Ready?
Veterinary Nurse — your shift
Weigh it, calculate it, and never leave it alone — especially afterwards. Do the job one step at a time. Tap the thing that should happen next.
Full screen — no distractions
What does a veterinary nurse do?
You run the anaesthetic while the vet operates, which means for that hour the animal's breathing is your responsibility and nobody else's.
Also called: RVN, vet nurse, veterinary technician.
A day looks like
- 1You prep the theatre and check every piece of equipment before a single animal is touched.
- 2You weigh, calculate and draw up drugs to the tenth of a millilitre, for a patient that might be two kilos or forty.
- 3You sit with the monitor for an hour watching numbers and a chest, and the whole point is that nothing happens.
- 4You stay with the animal all the way through recovery, which is where most anaesthetic deaths actually occur.
Hardest part
It is an hour of watching nothing happen, and the one time something does you have seconds. Sustained attention on a screen when everything is normal is far harder than it sounds and it is the entire skill.
Best part
A difficult anaesthetic on an old animal that wakes up quietly with its head on your hand.
How you actually become a veterinary nurse
- At schoolGood sciences and a placement in a practice — most nurses start as an assistant.
- TrainingA diploma or degree in veterinary nursing with clinical placement, then registration.
- How longTwo to four years to qualify and register.
- Your first jobStudent veterinary nurse in a training practice.
Frequently asked questions
- Is a veterinary nurse like a human nurse?
- In responsibility, closer to a combination of a nurse and an operating department practitioner. Registered veterinary nurses run anaesthetics, take radiographs, place catheters and perform some minor procedures under direction.
- Why is recovery the dangerous bit?
- Because monitoring stops. Studies of anaesthetic deaths in animals consistently find a large share occur after the procedure, in the first hours, which is why staying with the patient is a rule rather than a courtesy.
- Is it well paid?
- Honestly, not for the responsibility involved, and retention in the profession is a known problem. People do it because of the animals, and many go on to specialise in anaesthesia or emergency care where pay is better.
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