As we have previously discussed most of your Practices are providing the services of nursing clinics.
I would like you to complete a short report to explain the value of nursing follow up clinics in support of chronic animal health problems, to include:
· Role of the veterinary team in long term care –
Improving client concordance, providing client support, improving quality of life
· Requirements for an effective nursing clinic –
Clinic aims, costing and budget, parameters
· Role and remit of the veterinary nurse in consultations –
Consultation Protocols, clear guidance for veterinary referral
Make it personal if you wish and mention how your practice does things, how are the clinics of benefit to your practice. Have you first-hand experience of nursing clinics?
When you have completed this please e-mail your completed work to me
In this report I will outline the values of nursing follow up clinics in support of animal that come into the practice. For each of the clinics I will outline the costs and benefits in the different headings of role of the veterinary team in the care of the animal, the requirement for an effective nursing clinic and the roles and remit of the veterinary nurse in consultation.
As in all clinics there is benefits and also cost which make practices think twice before running a clinic but in the long run the practice may see an increase in client as existing client will go on and tell their friends about the practices services if they experience them and find them good and useful. This will also mean that the practice will then start to gain more money from other the other services that the supply.
For the clinics to be set up the practices would need to consider the reason as in why it is being set up. For example, if the practice has just got a new machine then that not really a good reason to be setting up that type of clinic but if there is a nurse that wants to enhance their skill then that could be seen as an adequate reason.
You would need one or two people to begin setting up the clinic and they then become the named people to deal with any issue that may arise like complaints. For each of the clinics you would also require the correct equipment like scales for weight clinic/ puppy parties. You would need to have a room or area in which you can run the clinics in whether it be in a consultation room or at reception although some may be done in a separate venue outside of the practice though this may add extra cost in the long run and take up most of your budget.
They will also support the animal within their quality of life because they may be able to offer different types of clinics such as weight clinics, senior pet clinic, puppy/kitten parties, vaccination clinics and palliative care clinics. This will mean that all members of the verterinary team will become more knowledgeable in different aspects of the jobs but in the short term you will not want to over stretch one or two members of the nursing team the practice would also require a protocol in what should be mention in each clinic and these can then be passed on to clients through an information sheet that can be handed to them as the information may be too much for them to take in all at once.
You would need to make sure that the times are flexible for clients as many will also work or do other things during the day so it is important that they are able to attend of they wish to. You need to make sure that the clinics are well marketed and that there is good staff communication between themselves and client about them so that more people know about what extra support they could be getting. The costing may be high in the beginning with the marketing and venue hiring if need be but they will slowly decrease once you have established and are getting clients to attend them.
The role and remits for the veterinary nurse is that they must have a good knowledge not just of the different types of drugs and what to use them for and also the different type of clinics but they must also have good knowledge of the patient so that they will know what may work best for them. This can be done be keeping a track on the patient's history and reading up on any information that may be required. They may be also run the clinics solo so they may come in to contact with the client everyday so the will need to have a client focused behaviour i.e be positive and smiling towards the client and also use the correct body language. They may also have to run the differnet clinics as well as manage them so that they may need support from there team.
In my view I believe that nursing clinics are a good recourse as they allow client and veterinary team bonding along with the animal and it also means that the veterinary team are also able to pass on their information and expertise to a client without the client having to worry about if the information that they are receving factual true. It also helps to take the stress away from the owner about owning their pet. they also can be free so it also help with the cost of the animal.
Overall the different benefits and costs that have been mentioned above are all what are need to run a successful veterinary nurse consult.
