During May 2024, the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) led the veterinary profession and the public in celebrating 20 years of raising awareness of the veterinary nursing profession, via its annual Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM) campaign.
This year, the campaign theme was ‘Progression’, highlighting the profession’s diverse range of skills and career pathways. Whether showcasing roles in first opinion or referral practice; with small animal, equine, farm or exotic species; or in a clinical or non-clinical setting, each year VNAM seeks to recognise every member of the veterinary nursing profession. During the month, BVNA also continued to drive awareness about why protection of the ‘veterinary nurse’ title is so crucial.
An important part of each VNAM is BVNA’s annual competition. In 2024, BVNA invited individuals, veterinary nursing teams, whole practice/workplace teams; and those working with any species and in any role within the veterinary profession, to enter with the overall brief of “Your #VNAM2024, Your Way”.
The profession came together to produce some fantastic resources to educate the public about the vital role of veterinary nurses in being a champion for animal welfare. You can view all of the competition entries here.
The two competition winners and two runners-up are:
Winners
- The Donkey Sanctuary
- Invited the public for a tour of the sanctuary where a talk was delivered by the veterinary nursing team. Attendees were educated on what veterinary nurses do – to include that currently, anybody can call themselves a ‘veterinary nurse’ regardless of their level of training.
- In addition, the veterinary nursing team invited students from local VN colleges for three separate talks throughout May, to highlight how RVNs with training in small animal species can progress into equine nursing.
- Thrums Vets
- Organised a two-day course for children at school-leaving age with an interest in a career in veterinary nursing. The course included where and how to study to become a veterinary nurse, plus an introduction to some practical skills such as bandaging, carrying out a clinical examination, suturing, plus gloving and gowning.
- The practice team were also filmed by Scottish news channel STV.
Competition runners up
- Delaware Veterinary Group
- Island VetCare
BVNA President, Lyndsay Hughes, said:
“When BVNA set this year’s theme for VNAM, we were unsure how this would be received and whether the concept would be appreciated. I can safely say that we have been absolutely blown away and overwhelmed by the amount of interaction we have had with VNAM this year.
Our competition entries have been absolutely outstanding, and it has been wonderful to see how the theme has been interpreted. The variety of entries we have had, and the quality of these, has made it really very difficult to judge this year’s competition and has made the team exceptionally proud to know we work alongside such excellent veterinary nursing teams.
Thank you to everyone who entered for taking the time to be an integral part in sharing this year’s VNAM theme. Your continued efforts help us raise awareness about the significant impact veterinary nurses have and the fundamental role you play in ensuring animal welfare is maintained.”
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