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Winterthur, 02.11.2011
Statement
of the President
of the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists
regarding the Certificate Course
in Monitoring of Anaesthesia (SPVS)
in the UK
The Executive Committee of the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists as well as its memberships hereby state their position with respect to the implentation of such courses. We believe that any qualification that undermines or serves to circumvent that of the Registered Veterinary Nurse should not be supported, particularly when clearly aimed at allowing unqualifed lay staff to undertake nursing duties.
Veterinary Nurse training in the UK is highly regarded and for good reasons. It produces nurses who are capable of undertaking the challenging and potentially difficult task of caring for animals undergoing general anaesthesia. It seems short sighted to allow lay staff to undertake such duties and a marked retrospective step when Veterinary Technicians in other countries, such as the USA, must be li-censed in order to practice. In fact it might well be considered as a cost cutting exercise given that there is a well structured training programme already available. It is certainly not in the interests of animal welfare.
The current public perception is that all „nurses“ are equal, and whilst those in the profession know that this is not the case, it is important to educate clients about the benefits of qualified nurses.
To this end, the assocation supports changes to the Veterinary Surgeons Act that will enshrine the role of the Veterinary Nurse and provide legal protection for this title. Such legal changes will serve the interests of animal welfare in a global context, provide reassurance to clients that an appropriate standard of care will be provided to their animals and will avoid the use of cheap and unskilled labour by veterinary surgeons.
We appreciate that this is an evolving process but accepting poor standards for tenuous reasons is not acceptable to us and will continue to be resisted.
Peter Kronen
President of the AVA
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