As we all come together to celebrate Vet Nurse’s Day, it is the perfect time to reflect on the amazing work our veterinary nurses and technicians do, every single day! This year’s theme is “Gratitude Changes Everything” and after the challenges of the past 18 months, just how true is this sentiment! Without the support and expertise of our colleagues, we as veterinary surgeons would not be able to do our jobs, and so we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you! We are forever grateful.
We are grateful for how you always keep us safe. For putting yourselves on the line to protect us from the cranky canine, the feisty feline, or that fractious filly. And for not letting go until the job is done!
We are grateful for your ability to always find the things we are looking for (or have lost) … every single time! And for knowing exactly how every piece of equipment works, and how to troubleshoot when things are being a little bit temperamental.
We are grateful for your intuition and the way you can read our minds. For knowing when to distract (or potentially remove) the highly anxious, somewhat overbearing owner. For knowing when we don’t have the bandwidth to deal with certain clients and for stepping in. And for knowing when coffee/chocolate/wine (or all three) is necessary for the team’s survival.
We are grateful for your constant over-preparedness for every situation. For always being beyond prepared for procedures, surgeries, consults and field visits - and for knowing what we need, before we’ve even asked for it. Oh, and we are also grateful for how quickly you remove the clippers from our clutches, before we can do too much damage. Surgeons we might be, hairdressers definitely not!
We are grateful for the fact that you always have a pen (or ten), and your “willingness” to share them with us! We are also grateful for the times when you don’t get mad at us (well, at least to our faces) when we proceed to lose the pen you have just lent us!
We are also grateful for you being a cheerleader during a complex surgery or a procedure that we’re attempting for the first time. Having you there with us gives us the confidence to step outside our comfort zone.
We are grateful for how much you care about our patients, going above and beyond to ensure the best outcome. For never hesitating to stay late to help stabilise a critical patient and for always going the extra mile.
We are grateful for your patience and reassurance when teaching vet students seeing practice, as well as being the go-to person to ask for help as a new grad.
We are grateful for the fact that you know exactly what to do to get the fluid pumps to stop beeping!
We are grateful to be able to stand alongside you every single day (and many nights), as team mates; united in this challenging profession. We are grateful to be there with you as we share the high’s and low’s whilst having complete understanding of what it takes to be a veterinary professional.
Veterinary Nurses, we could not do this without you!
