Vet nurses aren't being used to their full potential, says expert

A University of Adelaide Academic believes vet nurses are underutilised, and could play a key part in reducing the workload of Australia's stressed rural vets.

But vet nurses face many of the same challenges as veterinarians, with the additional burdens of lower income and recognition for their work. This has led to a "dissatisfaction crisis" driving nurses out of the industry at similar rates to vets.

Coordinator for the University of Adelaide's Bachelor of Veterinary Technology Courtnay Baskerville said vet nurses are struggling across the country.

"We're usually significantly less paid than veterinarians. With that comes stress around financial pressures," she said.

"Veterinary technicians - who are also veterinary nurses - in the US had significantly higher suicide rates than the general population.

"What they've suggested is this could be because we have very little professional autonomy, which makes us quite vulnerable to mental ill health."

Dr Baskerville said vet nurses were not being used to their full potential. Surveys of the industry show vets continue to perform many of the routine tasks covered in rudimentary training.

This is influenced by a number of factors, including the differences in what they are allowed to do between different states.

In some cases, old habits die hard. Some vets who have worked alone for long periods of time may be unwilling to acknowledge the expertise of people who have not undertaken the same training as they have.

In others, they may not acknowledge expectations and standards of care have changed dramatically over the last 20 years, necessitating delegation to provide gold standard care.

Dr Baskerville said she's experienced this in her own career as a vet nurse. Moving from Victoria to South Australia, there were tasks routinely delegated to her she was unable to legally perform.

"We have relatively robust education practices for veterinary nurses now," she said.

"What we're saying is we can contribute to more of these solutions if we were more appropriately utilised in practice and empowered to use the full spectrum of skills that we are very capable of doing.

"I've been lucky enough to work in practises that have utilised the full spectrum of my skills, but I've worked in others that haven't operated that way."

High quality training is available for vet nurses through universities and vocational education centres across the country. But without legislated standards, these are often under recognised.

Western Australia has led the way on setting standards by passing the Veterinary Practice Act in 2021.

This establishes minimum standards, and a register similar to that used for nurses involved in human medicine.

Dr Baskerville said it would imbue vet nurses with more trust if similar regulations were established across the country.

"I can't take a radiograph because nurses can't hold a radiation license in South Australia, whereas in Victoria, I can do those procedures," she said.

"National legislation and registration would be the ultimate goal, but we really just need a state to pick this up and implement it so we can get the ball rolling.

"It's a consistent voice throughout the profession that this is what we want, and where we want to go with our profession."