VETERINARY nursing was established as a recognised profession in Ireland in 2005. There are now five established training courses in Ireland: a two-year option in St. John’s College Cork, three-year degree courses in Dundalk, Athlone and Letterkenny Institutes of Technology and a four-year honours degree in University College Dublin.

Graduates of all these courses are eligible to register with the Veterinary Council of Ireland and work as a registered veterinary nurse (RVN). It is illegal for a person who is not a RVN to perform ‘acts of veterinary nursing’ on an animal. These are procedures that require specialist training to protect the safety and welfare of the animals involved. Examples include surgical assistance, the administration of anaesthetics and intravenous fluids and the taking of x-rays.

Students of the five Irish veterinary nursing courses must learn how to provide care to farm animals, pets and horses during their training (figure 1). No prior knowledge is assumed, but the more animal handling experience a student has, the easier they will find it. Once qualified, a RVN can work in whatever type of veterinary practice they prefer.

Specialised role

Equine veterinary hospitals need RVNs to provide specialist care to horses, especially after major procedures such as colic surgery and fracture repairs. Equine veterinary nurses may also take x-rays, nurse patients in intensive care (especially foals), treat and monitor hospitalised horses, administer fluid therapy, manage wounds, collect and analyse blood samples, assist with surgery and anaesthesia and maintain a sterile operating theatre and equipment. It’s a very specialised role and every equine hospital needs qualified veterinary nurses to provide optimal patient care as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Shortage

Veterinary nursing is a very popular career choice, with many Leaving Certificate students putting it down as their first preference when making their CAO application. However, many of these students are from urban or suburban backgrounds and don’t have any horse experience before starting their training. This means that they are less likely in our experience to be interested in a career in equine nursing once they are qualified. This has led to a shortage of equine veterinary nurses, with employers telling us that they find it hard to fill vacancies.

Mature student application route

Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) reserves six places for mature applicants in every first year veterinary nursing class of 30 students. Mature applicants are people who are 23 years of age or older when they apply for a place on the course.

There are no specific academic entry requirements for the mature entry route. Instead, we ask applicants to fill in an application that outlines any existing qualifications they have, along with their career/employment experience and an explanation of why they are interested in a veterinary nursing career. This application must be submitted via the CAO by February 1st annually. These applications are then sent to DkIT and we shortlist people for interview based on the information they have provided.

Typically we will receive between 90-120 mature applications, and we will shortlist about 20 people for interviews prior to making offers for those six places. The main thing we are looking for when shortlisting is evidence that the applicant has spent some time in a veterinary hospital, ideally shadowing a RVN, to demonstrate that they’re aware of what the career entails. This experience doesn’t have to be for very long – just a few days – but we do want to see a written reference from the veterinary practice in the application to verify that it took place.

Relevant experience

At DkIT we find that we tend to get quite a bit of interest from people who have worked in the horse industry and have lots of experience, as well as excellent horsemanship skills. However, the veterinary work they mostly tend to have been exposed to is the vet coming out to examine and treat horses at the yard.

While relevant, this doesn’t accurately reflect the job of an equine veterinary nurses, which is typically clinic or hospital-based. Our advice to potential applicants is to try to get some experience with a RVN, as that will greatly increase the likelihood of them being short-listed for interview.

Further information

WITH regards to the course itself, it is a science-based career and the training is intensive in nature. The course is designed to cover all the skills and knowledge that a veterinary nurse will need and it is challenging. Applicants should have good basic fitness (the job involves a lot of lifting and other physical activity) and have good literacy and numeracy skills, as well as an interest in science and healthcare. DkIT hold open days in early November and January annually and we invite all potential applicants to attend if they can to find out more about the college and the courses on offer. For more information see the college website (www.dkit.ie) and the veterinary nursing information and FAQ pages.

For information about the veterinary nursing courses in Cork, Dublin, Athlone and Letterkenny, please contact these colleges directly. You can also find out more about the profession from the Veterinary Council of Ireland (www.vci.ie) and the Irish Veterinary Nursing Association (www.ivna.ie).