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Project NURSE stands for ‘Nurturing and Utilising R(E)VN Skills and Experience’.
Project NURSE aims to improve animal health and welfare by addressing the strong interest among our equine nursing teams in developing their clinical roles and providing more client-facing services.
Stage One
In this first stage of Project NURSE, the team asked horse owners to complete a short questionnaire about their perceptions of and experiences with registered equine veterinary nurses (REVNs).
Most owners talked very positively about their experiences having their horse cared for by an REVN, however only 6% had had a sole REVN visit to the yard to provide this care.
Most owners (87%) said they would be open to an REVN visiting their horse on the yard under the direction of a veterinary surgeon.
Over 90% said they would be extremely or somewhat comfortable with REVN visits for procedures such as bandaging and suture removal.
We were thrilled to have presented some of these results at BEVA Congress in September 2023 and to have had a paper accepted for publication in the Vet Record which can be accessed here:
Stage Two
We have since undertaken a second survey asking members of our equine nursing teams about their current role, as well as their thoughts on career progression.
Most respondents told us they would highly value more opportunities for clinical responsibilities and progression. Common tasks identified included wound management (75%), and intramuscular injections (67%). Many respondents also suggested asthma, weight and behaviour clinics would represent good opportunities to provide patient care and use their skills.
The most common cited barrier to doing most clinical tasks was lack of delegation by veterinary colleagues) (79%).
When asked what would make them feel more valued at work, more opportunities to utilise professional skills was the most frequently identified factor (42%).
The results have since been published and can be accessed here:
Stage Three
We are now undertaking part three of this project, which will seek the views of the wider equine clinical team to look at barriers and facilitators for nurses developing their clinical roles in practice.
You can learn more about this project and the resources our teams have developed to support it here:
At VetPartners we are fortunate to have an engaging and approachable Clinical Board Support Team (CBST) with both clinical and extensive research experience. To learn more about the work of the CBST and how they empower our teams to undertake clinical quality improvement and research, click here.
To find out more about the work we do visit VetPartners Learning or email us at clinical.board@vetpartnersgroup.com
