Veterinary Nurse Vacancies - Are They All The Same?

When we talk of veterinary nursing jobs, the common perception is that they are all alike. People commonly think that all veterinary nurses have to do nothing but look after the animals and tend to them. Little do they realize that there are specialties in vet nursing jobs too, and two vet nurses could actually be having two totally different duties to perform. Hence, whenever you see some veterinary nursing vacancies, it would do you good to first get to know what specialties those vacancies are for.

In veterinary nursing jobs, there are the following specializations:

  • Animal attendant nurse
  • Animal examination nurse
  • Surgery assistant nurse
  • Animal dental nurse
  • Clinic assistant nurse

Animal attendant nurses are the general veterinary nurses, whose job profiles include duties such as attending to animals, preparing them for treatments, providing them care in the period after the surgery when they are recuperating, nursing them back to health with proper food and exercise, and following up with the owners about their well-being during lengthy treatment sessions. They also have to maintain the records of the treatments and the medications provided to the animals.

Animal examination nurse is just that. They have to handle the various examinations of the animals during the diagnoses. They have to collect the various samples of the animals, such as blood and urine and fecal samples and send them to the concerned laboratory departments for testing. They have to also maintain proper records of the tests and then submit them to the veterinarian doctors for their proper diagnoses.

The job of a surgery assistant nurse is much more difficult. They are supposed to prepare the animals for their surgeries by clipping them, cleaning them, removing their fur and disinfecting the patches of skins where the incisions will be made. During the surgeries, they are to provide different instruments for the operation, and do tasks such as administering and monitoring anesthesia levels, swabbing the blood as the operation progresses and finally dressing the operative wounds. Some surgery nurses would also be responsible to nurse the animals back to good health by providing them physiotherapy and other techniques.

It is clear to understand what an animal dental nurse will do. They assist animal dentists in their jobs. These nurses specialize in dental health of animals.

Clinical assistant veterinary nurses are those who help in maintaining the hygiene of the clinic where the animal treatments are conducted. Their jobs include cleaning up the examination beds with disinfectants, cleaning the bench tops and cages where animals are kept, maintaining records of the treatments of animals and other such sundry tasks.

However, in most clinics, veterinary nurses may have to do several duties, and the line of differentiation between the specializations may become redundant. So, when you are looking at responding to advertisements of veterinary nurse vacancies, you must be ready to perform any of these tasks that could be assigned to you.