Name: Diane Leach
Title: RVN
Practice: Wear Referrals
How long have you been a veterinary nurse?
I have been a registered veterinary nurse since November 2020 and training since 2017 through the Diploma route at college.
What is the most rewarding thing about this career choice?
Knowing you have improved the welfare of an animal’s life and made their time at the vets less stressful. Also, the cuddles!
What’s the best thing about working at Wear Referrals?
The care of patients and training here is of an extremely high standard and the support you get as an employee, weather it is progressing in skills or in life there is always lots of support.
What does an average day involve for a veterinary nurse at your practice? What type of treatments and care does this include?
For me personally, working in oncology, we have procedure workup days where I might be doing a sedation or general anaesthetic while the patient is receiving some form of diagnostic imaging or biopsies. We also then have our chemo days where our patients receiving chemotherapy come in for snacks, cuddles, and chemo! Around this, there is patient care, and maintaining the department ensuring it stays clean and organised.
How has your role progressed?
I started on the post registration program, as a PRP nurse. I have now progressed to a permanent role as an oncology nurse, aiding our oncology specialist in running the department.
How has your role changed during the pandemic?
I started in the pandemic!
What single most important thing has helped you through these challenging times?
Starting my job helped bring me a bit of normalcy back into my life and saw me achieving life goals and not feeling like I had to stop progressing because of the pandemic. Also, broadening my gardening skills!
What attracted you to a career as a veterinary nurse?
I always wanted to do something with animals, it was actually every time I would go to the vets with my own pets, I always felt like, “I would love to do that”, I just didn’t think I was ‘smart’ enough and lacked the confidence to try and achieve this career. I put this down to being dyslexic and the impact that can have on your self-confidence from a young age! After a few impactful moments in my life, I decided I needed to do more! I suppose I have now proved to myself I can do more than I thought I could! I just learn a bit differently, and that’s great actually!
What advice would you give someone thinking about a career as a Vet Nurse?
My advice would be that if you are like I was, not sure of your potential or feeling like it’s a bit far out of reach, that you might surprise yourself with what you can achieve! A lot of this job is hands on, of course you must have the knowledge to back it up, but there is a lot of help to get you there. You can go and do work experience in a practice and see if you like it!
How has your role progressed within the practice/with Linnaeus?
I started as a post registration program nurse where you learn on top of your basic nursing training. I have now progressed to a permanent role as an oncology nurse, aiding our Oncology specialist in running the department. So, for a person who didn’t think they could achieve an awful lot, I think its safe to say I have proved myself wrong!
