At 8am the kennel nurse will arrive and kennels is usually non-stop until 5pm. Firstly, we need to attend to the inpatients – clean the kennels, give fresh food and water, take TPR’s (Temperature, Pulse and Respiration) check drip lines and administer any medications.
Next we prepare for the animals coming in for day surgery, getting comfortable warm beds ready. As they are admitted, we get them weighed and record this for the Vet.
Throughout the day, the inpatients will be taken for their surgery. When they return, we monitor them closely every half-hour and act accordingly. For example, if an animal has a low temperature, we will place a heated mat into the kennel and encourage movement of the joints to warm them up. If they are on fluids (a drip line), we make sure it is running correctly at the specified rate and that there is no air in the line or high pressure. Once the animal is awake enough, we offer them a small amount of water and for dogs, we also take them out into the garden for toileting. Usually by 2pm, we are able to advise the owners of their animal’s recovery and what time they can be collected. Caring for the inpatients takes place throughout the day and our duties can vary greatly.

After every operation each day,

it is vital that the equipment used is cleaned thoroughly. Each kit is scrubbed, washed at a cool temperature to disperse any blood clots and then sterilised. As a kennel nurse, we are also responsible for the washing and drying of towels, bedding so that we are ready in advance for the next day

When the animals are ready to go home, they are discharged by the kennel nurse and the owners are given full instructions on how to care for their pet, post surgery. This includes feeding instructions, monitoring wounds, when the post op check is due, administration of medications and general care advice.

After each animal leaves, the kennel is then cleaned and disinfected, ready for the next patient. Hygiene standards are vitally important within a Veterinary practice to stop the spread of unwanted diseases and infections. In contagious cases, e,g., a dog with kennel cough or a cat with flu, the animal is placed in our isolation area. Aprons and gloves must be worn at all times within this space (and disposed of before leaving) and all towels and bedding must be washed separately. The isolation room has feeding bowls, litter trays, towels and bedding which is kept purely for this area and must not be taken into the everyday kennels.

Just before 5pm, the kennel nurse will hand over for the evening. The nurse taking over is made aware of the condition of each inpatient and given instructions for the evening. Each animal staying overnight needs fresh food and water and the relevant medications given. If the animal is on a drip, this must be flushed through and checked to make sure that there is enough fluid in the bag to last overnight and that it is running efficiently. Observations must also be taken again (TPR’s) and the vet made aware of any changes in their condition before they leave. Once the animals are settled, the kennel area must be swept and mopped, bins emptied, shelves re-stocked and all washing up put away.

A Day in Theatre

Our day starts at 8am opening up all four theatres and preparing all the equipment needed for the days operations. The operation list can be as small as 6 operations’s a day or as large as 20 operations’s a day. Each day will vary and that’s what we love most about theatre nursing at Parkside you never have the same day twice.

Theatre gets going at 9am one of our jobs as a theatre nurse is to ensure all pre-op bloods are taken so the vet and I can administer all the animals pre-medication before their general anaesthetic, this is a sedation which includes pain relief. All animals are given this before they have their general anaesthetic.

As a theatre nurse it is our job to assist the veterinary surgeon during operations and to monitor the animals general anaesthetic. We have monitoring equipment that is connected to the animal that will monitor the animals pulse rate and oxygen levels. We monitor the animal’s vital signs every 10minutes and record this onto a monitoring sheet. During the operation it is our job to hand the veterinary surgeon the instruments and materials needed for that particular operation. All equipment is sterile and can only be handled by a sterile vet with surgical gloves. Instruments and materials are sterilised in autoclave bags and it is our job to open these bags and pass to the vet via the bags when required.

The animals fur is always clipped around the area of the operation site. This does not hurt and grows back quite quickly. The theatre nurse will then start cleaning the skin where the surgical incision site will be with diluted cholrhexadine and surgical spirit.

The vets wear surgical scrub suits (green pajarmas), face mask and a surgical hat, once these are on the vets scrub up (cleaning their hands just like in Holby city) then they put on sterile surgical gloves for all operations. The animal has surgical drapes placed over the incision site and the operation begins.

We perform a range of operations here at Parkside. Cat, dog, rabbit neutering, we now also do bitch spays by key hole surgery, dental where the animals teeth are scaled and polished and sometimes they need to have fillings too this is done on site here at Parkside, x-rays, ultrasounds, repairing broken bones, all done in one of our four theatres we have.

Each day we will have 2–3 vets operating at one time and four theatre nurses working through each operation this sometings can take all day and have been know to be operating till after 5 o’clock in the afternoon.

Animals recover quite quickly from their anaesthetics and most of the time their able to go home the same day unless they have had major surgery that needs intensive nursing care. Depending on the operation some animals can go home as early as 2pm, some stay a bit later or when it is convenient for their owner to collect which can be up to 7.30pm.

All four theatres at the end of the day are cleaned ceiling to floor (by the theatre nurses of course) all equipment is removed and cleaned and stored ready for the next day.

Articles

A Day in kennels

A Day in Theatre

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