The personal and professional role of the RVN - EBVN Flashcards
What are some factors in the workplace that may cause stress and poor mental health for veterinary nurses?
- high workload
- long working hours
- unclear expectations
- challenging ethical situations
Define COMPASSION FATIGUE
The physical, emotional and psychological impact of helping others, often through experiences of stress and trauma. Often experienced by caring professionals such as doctors, nurses, vets and vet nurses, and describes a point at which the individual has no more empathy left to give.
What are some signs of compassion fatigue?
- feeling detached or numb
- being uninterested in the job
- lack of focus and concentration
- physical symptoms such as lethargy, tiredness and burnout
What are some consequences of compassion fatigue?
- poor patient care
- negative effect on the rest of the veterinary team
What are some important skills to develop as an SVN?
- time management
- self motivation
- communication, both verbal and non-verbal
- self discipline
- clinical skills
What are some key documents that are used to help guide an SVNs and RVNs?
- the RCVS Code of Conduct for RVNs
- the RCVS Fitness to Practice document
- their employment contract
- their apprenticeship and college contract
What are some examples of goals that an SVN or RVN can set for themselves in personal and professional life?
They may be time management related, related to mental health or wellbeing, improving personal communication, furthering clinical skills, or promotion seeking
What is a SMART goal?
One that is
S - specific
M - measurable
A - achievable
R - relevant
T - time bound
What are some examples of charities and organisations that assist with mental health and well being?
- Vetlife
- Mind Matters Initiative
- NHS Every Mind Matters
- Anxiety UK
What does Vetlife do?
Free service for vet staff. Provides assistance on mental health support, financial assistance, information and resources
What does the Mind Matters Initiative do?
Developed by the RCVS. Provides mental health awareness training and resources to support the wellbeing of veterinary staff
What does NHS Every Matters do?
Provides resources and information to help individuals to manage and improve their mental health
What does Anxiety UK do?
A national charity. Provides help and support for those suffering from anxiety, stress and anxiety related depression
Define EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE
A problem solving approach to clinical practice that integrates a systematic search for, and critical appraisal of, the most relevant evidence to answer a clinical question.
What does evidence based veterinary nursing combine?
Clinical expertise, most relevant scientific evidence, patient circumstances and owner values
What are the 5 steps of EVBM?
- Ask - define a clinical question that can be answered
- Acquire - find the best available evidence to answer the question
- Appraise - assess the quality of the evidence source
- Apply - implement the findings of the evidence into clinical practice
- Assess - evaluate the impact of the changes
Then we must reflect on the process and decide if it was worth doing.
Who should use EBVN?
Anyone in the veterinary profession - all veterinary professionals should aim to seek valid answers to clinical questions and question if ‘how its always been done’ is truly correct
What is an actual problem in the context of EBVN?
Identifiable issues that are currently happening e.g. a dog present with vomiting and diarrhoea
What are potential problems in the context of EBVN?
Problems that could develop from the initial, actual problem e.g. a dog presenting with vomiting and diarrhoea could become dehydrated and their electrolytes imbalances
What is the RCVS recommended method for developing clinical questions?
P - Patient/population - who is the relevant population (be as specific as possible)
I - Intervention - what intervention are you interested in? Could be a diagnostic test, surgery, medical procedure, food etc
C - Comparison/control - must be the opposite of the intervention. No intervention is a valid option.
O - Outcome - what are you going to improve/measure/effect? How does it affect the patient?
What are some examples of sources that can be used to help answer a clinical question?
- systematic review
- randomised controlled trial
- cohort study
- case series and case reports
What is a systematic review?
An article or book published after examination of published material on a subject
What is meta analysis?
Works consisting of studies that use a quantitative method to combine the results of independent studies. Helps to synthesise studies and draw conclusions
What is a randomised controlled trial?
A clinical trial that involves at least one control and one test treatment. Treatments should be randomly assigned.
What are cohort studies?
Studies in which a defined subset of the population are defined. Follows the cohort over a period of time, assessing the impact of factors such as exposure to a given risk factor
What are case control studies?
Compares groups affected and not affected by a certain factor and examines the relationship between the attribute and the level of affectedness
What are case reports and case series?
Clinical presentations that may be followed by evaluative studies. There is no comparison or control group
What are some examples of primary sources?
Technical data, reports, research data. May include the authors opinion
What are some examples of secondary sources?
Textbooks, review papers
What should be considered when selecting a source?
- the relevance
- the reliability
- contraindications and inconsistences
- the distinction between facts and opinion
- what kind of evidence is needed and how much?
What sort of situations can EBVN be applied to in practice?
- diagnosis and treatment of common conditions
- decisions on the drugs to stock in practice
- formation of clinical protocols including SOPs
- developing personal skills and knowledge base
- review of new information e.g. newly developed products
- VN care planning
Define CLINICAL GOVERNANCE
A continuing process of reflection, analysis and improvement in professional practice for the benefit of the animal patient and the client owner.
What are the main areas of clinical governance?
- Animal safety - clear protocols, changes of procedure well communicated, debrief meetings for significant events
- Clinical effectiveness - regular discussion meetings for the whole team, performance review system, implementation of CPD learnings
- Patient and client experience - effective case handover between staff members, monitoring and taking on feedback from clients, easily accessible complaints procedure.
Why must correct clinical records be kept?
Enables the practice to carry out effective and efficient service to its client and their animal patients
What can be some consequences of poor clinical record keeping?
Inadequate patient care
Poor customer service
Lack of information in cases of complaint
What are some rules surrounding the keeping of clinical client records?
They must be:
- be accurate, easy to follow and comprehensive
- not contain disparaging remarks
- be written up in a timely manner
- contain name or initials of the author
- be up to date with client contact information
