To mark Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month, Katherine Alexander explains how these highly trained professionals treat a variety of species with the minimum of stress for the patient.

By Registered Veterinary Nurse Katherine Alexander

There is nothing I love more than when people ask me what I do for a living. As a passionate veterinary nurse, I know it’s a conversation which will lead to deep interest and a mountain of questions.

So to celebrate Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month, I’ve collated some of the questions I encounter most often to celebrate this vital role in sanctuaries around the world. 

What is a veterinary nurse and what do they do? 

Veterinary nurses are highly skilled and qualified professionals who work alongside vets to provide high-quality care to animals undergoing veterinary treatment. 

Providing tender loving care is an important part of a veterinary nurse’s role, however there are many more aspects to our career. Veterinary nurses are responsible for medication preparation and administration, administering fluid therapy, providing animals with the correct nutrition, performing physiotherapy and nursing the patient back to health. We also perform laboratory tests, assist with diagnostic procedures and are trained to restrain animals when necessary in a way that minimises patient stress.

An important aspect of our work is anaesthesia. As nurses we are trained not only to administer anaesthetic drugs, but also to place catheters, secure the airway, and monitor the patient while anaesthetised. We are also trained in surgical technique and are capable of assisting vets during surgery or performing minor surgical procedures, like suturing up skin wounds.

The veterinary nurse is the main point of contact between the vet and the client. We are responsible for maintaining a clean and tidy workplace, communicating with clients, and ensuring our hospitals are well stocked and efficient. We are also the ones responsible for inpatient care, so we must be skilled in monitoring animal behavior and measuring vital signs.

What is the role of the veterinary nurse at Animals Asia’s bear sanctuaries?

At our bear sanctuaries the veterinary nurses are required to perform three main roles: anaesthetic nurse, laboratory nurse and hospital nurse.

All of our nurses are trained in each role and rotate between them on a weekly basis.

What does the anaesthetic nurse do?

The anaesthetic nurse is responsible for assisting the vet to anaesthetise and monitor the bear throughout a health check. It is our responsibility to keep the bear at a suitable anaesthetic depth – if the bear becomes too deep there will be effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory system, too light and the bear could feel pain or wake up during surgery.

At our sanctuaries we have several pieces of monitoring equipment which allow us to monitor the bear more carefully during anaesthesia. 

The anaesthetic nurse is also responsible for running our small animal clinics alongside our vets, and will often be the one to perform the anaesthetic if any surgeries are required.

What is the role of the laboratory nurse?

The laboratory nurse will assist the team during health checks. They are responsible for placing intravenous catheters, administering intravenous fluids, collecting blood and hair samples, taking the bear’s body temperature and administering medications. 

If a bear requires surgery, the laboratory nurse will prepare the surgical area for the veterinarian and may assist during the procedure.

As the name suggests, the laboratory nurse will also perform all the laboratory tests required during the week. This may include blood tests such as haematology and biochemistry, urine and fecal examinations or culture and sensitivity tests. 

What is the role of the hospital nurse?

The hospital nurse (with help from our volunteers) is responsible for making up all of the daily medications for the bears. This is a huge task, with almost all of our resident bears receiving some form of medication mixed with congee (a rice-water mix) or hidden inside marshmallows.

Every day we stuff over 200 marshmallows and mix over 40 cups of congee. Along with the cleaning of the hospital, this task can take most of the morning to complete.

If there are any bears in hospital, it is also the role of the hospital nurse to care for the bear. This includes administering medications, providing good nutrition and enrichment, and ensuring the bear is clean and comfortable. We also perform additional treatment like flushing wounds.

Why are there three specific roles for vet nurses?

The duties of the vet nurse are many and varied. In order for a patient to receive the best care, we must divide our roles into specific areas. This requires good team work and communication and is best seen during an animal’s health check.

Last week moon bear Longo came into the hospital for a routine health check. Longo arrived at the centre in 2003 from a bear bile farm in China. In 2009 Longo’s right eye was surgically removed due to lens luxation and a detached retina, as the eye would have been non- functional and likely painful.

Currently she is almost or completely blind in her left eye due to a partially detached retina and mature cataract. She has severe arthritis in both hips and along her spine, and early arthritis in both knees, particularly the right. She is on medication to relieve any pain she might have from these conditions.

When Longo arrived at our hospital for her routine health check, she was met by our vet nurse Hannah, who was the hospital nurse that week. On arrival, Hannah gave Longo a tasty ice block. By providing bears with tasty treats, like ice blocks and log treats, we can minimise their stress and build positive associations with the hospital environment.  Hannah then assessed Longo to ensure she would distract for her health check the following day. 

Later, Hannah returned to Longo to give her necessary medications and food, and finally an enrichment treat before the end of day.

On the day of Longo’s health check I was the anaesthetic nurse, so I was responsible for distracting Longo to allow the vet to administer the anaesthetic. Once Longo was anaesthetised I commenced her anaesthetic monitoring, and continued this until her recovery. I measured and recorded her heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure, among many other things. I also helped to monitor Longo during her recovery.

During her health check, our laboratory nurse Hannah collected and processed all the samples we needed, including blood, urine and hair samples. The information we obtained from these tests will not only help us to monitor and treat Longo’s various health problems, but they also allow us to collect data and information on the unique population of bears residing at our sanctuaries.

Once Longo had recovered from her anaesthetic, Hannah became the hospital nurse, providing Longo with evening medications, food and enrichment. Longo returned to her house the following day, where she was reunited with her other bear friends.

What else does the vet nurse do at the bear sanctuary? 

As well as our three main roles we are also responsible for ordering medications, performing stock checks, filing lab samples, checking on the local small animals, supporting our veterinary nurse volunteers, attending meetings, and of course completing mountains of paperwork and data entry. 

I’m inspired! How do I become a vet nurse? And can I volunteer at Animals Asia’s sanctuaries?

In most countries veterinary nursing is offered at universities, colleges or vocational training facilities. It would be necessary to search for the required entry levels within your country.

Animals Asia is always looking to recruit qualified volunteer vet nurses at both our China and Vietnam bear sanctuaries. See here for details. 

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