May is always an exciting month in the veterinary nursing calendar, as it marks a month of celebration of the veterinary nursing role through the British Veterinary Nursing Association's (BVNA) Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month. This was originally started by the BVNA in 2005 as the National Veterinary Nurse Day campaign, and since 2012, the campaign has taken place throughout the month of May every year. The purpose of Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month is to spread the word to the veterinary profession and animal owners about the important role of the veterinary nurse, and the provision of responsible animal care to the general public.
The theme for this year is ‘empowerment’, which is topical with the BVNA's ‘Protect the title’ campaign and the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) Equine Nurse Committee working on Schedule 3 Guidelines for equine veterinary nurses. There is no better time to celebrate the role of veterinary nurses in practice and to start to educate the public about this essential role.
This year, Veterinary Nurse Awareness Month is split into four further themes:
Week 1: My journey as a Student Veterinary Nurse (SVN)
Week 2: Pocket guide for Day 1 as a Registered Veterinary Nurse (RVN)
Week 3: Raising client and public awareness
Week 4: My road map as a RVN – diversification and opportunities within the profession.
These themes present a great opportunity for everyone to get involved in raising awareness of the essential role of veterinary nurses, from SVNs to RVNs just starting out, to the impact we can have on client education and expectations, all the way to experienced RVNs using their qualification beyond clinical practice. I would strongly encourage as many of you as possible to get on board with this great campaign. It would be fantastic to see some strong representation from equine SVNs and RVNs in practice. It would also be great to see equine practices shouting out about the role of their equine SVNs and RVNs, not only to allow their nursing team to feel appreciated, but also to raise awareness amongst their client base about what nurses can actually do in practice, and how this can benefit both clients and patients.
To encourage involvement, there are competitions and prizes to be won through the BVNA. Or, if competitions are not for you, awareness can be raised by short videos and blogs that can be shared over your practice's social media. Ideas for videos include documenting the journey of a patient from ill health to recovery (with owner consent), focusing on an area of practice where nurses make a big difference, documenting your journey as a SVN or RVN, or making an educational video for clients on how to safely take temperature, pulse or respiratory readings.
There are so many ways to get involved! Any videos and blogs can also be sent to the BVNA for sharing to a wider audience at: bvna@bvna.co.uk.
For more information on Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month please go to: https://bvna.org.uk/project/vnam-2023/