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Regional co-ordinator
Caring for the Cancer Patient. Talk given by Linda Roberts DipAVN(Med) VN Location; Duchy College, Rosewarne, Camborne. It was a dark evening on the outskirts of England. On the tip end of the world, us far away nurses were about to partake in a BVNA CPD evening. There was much anticipation in the air and all were excited. Some stayed late after college that day so they could attend the lecture. It was the first time I had seen the lecture theatre and it was very impressive. It was brand new and everything I was hoping for and more. There was already a computer setup for the power-point presentation and that was a big relief off my stressed out mind. Linda Roberts and I loaded up her presentation while the chairs were being put out and nurses tucked into the buffet provided. The room was beginning to fill out with eager nurses and so I handed out the lecture notes to everyone and checked the food table to see who else was still munching. By about 6:55pm everyone had made their way to their seats and on my final check to see if Linda was happy to go, I went and announced the meeting officially started and presented the fantastic Linda Roberts who is the cancer clinic nurse working very hard at Edinburgh university and that she had flown down that afternoon specially to talk to us. Linda was calm and welcoming as she began her talk. Everyone listened attentively as she went through the various types of cancer and their types of treatment. The presentation on the projector was very clear and concise. There were plenty of cute photos of her patients and all had their own heart-warming stories. The pace was perfect. Not too much clinical information in one go, and the talk followed easily. We had a break for tea and coffee for about 20 minutes half way through and then finished the second half talking about chemotherapy drugs themselves, how to administer them and talked about the whole “oh it’s all too scary to deal with” issue that we all seemed to feel. We went through health and safety in good detail and with the point that if they are managed correctly by trained staff, everything should be fine. Finally we concluded with general nursing techniques to give the patients a good quality of life while on the drugs and then the most important topic of knowing when to let them go. Something we all deal with daily, but with added support for both us nurses and dealing with the owners too. It is the veterinary nurses that make a real difference to the animals and owners that they help through these treatments and it was inspiring to see a clinic doing so much positive work. I hope everyone left knowing a lot more about chemotherapy to encourage their practices to consider the options. Now armed with much more knowledge, maybe the whole concept will be more approachable. The main point of being a veterinary nurse is to ensure the best quality of life possible for the animals. Training sessions like this give great insight to how best to manage the cancer patient and also how to look after the owners down their painful and frustrating paths as well. I felt lucky to have had such an interesting topic for my first CPD meeting as the regional coordinator for Cornwall. There will be many more meetings coming up this year, so keep a watch out for my next letter. Sam Scott-Burge Bsc (Hons) RVN MBVNA BVNA Regional Coordinator for Cornwall. |
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Samantha Scott-Burge BSc (Hons), RVN, MBVNA
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