Equine Vet Nurse...anyone know of anyone who is one or are you one?

[Benefice1]

Hi,

I know this should probably be in careers but there are always more people in here!

Is anyone here an equine vet nurse or do you know of anyone who is?

I am currently working in an office - yuck! but the pay isnt too bad! Anyway...i have found a job for a trainee equine vet nurse but i wondered if anyone had any info on this?

Im guessing that the pay is quite bad?! The ad just says 'competitive salary' how much would you think this would be??

Any advice/experiences etc would be great. Im **whispers** 23 now and i feel like i need a career path rather than just end up sitting here at my desk in this office and suddenly realise im 50!!

Thanks x

 

[Happy Horse]

I was an equine veterinary nurse until 2001. When I was working I started on £10k per year and by the time I left I was on about £11.5k. The hours were 7.30 - 5.30pm Monday to Friday with one night in four and one weekend in four on call. Overtime (i.e. when called out) was paid at time and a half.

I loved the work, I eventually stopped nursing as we wanted to move further than 20 minutes from the practice (which was the max we were allowed to be away when on call) I then worked in the office at the same hospital for two years.

Wheer I was there were two types of nurse. There were the nurses who look after the in-patients, carried out dressing changes, injections, observations etc as well as the yard duties and then there were clinic nurses which is what I did. We worked in the operating theatre, scrubbed in for the operations, looked after the equipment, took xrays and assisted in clinics with scans/nerve blockes etc. This was a huge hospital so smaller hospitals the nurses may be more generalised.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about it!

 

[Tharg]

Whats it like being a veterinary nurse?, do you get treated as an inferior or as a skivvy?.

 

[Happy Horse]

Not generally, the vets and surgeons are very aware that without the nurses they couldn't do their jobs. Now some of the clients are a different story.....!

 

[Iestyn]

One of our best friends is one - salary isn't great but perk is that she gets a vehicle. However, that is usually a cast off from one of te vets. She's looking to get out - mainly because there's no more career opportunities for her now, as there's nowhere to go from there!