Rediscovering why I love being a VN through CPD

Recent news from the RCVS has showed an alarming level of veterinary nurses showing non-compliance with regards to required continual personal development (CPD) hours, with a large number (58%) giving no reason at all for non-compliance. 

Mental health concerns are a big cause of time away from the profession at the moment and are a major focus of my groups within the community.

Last year I took some time away from work due to my mental health having suffered for various reasons. My depression, stress and anxiety had begun to make me lose love for the profession I had worked so hard to get into and stay in.

While taking time away wasn’t an easy decision I knew it was one I needed to do. After around a week of lying in bed not knowing what to do or thinking about the future, I saw a VN Times under the bed. I grab it and flicked through.

While I cannot remember the article, I do remember the feeling it gave me. In this moment I remembered why I loved my job and why I wanted to keep going. I ended up reading the whole issue in one sitting.

There are so many ways of making up the needed 45 hours (15 per year) of CPD without having to spend any money, whether this is your own or practice funds. I will look into some of the ways I have done in the past.

We all have reasons that may hold us back from going on day courses and congresses. These situations can make the best of us anxious, so we can look for ways to increase our hours at home as best we can until we feel able to attend such events.

My journals are sent to my home address. While many of us will have them sent to work, I can imagine many end up in our post trays and often stay there. With busy work days and so many rushed lunches, do we get time to read them in work? I know I rarely do, so this is why I keep them at home.

During my time off work, I was glad I had done this as I had copies of multiple different journals including the VNJ and The Veterinary Nurse. On top of reading journals, I also looked to online sources of CPD to keep my interest up. If you look well enough, there will be online course and features for any interest or speciality you can desire.

All journals have online libraries (for example):

• Vet Times
• Veterinary Nursing Journal
• The Veterinary Nurse
• Companion Animal

In addition to this, most companies have online courses short or long.

With regards to what I did:

• I checked out the Royal Canin e-Learning site for canine and feline nutrition and weight management.
• Diabetes management CPD was accessible to me on registering online.

The Webinar Club from CPD solutions is also a great source of webinars for nurses at all levels from general practice to referrals.

Another great source for the vet nurse community can be found on social media. Groups on Facebook can be both a CPD resource and a way of keeping up to date on new techniques. Various groups are available, some just for nurses like Vet Nurse Chatter and VN Wishlist. Others include vets as well like Veterinary Voices and Vets: Stay, Go, Diversify.

This month off ended up renewing and turned out to be the best thing I could have done at this time in my life and career. I came back with a fresh intake of knowledge and was keen to get back to work.

My aim in this blog is to highlight that although completing CPD hours may seem like a chore, it really doesn’t need to be. With a little searching, we can find CPD that is interesting and useful for us in practice. If you are struggling to get help with funds in practice, think about the benefits to the practice and present these to your managers.