To celebrate World Veterinary Day on the 30th April 2022, we've collaborated with Lucy, an inspiring Vet Referral Nurse for a Q&A to find out all about her job, career highlights, advice to current students and what she does to unwind after a busy working day...
Q:Tell us about yourself
My name is Lucy, I’m a referral vet nurse from Derbyshire and I spend a lot of my time working and volunteering abroad!
Q: Tell us about your career path and how you decided to become referral vet nurse
I started my vet nursing traineeship when I finished my animal care course at college in 2015. I trained at Pride Veterinary Center, a referral centre in Derbyshire and have worked there as a full time and a locum referral nurse since! I'm really happy that I trained in a referral practice as it really set me up to work to a gold standard, and I felt so lucky to train amongst super interesting cases and incredibly talented specialist vets and nurses!
Q: What's the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is the variety - being a Locum in a referral hospital, I get to work in all the different disciplines and use a variety of skills and see a huge range of cases - every day is different!
Then I also have the variety of going from working in a large U.K referral hospital to volunteering abroad with very limited resources - I love this because it really tests my skills and it's super rewarding too!
Q: Can you tell us a particular moment that reminds you why you love being a vet nurse?
A big part of my job that I love is being a part of a patients difficult journey in the ICU and seeing them go home happy and healthy after all of your hard work - it's the most fulfilling thing! But there are so many things that I love about my job, and a big part of it is the opportunities it has given me to travel and help animals abroad that otherwise wouldn't get the care they need!
Q: What advice would you give to someone pursing a veterinary career
Do it! It can be a difficult industry to get into, especially if you want to train via the vocational route as trainee vet nurse jobs are hard to find, but it is definitely worth it! Nothing good ever comes easy, so get the volunteer hours in, put yourself out there and put in 100% and that is what you will get out! Once you're a vet nurse, there are so many opportunities out there, you can do anything you put your mind to and you can be a huge part in improving animal welfare and saving lives every day!
Q: What’s the most challenging thing you find about your job?
The most challenging thing for me is seeing animals who have been neglected or stray animals in horrendous condition, such as malnourished or with awful conditions or injuries that haven’t been treated - something I see a lot of volunteering abroad. However this is another reason I love to volunteer on islands and places with lots of stray animals as I know I can help prevent and stop suffering and also teach and promote animal welfare to local people!
Q: After a busy day, what do you do to relax and unwind?
I love being around my friends and having a lovely chat and debrief with them over a nice meal or cake - then coming home to a book and a bubble bath!
Q: You might not want to say but do you have a favourite animal?
I do! For a long time my favourite animal was elephants however this is now tied with giraffes too!
Q: Is there a stand out moment from your vet career you’d like to share?
I don’t have a particular one that springs to mind however every volunteer trip I do makes me so proud, I love being able to use my skills and make a difference!
If like us, you want to hear more from Lucy & follow her Veterinary journey, head over to her Instagram page >> @thetravellingveterinarynurse
