Whether you’re an expert at wound management, extra knowledgeable about animal nutrition, or love learning about feline nursing, as a veterinary nurse you may have skills and knowledge you take particular pride in. Why not share it with others?
Sharing your professional skills as a veterinary nurse is a fantastic opportunity to make connections with other nurses, develop your professional practice, and channel a sense of fulfilment by sharing something that is important to you and inspiring to others. Sharing your veterinary nursing skills also allows you focus more on your professional passions, and reflect on the areas you may wish to build on.
As they say, sharing is caring – and you may just pick up some new skills and boost your career prospects along the way! Here, we go through five ways you can spread your knowledge and share your skills with others:
1. Skill swap with other veterinary nurses
Skill sharing is when you provide someone with help, and then go to them for support in return. Every veterinary nurse will have their own particular strengths and skills, so it’s worth networking with other nurses and coming together to learn from each other. Sharing ideas and knowledge with fellow nurses can be a great way to make use of each other’s professional strengths and interests, to enhance your existing skills or learn new ones.
It may be you find a member of your team nurse has a keen interest in exotic species, or knows a lot about how to treat diabetic patients. If a fellow nurse is a fountain of knowledge on a specific subject, it is worth arranging a time to sit down to exchange ideas and pick each other’s brains.
It can also be helpful to attend CPD with members of your team with shared professional interests, so you can discuss what was covered in the session together.
2. Take to a blog, vlog or social media
When you want to learn something new, where is the first place you go? In the digital world, it is likely you take to Google to find educational websites or videos about the topic. So, if you’re passionate about a specific area of veterinary nursing, have you considered starting your own website, blog or vlog where you document your knowledge and experiences?
Social media is also a brilliant platform for skill sharing, and can put you in touch with those who have similar interests – you can share skills and make connections in nursing forums such as VetNurse or social media groups like Vet Nurse Chatter, or even start your own community! If you’re looking for some inspiration to get started, take a look at some of the amazing veterinary nurses sharing knowledge online, such as Lou the Vet Nurse, Alex the Cat Nurse, Scales, Feathers and Tails VN, The Rodent Nurse and many more!
3. Pass on your knowledge in a teaching role or by speaking at events
Teaching is a wonderful way to share your skills and knowledge with other nurses, or help student veterinary nurses to gain their formal qualifications. Plus, it’s another way to make an income from your passion.
It may be worth seeking out opportunities to share your skills in a teaching capacity, whether this is by leading on a nursing consultation or teaching on a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course or veterinary nursing programme. Not only will this allow you to share your skills, but it could also help you get a feel for how you take to teaching, if this something you have considered as a career path in the past. You can find out more about becoming a veterinary nursing lecturer here. Sharing your skills via teaching could also give you the opportunity to undertake further training. For example, some Veterinary nurses pursuing teaching roles who do not hold a degree may look to ‘top up’ their diploma to degree level by undertaking the BSc Honours Veterinary Nursing Top Up Programme.
Another way to share your experiences is by speaking to local community groups, or attending career fairs such as Careers With Animals Day, to educate the public about your work and the veterinary nursing profession as a whole!
4. Become a clinical coach
Supporting a student veterinary nurse through their formal training can be a great way to pass on your expertise. Explaining concepts, demonstrating practical skills and answering questions from a student in practice can help you review and improve your clinical skills, as well as identify any weak spots in your own professional practice you may wish to return to.
Often, it’s not just the student who learns something new during the training process. Your mentoring can expose you to new ideas and ways of thinking that will aid your personal and professional growth. You could also undertake further training by attending congresses such as Clinical Coach Congress, or even study professional coaching and mentoring qualifications to develop new coaching and mentoring skills to share with other clinical coaches. Find out more about becoming a Clinical Coach
5. Volunteer at home or abroad
There are veterinary organisations all over the world in need of qualified VNs to volunteer their nursing skills! Volunteering can be a good opportunity to travel whilst gaining valuable new experiences, nurturing professional skills and helping animals in amazing places.
Depending on what organisation you choose to volunteer for, your experience may allow you to teach others, apply your expertise to unusual cases, deal with less common species or gain additional knowledge to take back home and share with others. For example, one of our former students, Carly, has made several visits to Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre in Indonesia since qualifying as a veterinary nurse with us in 2019, to volunteer and learn more about exotic wildlife – you can read more about Carly’s experiences here.