Every year during May, the veterinary profession celebrates Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM), proudly spearheaded by the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA). In 2024, BVNA will celebrate 20 years since the campaign began – from its early beginnings as Veterinary Nursing Awareness Day in 2004, and since 2012 BVNA have been leading the campaign for an entire month. The purpose of VNAM is to champion the veterinary nursing profession to the public and pet owners. The vital role of veterinary nurses in upholding animal welfare is highlighted – both in and out of clinical practic ..read more

In 2024, BVNA is celebrating 20 years of campaigning during the month of May, to raise awareness of veterinary nursing. We know that it’s currently a challenging time for the veterinary profession, and when teams are busy and stretched, time and capacity can be very limited. But – we still fundamentally believe that veterinary nurses everywhere deserve to be championed. That’s why this year, we’re inviting you to get involved – with complete flexibility over how. Your #VNAM2024, your way! To enter our competition, simply show us any activities you are carrying out this May to educate the gene ..read more

During May 2023, the veterinary profession celebrated the 12th annual Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM), proudly spearheaded by the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA). This year, our campaign theme was ‘empowerment’ – showcasing the wide-ranging contributions veterinary nurses make within both clinical and non-clinical settings. We invited veterinary teams to enter our VNAM video competition to tell us “What do VNs mean to your practice?”. We were delighted that so many members of the practice team came together to produce some fantastic videos which highlight the vital rol ..read more

In this blog, Caroline Clark shares her experience of working within the profession for the past 40 years and how she has been able to diversify, with opportunities that she wouldn’t have had if she hadn’t been a veterinary nurse. I began my nursing life as a Saturday girl in a mixed first opinion practice way back in the late 70s. I remember vividly being told to ‘think again’ when I told the careers advisor that I wanted to work with animals – fortunately, I didn’t heed their advice as upon leaving school I was offered a permanent post. I completed my nurse training at Berkshire College of ..read more

Becoming an Equine Veterinary Nurse (RVN) is just the beginning of your career; the qualification can take you to places you did not realise were possible as a student. Equine veterinary nursing has progressed hugely in the last few years and continues to progress; this has allowed our role as equine nurses to develop and given us more opportunities within clinical practice. New opportunities are being created within practices, such as ambulatory nursing and nurse clinics. The EVN qualification can take your career further than the UK because the qualification allows the holder to register wit ..read more

Veterinary nurses are… Dreadfully ……… knowledgeable. The veterinary nursing course lasts at least two years, is both theoretical and practical, and covers an enormous amount of information in huge detail and depth over a range of medical and surgical disciplines and species. It genuinely never ceases to amaze me how much veterinary nurses know and they continue to add to this knowledge throughout their careers. Terribly ….. specialist. Once a vet nurse has their qualification, they can then go on to specialise in huge variety of disciplines; from nutrition to physiotherapy, from anaesthesia to ..read more

Jade Brindley qualified as an RVN in 2022. She has previous experience in her career in psychiatric care and after completing her Masters in Management, worked as a lead on transformation programmes in health and social care for local government across the UK. Passionate about all things healthcare and wanting to include animals in her drive for healthcare improvement, she changed careers to Veterinary Nursing. Following a year on the BVNA Council representing students, she combined her passion for traveling and healthcare by completing two internships in South America in a Charity Veterinary ..read more

Jade Pengelly RVN I am a Veterinary Nurse from Christchurch, New Zealand. I have a Diploma of Veterinary nursing and a Bachelor of Science majoring in Animal Science, minor Equine. I began my journey into Veterinary Nursing in 2014. I was enrolled in the pre-vet course and was offered a job during my university holidays at my local vet clinic, as a vet nurse assistant. Unfortunately (but looking back, fortunately!), I didn’t get into Vet school, but I continued to work at the Veterinary Practice after switching my studies. I graduated at the end of 2016 and I was offered a full time job as a ..read more

VNAM 2023 is here and as always my heart bursts with pride when I see veterinary nurses from all over the UK celebrating our wonderful profession. VNAM is also a time for reflection and every year I take some time to think about my own career and what veterinary nursing means to me. 2023 is my 26th year as a qualified veterinary nurse and 29th year in the veterinary profession – which makes me feel pretty old but a little bit wiser! Some people may look at me and think how lucky I am to be where I am now, but I would like to highlight that just like many of you, my career has had lots of ups a ..read more

Carly Kilby is a Registered Veterinary Nurse and BVNA Regional Representative, and has been qualified for 18 years. This week’s VNAM theme is ‘My road map as an RVN’. Here, Carly shares her some of her experiences as an RVN, including volunteering both working abroad and in the UK. “It didn’t take long after qualifying before I had the travel bug. About 2 years into my career, I decided to go travelling with a friend, a veterinary nurse I was working with at the time. I wanted to use my qualification abroad, where it really mattered, and where my skills and knowledge would be most beneficial ..read more