.
Veterinary nurses must nurse and treat animals with contagious diseases and take precautions to avoid the transmission of such diseases to other animals.
They play an important role in the nursing of animals in the intensive care unit.
They also assist the veterinary surgeon with a variety of gynaecological examinations and procedures, for example artificial insemination and pregnancy examinations.
Radiography forms a large part of their activities and they take radiographs of injured or affected parts.
Veterinary nurses prepare the animal for anaesthesia, administer the necessary medication and monitor the animal while it is anaesthetised.
Veterinary nurses assist veterinary surgeons when they operate.
First they prepare the operating theatre, the instruments and the animal patient itself.
They then hand instruments to the veterinary surgeon during the operation.
After completion veterinary nurses see to it that the theatre is neat and the instruments are packed away, clean and sterile.
Veterinary nurses accompany the veterinary surgeon on ward duties in the hospital, during which the progress of the patients is discussed.
They collect skin scrapings, dung samples, urine samples and blood smears for examination in the laboratory.
They give advice to clients on the de-worming or inoculation of animals, as well as the after-care that the owners must administer at home.
What kinds of people are suitable for this career?
Prospective veterinary nurses must be able to work sympathetically and patiently with animals and must be observant, practical, accurate and neat.
They should also be prepared to work long and irregular hours.
In emergencies they must stay cool and calm and need the ability to communicate not only with animals but with people, too!
What qualifications are needed?
There are no specific qualifications, but good school-leaving results in science subjects, particularly biology are an advantage.
