Veterinary Nursing Conference

Wildlife:

This session will explore the legalities of looking after injured wildlife in Australia, focusing specifically on Victorian regulations for veterinary clinics and their support staff. It will provide the basics for providing veterinary care to wildlife within the clinic, including appropriate housing and feeding whilst in our care.

Emergency and the art of triage:

This session will explore the fundamentals of triage, how we prioritise emergencies and assess patients, using the primary and secondary survey.

From providing first aid over the phone to arrival at the clinic, this talk aims to provide the specifics of handling various, common emergencies we see in clinic to enhance confidence and preparedness of the team in critical situations.

The clot thickens: Insights into coagulopathies for veterinary nurses:

When pets lose the ability to clot their blood appropriately, it is an emergency and can be life threatening. Veterinary nurses have an essential role in the monitoring and treatment of these pets, who often require multiple days of hospitalization, repeat testing and careful handling.

In this talk, we will review normal haemostasis (how the body stops bleeding) and consider common conditions which disrupt this process such as snake envenomation, rodenticide poisoning and platelet disorders. We will look at the different diagnostic tests available, deepening your understanding of how we monitor bleeding disorders and increasing your confidence in dealing with these cases.

Calming techniques in canine and feline patients:

Many patients we see within clinic display signs of stress and anxiety. This talk focuses on a range of products and techniques for reduction of anxiety, such as the use of the calming thunder works range, and CEVAs calm clinic program.

We will look at techniques and tasks that can be performed to lower the stress of patients alongside product use, as well as how the calm program can help lower inpatient stress. The discussion will also address the importance of pheromones, what they are and how they work in relation to behaviour and how to put it all together.

Analgesia: A vet nurses perspective:

In this lecture, we will cover the basic physiology behind pain and how the 4 pain pathways operate within the body. This will include using these pathways as a vet nurse to understand the analgesic and anaesthetic drug choices when managing pain in our patients. We will also utilize pain-scoring techniques to improve patient analgesic regimes and patient care.

GI Nutrition: Beyond chicken and rice:

This presentation discusses the different nutritional approaches to managing diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and when each dietary approach should be used. The presentation will discuss the main types of gastrointestinal diets: highly digestible, low fat, increased fibre, and low allergen.

Grief and Wellness:

This presentation has a focus on wellness, looking at compassion fatigue and burnout , what these are and how they may occur.  As we may come across a lot of grief and difficulties working within a veterinary clinic, it is important to acknowledge stressors and find healthy and manageable ways to deal with them.   This talk will help provide you with the tools to help manage these and referencing for making your career a sustainable one.

Having graduated from the University of Queensland in 2001 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree (with honours), she brings to this role over twenty years of clinical experience. She has completed postgraduate certificate qualifications in both Veterinary Studies and Business Administration and was awarded membership by examination to the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in 2018 (Small animal dentistry and oral surgery).

While working as an associate veterinarian in a busy fast-paced hospital in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, he is now also a technical vet for Hill’s for New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT.