DEFINITION, ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF GOOD NURSING CARE IN VETERINARY MEDICINE Sally L. Cleland* NuRSINGc cAR has always been an integrated part of human medicine and has developed into a profession unto itself. Yet, it seems at times in veterinary medicine to be disregarded or even worse, neglected. Isn't it time that we as veterinarians accept the responsibility to provide total patient care including a good nursing care program? Isn't it time that we accept the responsibility to adequately educate ourselves and/or others who may represent us, in the area of nursing care? To better understand what nursing care is, perhaps a closer examination into what a nurse and what nursing is would be appropriate. Generally speaking, a nurse is one who alleviates suffering, prevents further illness, provides safety and promotes health (1). Although a nurse has to have a fundamental understanding of disease, medicine, surgery and therapy, the service a nurse provides embodies more than what is in the textbooks. Common sense and concern also play essential roles. Nursing itself is a process of assisting individual patients who may be diseased, disoriented, or disturbed, injured, helpless or weak, to perform activities they normally could do themselves but are unable to because of their current disability (6). To nurse is to foster; to care is to maintain the individual's well-being, hence nursing care is fostering the patient's well-being. Just as one learns to nurse, one learns to care. Nursing care is performing various duties "with compassion as opposed to sufferance or tolerance, tenderness and consideration* as opposed to sense of duty, with respect and concern as opposed to indifference" (5). Some may ask why is nursing care necessary in veterinary medicine? Consider a definition of disease as "dis-ease, dis-comfort, dis-harmony with the environment" (6). To the patient, the environment or his reaction to the environment has altered (2). This is especially significant when one is considering a veterinary patient. Animals are unprepared for illness and unaware of disease; one can not explain to them their sickness nor their therapy. An
'Class of 1975, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Present address: 4824 Castle Road, Regina, Saskatchewan.
animal is a special type of patient, somewhat like an unknowing infant. Verbal communication is difficult, and non-verbal communication becomes extremely important. Gestures, movements, tone of voice are all significant. Through thorough knowledge of principles as well as techniques, frequent patient contact and evaluation and adaptation to various situations, a nurse can manipulate and hopefully improve the patient's environment. Hence, to answer the question why is nursing care in veterinary medicine necessary, it is necessary because it provides a therapeutic environment. "Nursing care has to put the patient in the best position for nature to act upon him." FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (5).
One can do wonders with medicine and surgery, but it will be the pre-operative, postoperative and general nursing care which will determine the degree of patient comfort, duration of hospital stay and the level of health achieved. Implementation of a nursing regime can be achieved in three ways. It can be the veterinarian himself, a veterinary technician or a para-veterinary technician who is the "nurse". It should be obvious that a properly functioning nursing program would be very time consuming. This may be the reason it can often be hurried or overlooked. Yet because the veterinarian does not have adequate time to devote to nursing duties, it does not render them any less important. Hence, if the veterinarian wishes to provide a therapeutic environment for his patients, he may need to hire an assistant. Here he has two choices, he may hire a previously trained veterinary technician or he may hire, and train himself, a lay person. In any case, whether the veterinarian handles the nursing responsibilities himself or hires someone else to do it, he must have an adequate understanding of nursing principles and the ability to carry out the services. Not only does a veterinarian's staff need to be educated on principles of nursing care, but the clinician should also train his clients. If nursing services cease when a patient is discharged from the clinic, all the efforts to achieve optimal health and maintain it (for example, laboratory work, diagnosis, therapy, 242
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surgery, etc.) may have been in vain if the "Nursing is an art, and if it is to remain an art, client fails to continue therapy at home (for it requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a example, medication, physio-therapy, feeding preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work, programs, etc.). It is good public relations and for what is the having to do with dead canvas good veterinary medicine if one takes time to or cold marble compared with having to do with explain to the owner the fundamentals of the the living body? It is one of the Fine Arts; I had disease problem and teach him various tech- almost said the finest of the Fine Arts." niques to maintain the animal's condition. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (1). Oftentimes, the client can be taught to recognize various signs of disease problems and how There is a need for improving the level of to act accordingly until he can seek veterinary nursing care in our veterinary clinics and the assistance. time is now. One may question the cost of such a nursing program. If a veterinarian intends to provide "'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to the nursing services himself, his primary costs support him after." will be an increased demand on his time and the SHAKESPEARE cost of his time doing a job a technician could Timons of Athens do. On the other hand, if he hires an assistant to be responsible for the nursing services, the primary costs will be the amount of time necesREFERENCES sary to train the new personnel and the salary to be paid to them. Most likely, the time spent 1. DE YOUNG, L. The Foundations of Nursing. training a veterinary assistant will not be sigSt. Louis, Missouri: C. V. Mosby Company. nificant if one compares it to the time neces1972. sary for the practitioner to complete the nursing 2. JONES, B. Animal Nursing. London: Pergamon Press. 1972. program himself. Also, the salary he pays the nursing staff would be less than the salary he 3. KNOWLES, R. P. The Initial Management of the Emergency Case in Small Animals. Veteriwould pay himself to do the nursing. With nary Clinics of North America, Volume 2, personnel devoted specifically to nursing care, No. 2. pp. 203-218. Philadelphia, Pennsyla more thorough, efficient job is done. It also vania: W. B. Saunders Company. 1972. leaves the veterinarian more time to devote to 4. MANUAL OF STANDARDS FOR ANIMAL Hospiother hospital activities and to himself (for TALS. South Bend, Indiana: American Animal example, administration, reading, research, reHospital Association. 1971. 5. MEYERS, M. Nursing Fundamentals - A laxation, recreation, etc.). Book of Readings. United States: Wm. C. In summary, nursing care has been defined Brown Co. 1967. as directing patient care and maintaining a NURSING CARE OF PATIENTS WITH MEDICALhealthy environment. Its significance to veteri- 6. SURGICAL DISORDERS. New York: McGrawnary medicine has been discussed and the Hill Books. 1971. options to implement a nursing program and 7. SUPPLEMENT TO THE MANUAL OF STANDARDS the benefits to the veterinarian have been FOR ANIMAL HOSPITALS. South Bend, Indiana: included. American Animal Hospital Association. 1974.
RESUME etude sur la sensibilit6 a la temp6rature de certaines souches de Mycoplasma gaUisepticum. R. B. Truscott (Ont. Vet. Coll., Guelph, Ontario). Deux souches de Mycoplasma gallisepticum, soient MG et MG324 (souche a faible virulence resistant au tylosin), ont 6te compar6es relativement a leur resistance aux temperatures de 1150, 116°, ... 120°F durant 5, 10, 15 et 20 minutes. Des cultures ag6es de 20 heures ont ete diluees de 1O5 a 1010 et celles qui
contenaient de 1 a 103 U.D.C. (unites de deviation du compl6ment) ont ete trouvees satisfaisantes pour servir d'inoculum. Nous avons demontre la relation existant entre le nombre d'U.D.C. de 'inoculum et la survie des micro-organismes. MG324 a ete plus resistant que MGss a 115°F et 116OF durant 15 et 20 minutes et a 117°F durant 5 et 10 minutes.
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'Class of 1975, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Present address: 4824 Castle Road, Regina, Saskatchewan.
animal is a special type of patient, somewhat like an unknowing infant. Verbal communication is difficult, and non-verbal communication becomes extremely important. Gestures, movements, tone of voice are all significant. Through thorough knowledge of principles as well as techniques, frequent patient contact and evaluation and adaptation to various situations, a nurse can manipulate and hopefully improve the patient's environment. Hence, to answer the question why is nursing care in veterinary medicine necessary, it is necessary because it provides a therapeutic environment. "Nursing care has to put the patient in the best position for nature to act upon him." FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (5).
One can do wonders with medicine and surgery, but it will be the pre-operative, postoperative and general nursing care which will determine the degree of patient comfort, duration of hospital stay and the level of health achieved. Implementation of a nursing regime can be achieved in three ways. It can be the veterinarian himself, a veterinary technician or a para-veterinary technician who is the "nurse". It should be obvious that a properly functioning nursing program would be very time consuming. This may be the reason it can often be hurried or overlooked. Yet because the veterinarian does not have adequate time to devote to nursing duties, it does not render them any less important. Hence, if the veterinarian wishes to provide a therapeutic environment for his patients, he may need to hire an assistant. Here he has two choices, he may hire a previously trained veterinary technician or he may hire, and train himself, a lay person. In any case, whether the veterinarian handles the nursing responsibilities himself or hires someone else to do it, he must have an adequate understanding of nursing principles and the ability to carry out the services. Not only does a veterinarian's staff need to be educated on principles of nursing care, but the clinician should also train his clients. If nursing services cease when a patient is discharged from the clinic, all the efforts to achieve optimal health and maintain it (for example, laboratory work, diagnosis, therapy, 242
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surgery, etc.) may have been in vain if the "Nursing is an art, and if it is to remain an art, client fails to continue therapy at home (for it requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a example, medication, physio-therapy, feeding preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work, programs, etc.). It is good public relations and for what is the having to do with dead canvas good veterinary medicine if one takes time to or cold marble compared with having to do with explain to the owner the fundamentals of the the living body? It is one of the Fine Arts; I had disease problem and teach him various tech- almost said the finest of the Fine Arts." niques to maintain the animal's condition. FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE (1). Oftentimes, the client can be taught to recognize various signs of disease problems and how There is a need for improving the level of to act accordingly until he can seek veterinary nursing care in our veterinary clinics and the assistance. time is now. One may question the cost of such a nursing program. If a veterinarian intends to provide "'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to the nursing services himself, his primary costs support him after." will be an increased demand on his time and the SHAKESPEARE cost of his time doing a job a technician could Timons of Athens do. On the other hand, if he hires an assistant to be responsible for the nursing services, the primary costs will be the amount of time necesREFERENCES sary to train the new personnel and the salary to be paid to them. Most likely, the time spent 1. DE YOUNG, L. The Foundations of Nursing. training a veterinary assistant will not be sigSt. Louis, Missouri: C. V. Mosby Company. nificant if one compares it to the time neces1972. sary for the practitioner to complete the nursing 2. JONES, B. Animal Nursing. London: Pergamon Press. 1972. program himself. Also, the salary he pays the nursing staff would be less than the salary he 3. KNOWLES, R. P. The Initial Management of the Emergency Case in Small Animals. Veteriwould pay himself to do the nursing. With nary Clinics of North America, Volume 2, personnel devoted specifically to nursing care, No. 2. pp. 203-218. Philadelphia, Pennsyla more thorough, efficient job is done. It also vania: W. B. Saunders Company. 1972. leaves the veterinarian more time to devote to 4. MANUAL OF STANDARDS FOR ANIMAL Hospiother hospital activities and to himself (for TALS. South Bend, Indiana: American Animal example, administration, reading, research, reHospital Association. 1971. 5. MEYERS, M. Nursing Fundamentals - A laxation, recreation, etc.). Book of Readings. United States: Wm. C. In summary, nursing care has been defined Brown Co. 1967. as directing patient care and maintaining a NURSING CARE OF PATIENTS WITH MEDICALhealthy environment. Its significance to veteri- 6. SURGICAL DISORDERS. New York: McGrawnary medicine has been discussed and the Hill Books. 1971. options to implement a nursing program and 7. SUPPLEMENT TO THE MANUAL OF STANDARDS the benefits to the veterinarian have been FOR ANIMAL HOSPITALS. South Bend, Indiana: included. American Animal Hospital Association. 1974.
RESUME etude sur la sensibilit6 a la temp6rature de certaines souches de Mycoplasma gaUisepticum. R. B. Truscott (Ont. Vet. Coll., Guelph, Ontario). Deux souches de Mycoplasma gallisepticum, soient MG et MG324 (souche a faible virulence resistant au tylosin), ont 6te compar6es relativement a leur resistance aux temperatures de 1150, 116°, ... 120°F durant 5, 10, 15 et 20 minutes. Des cultures ag6es de 20 heures ont ete diluees de 1O5 a 1010 et celles qui
contenaient de 1 a 103 U.D.C. (unites de deviation du compl6ment) ont ete trouvees satisfaisantes pour servir d'inoculum. Nous avons demontre la relation existant entre le nombre d'U.D.C. de 'inoculum et la survie des micro-organismes. MG324 a ete plus resistant que MGss a 115°F et 116OF durant 15 et 20 minutes et a 117°F durant 5 et 10 minutes.
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