What do veterinary nurses do? The kennel nurse.

There are many roles veterinary nurses have in the vet practice. One of the main roles is being a kennel nurse – or the patient care nurse or ward nurse in some practices. The kennel nurse has an important role as they are in charge of all the patients that are in for that day/night. They are responsible for monitoring the wellbeing of the patient along with monitoring them before and after surgery. All practices will have a kennel nurse but some of their roles may differ depending on where they work. Some practices will keep patients in overnight whilst others don’t. The practices that keep patients in overnight will have a night kennel nurse and a day kennel nurse. They still have the same roles but the only difference is they’ll have a handover from a day or night team.

The beginning of the day

A kennel nurses’ day will start early, before the practice has even opened. During this time if there is a night nurse then the day nurse will get a handover and take over the care of the patients. The kennel nurse will also get the kennels ready for any day patients, put bedding down, water bowls etc and arrange which patient will go in which kennel.

Examining patients

Part of the kennel nurse’s role is to examine patients with the vet. During these, observations are done by checking heart rate, temperature, respiration rate and having a general feel of the patient. Intravenous cannulas are checked that they are still patent. These checks are vital as they can assess how the patient is doing; are they improving or need more investigations. At this point a plan of action can be made. Do they need further investigations? Do they need bloods taking? Is there a medication or fluid plan? Can we consider discharging them? During this time owners will be contacted and updated about their animal.

Medicating

Another role of the kennel nurse is to medicate the patients. This could be from administering pre-medication for patients there for routine procedures to administering medication for poorly patients. This ranges from tablets to injections to complex multi-drug intravenous infusions.

Building relationships

Patients that are kept in the hospital for a while can soon become quite sad that they aren’t at home, this can soon make them quite down. As kennel nurses we try and spend time with them to build relationships to help them feel comfortable in their environment. Spending time with them can be from brushing them, if they tolerate this at home. If they are mobile and able to go outside for a walk then the kennel nurse will spend time with them outside for a change of scenery. It is also important to build relations with the owners so they feel reassured that you’re looking after their pet and know they can ask you about any concerns.

Communication

Communication is vital in the veterinary practice. The kennel nurse is the first point of call when it comes to patients in the kennels. Communication can be done by various ways. It is important for the kennel nurse and vet to have good communication so that the patient gets the best care. It is also vital that the kennel nurse and vet have good communication with the owner. Let’s have a look at how kennel nurses will communicate with members of the team.

Hospital sheets

Each inpatient will have a hospital sheet which is normally kept on the front of the kennel. The hospital sheet is used to monitor vitals which are temperature, pulse, respiration, mucus membrane colour, demeanour and to note any motions passed. Also recorded on there is whether or when the patient has been taken for a walk and if they have eaten/ been offered food. These sheets also have medications to be and/or have been administered written on them. As needed the kennel nurse will monitor each patient and use these sheets to write any observations down along with marking that they have been given medication. This means anyone that checks this patient can clearly see they have been checked, how they are doing and what medication is due. This is such an important way of communication when it comes to inpatients.

Clinical notes

These are usually on a computer system. It is a good way to communicate if the kennel nurse and vet again write down their observations. Even though paper documents will be on a patient’s file too, it is always easier to see past history on a computer!

Hand overs

Hand overs are when the kennel nurse hands over the patients to another kennel nurse. These are important to be done as again observations are passed on along with a plan of action for the patient.

Phoning owners

Keeping in touch with owners is vital. A kennel nurse alongside the vet will keep owners updated about their animals all the time.

Post operative patient care

When patients recover from their procedures, they are handed back over to the kennel nurse where they will be monitored. It is important they are monitored throughout their recovery for any problems. The observations we routinely monitor are:

Temperature. A patient’s temperature will drop throughout an anaesthetic or sedation and it is vital to get it back to normal for a good recovery. The kennel nurse will monitor the temperature and assess if the patient needs any heating aids, these are to help get the patient warm again. These could be heated pads, blankets etc.
Another parameter we monitor as kennel nurses is pulse and respiration, when recovering we want these to come back to a normal value. If these parameters increase or decrease dramatically it would indicate a problem.
Pain scoring is another thing a kennel nurse will monitor; we use charts to score this. These are vital and tell us if the patient needs more pain relief than expected. We use pain scoring charts to assess each patient.
Demeanour is always observed on recovery too, whilst we wouldn’t expect a patient to be bouncing up and down after any surgery.
Appetite – is the patient eating post-surgery? I always find that some patients are very hungry as they have been starved but then some just won’t eat whilst in the hospital.
Wound checks are also critical: most day patients will have been in for surgery so checking any wounds for swelling, discharge or bleeding is always checked until the patient is discharged.

Of course, specific patients might require additional monitoring, and most practices have a wide range of equipment for more sophisticated patient monitoring.

Once the kennel nurse is happy with the patient’s recovery and if they have woken up and are back on their feet they can then decide when the patient can go home.

Discharging

Kennel nurses are likely to be the ones that discharge any day patients and any inpatients. Before any patients are discharged the kennel nurse will get patients ready for home time by removing any cannulas, replace or remove any dressings, check any wounds and make sure medication is ready. During a discharge they will discuss with owners any post operative care, talk through the medication that has been given, what to look out for on recovery and arrange when patients need to be seen again. The same with inpatients, they’ll discuss any treatment that they have had, what medication they need and when they need to be seen again. It is important all of this information is passed over correctly as it could affect the patients after care. They are there for any support for the owners, if the owners have any questions now is the time they can ask,

Conclusion

Kennel nurses play a vital role in the practice. They provide a lot of love and care to each patient and treat them as one of their own. They are there to reassure owners that their pets are being cared for just like how they would at home.