Patient Care Nurses have an important job, ensuring that all the animals under our care have a comfortable and seamless recovery, helping them adapt to the effects of surgery, and managing and monitoring treatments. But what does a typical day actually look like?
A day in the life of our Patient Care Nurses
It all begins early at 7am, when the night staff hand over the patients to the nurses in their allocated wards. All the animals are walked out and weighed, with recordings made of the following:
- Demeanour
- Temperature
- Respiratory rate
- Pulse rate
Next, intravenous catheters are checked, flushed and re-dressed, with the animals examined and bandages, wounds and neurological status assessed.
Doing the rounds
Morning rounds follow, with Patient Care Nurses accompanying the clinicians to discuss each case and prepare a plan for that particular day. The next decision: who will talk with the animal’s owner to give them regular updates on their pet’s condition.
Morning medication and meal time
Morning continues, feeding those animals that can be fed and administering medication. In general, feeding happens three times a day, and medication is given when prescribed by the Veterinary Surgeon.
Building relationships, building familiarity
It’s really important that every animal under our care feels as relaxed and happy as possible in the ward environment – and it’s important that owners are happy and relaxed too! Our nurses build positive relationships with both owners and patients. At Davies, we put the emphasis on treating each and every patient as an individual – doing all we can to meet their own unique needs.
A vital routine
As the morning goes on, we may have to do various important blood tests and a range of other procedures – including the care and maintenance of equipment such as drains and catheters. Stimulating the animals is vital, particularly for those patients that are either unable to move, or have been hospitalised for a while. And, for those animals that are mobile, walks will take place around this time – with physiotherapy performed if required.
The late shift
At 1pm, the late shift begins, when the evening nurses prepare patient kennel sheets for the following day. Our morning nurses hand over to our evening nurses, talking about each animal and discussing in detail the kind of care that’s been required that day. Our high standards of care are then continued by the evening nurse, who then hands over to the night staff in rounds between 8.30pm and 9.00pm.