I'm a nurse...for animals?

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Specializes in Trauma, Emergency.

Hey esteemed nurses! Please firgive typos, I'm using AN on my phone...So I would like y'all's thoughts on this... Long story short, the other day I managed to leave a bunch of my class notes in my favorite little neighborhood shoe shop (because who doesn't need a little shoe oogling fun after an afternoon of studying??)... I didn't realize I left them til almost home, so I called and they told me they were closing soon but they'd wait if I could hurry back (gotta l love small business!). So I got back there and they were finishing ringing up their last customer... They asked me when I came back "what in the he!! Are you in school for? You gone be a surgeon or something?" (they always tease me when i come in :-).) I said "no, I'm studying to be an RN." So the lady at the counter starts commiserating and saying "oh man, I know all about that, it's so hard! But good luck I'm sure you'll do great." We walked out to our cars together and I said "thanks! So you're a nurse, I take it?" She said "Yep," with no hesitation. Me: "oh neat, what is your specialty?"Her: "Oh, I'm a nurse for animals!"Silence...Ummmmmm does anyone else see a problem with this? I don't know her and I don't know about veterinary medicine... I thought there were vets and vet techs...and vet techs are like CNA+MA+RN+LPN, but I didn't think there was an actual term for vet nurses...I think what vet techs do is really important (Lord knows I don't mess around when it comes to getting good healthcare for my sweet pets!!) and I'm sure it's suuuuuper hard to start an IV on a squirmy puppy, but when I'm carrying a set of notes about interventions for PEs, aortic dissection, MIs, and unstable angina, it's really irks me that a vet tech called herself a nurse. I get how if you're explaining your job to a kid as a vet tech you might use a comparison of "nurse to people patients is the same as tech to animal patients"... But I'm not a kid, and I'm clearly not your average non-healthcare aware bear since I just said I'm in school to be an RN...I don't know. I didn't say anything because really, why bother with someone I'll probably never see again. But it really rubbed me the wrong way. What are your thoughts on this??

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I have come across a few people that refer to themselves as a nurse.

One that sticks out in my mind is a very drunk woman in a bar.. that struck up a conversation with me.

She had the audacity to say... "Oh , yeah.. I used to be a nurse too. I just didn't renew my license!

As if a nursing license is the same as a driver's license or a cosmetology license or...

you get my drift.

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Vet techs basically handle everything a nurse does and more on a daily basis - monitors anesthesia, gives treatments, does dentals, starts IVs, everything. Talks to vets, patients, clients. Cleans. Some even handle appointments by themselves. Not to mention they're expected to know how to do this on several different species. Squirmy puppies are the least of their IV worries - try a 10 year old large dog hit by a car whose blood pressure is virtually nil, or other cardiac issues. They encounter a very similar spectrum of problems that human nurses do, but their patients simply can't tell them about it.

I see nothing wrong with them calling themselves vet/animal nurses, since they technically are.

Edit: There are some places (Banfield) that call their vet techs vet Nurses.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

In the UK, vet techs are called vet nurses. Before I was an RN I was a RVT and when people asked what my job description was I told them I was a nurse for animals because that is what the common layperson could best understand.

I really think that we [as nurses] like to intentionally get riled up at someone using our title - which I can understand to an extent, it wasn't easy to earn - but at the end of the day who cares?

If we really wanna get pedantic about it a mother who is breastfeeding her child is as much a nurse as much as a 76 year old guy in the slums of Serbia caring for those devastated by conflict is a nurse.

It's just a word/title and what really matters is the expertise and knowledge base.

And if it came down to it I rather have a old nun in some godforsaken place of the world that has nursed hundreds of souls back to health but has never named herself a nurse take care of me than a green new hire who loves to parade the fact that they are a RN™.

Seriously, as nurses it's due past time to get over our inferiority complexes and chips on our shoulders. There are more demanding issues out there.

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Oh, here we go again.

Your ignorance of the veterinary profession is outstanding, and unfortunately all too common.

The vet techs I have known have an amazing amount of knowledge. I was in large animal research, so basically a vet tech before this and performed c-sections on cattle, administered anesthesia meds, drew blood on thousands of steers ready to kick my face off, performed euthanasia..not a whole lot was off limits for me in terms of regulations.

The title of nurse is very appropriate to someone caring for animals. They perform the exact same duties, just on animals. A vet nurse is not trying to mislead anyone into thinking they are an RN. It's simply a term that fits. They take orders from a veterinarian and perform patient care on animals all the same. All of your notes on medicine you mentioned, a vet tech learns many of the same things. They aren't simply wiping up dog poo.

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Just to prove my point a little further - Veterinarians are doctors. They address themselves as "doctor" and so does everyone else. By your logic, does this "Irk" you too?

Yep, didn't think so.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

Yeah, I really don't care if they want to call themselves "vet nurses."

In fact, if bills were not an issue and we could afford the pay cut, I would love to work at a vet clinic and do vet "nursing". I'd do it in a heartbeat. I think it's amazing work, and would far prefer furry patients to the non-furry ones.

Where is that thread from a few months ago where the poster talked about everything a well-trained vet-tech does? It was pretty mind-boggling.

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Referring to oneself as a "vet nurse" versus just plain "nurse" is very different.

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Specializes in Ambulatory care.

"Baby Nurses" = Day Nanny - I met a lady once she told me she's a baby nurse so I asked her where she worked, and specialty. She's a nanny for the super rich but her agency hires her out "baby nurse" they wear white nurses uniforms, and took a CPR course. i'm thinking to myself wow ... and I hope you're not caring for children or babies with medical problems because if something should happen you're not equipped to handle it. Shoot I arn't ready to work private 1:1 with ill newborns and I'm a real nurse if brand new.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Before I was a Nurse, I was a Vet tech at an Emergency Vet hospital. These were my duties:

Billing

Inserting IV's

titrating drips of everything (only one pump)

Isolation care

Urinary caths

Shooting and developing xrays

Assisting in surgery

cleaning and processing all the surgical packs

running the anesthesia with the DVM for surgery

dealing with families.

If someone wants to say they are a Nurse for Animals, I'm ok with it.

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i have absolutely no problems with a vet tech calling themselves a vet nurse.

heck, i've seen vet techs do things with animals, that i've never done as a nurse.

many of these techs, definitely have very advanced skills.

leslie

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