VETERINARY NURSE IN RELATION TO THE LEGAL NURSING ESSAY     2000w

Veterinary nursing is a relatively young profession, it has only been established as a profession for the last 50 years, and has however kept pushing the boundaries of the Para health care profession. Veterinary nurses not only play a key role in preventative health care and animal welfare, but also carry out diagnostic tests and procedures, medical treatments and minor surgical procedures under the direction of the veterinary surgeon. Wherever they work – in general practice, a specialist centre, education or industry – veterinary nurses draw on their experiences and knowledge to identify the nursing interventions each patient requires. Vets are often assisted by registered veterinary nurses, who are able to both assist the vet and to autonomously practice a range of skills of their own, including minor surgery under direction from a responsible vet.

Veterinarians have had assistance from staff throughout their existence of the profession, but the first organised Para veterinary workers were the canine nurses trained by the Canine Nurses Institute in 1908. According to the founder they would “carry out directions of the veterinary surgeon, meet a genuine need on the part of the dog owners, and at the same time provide a reasonably paid occupation for young women with a real liking for animals”.

In 1913, the Ruislip Dog Sanatorium was founded, and employed nurses to care for unwell dogs and in the 1920s, at least one veterinary surgery in Mayfair employed qualified human nurses to tend the animals.

In the mid-1930s, the early veterinary nurses approached the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons for official recognition, and in 1938 the Royal Veterinary College had a head nurse appointed, but the official recognition was not given until 1957, first as veterinary nurses, but changed within a year to Royal Animal Nursing Auxiliaries (RANAs) following objection from the human nursing profession.

In 1951, the first formal Para veterinary role was created by the United States Air Force who introduced veterinary technicians, and this was followed in 1961 by a civilian programme at