It’s Vet Nurse Awareness Month, and to celebrate the brilliant Vet Nurses in our VMG team we put them in the spotlight to find out more.
Next, we have VMG Director Claire Baber, Practice Standards Assessor for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
What inspired you to begin a career in nursing?
From a very young age I was obsessed with caring for animals. Our first cat was a beautiful ginger tom, called ‘Ginge’. He would sleep in my dolls pram while I pushed him around, I would pretend he was very poorly and inject him with his medicine using my felt tip pens!
When I was much older I went to see the school careers teacher and they asked me what I wanted to do for a career, I said I want to be a Veterinary Nurse. I was told I would have to think about doing something else as i wouldn’t reach the grades. I walked out of that room feeling incredibly disheartening, my dreams had been squashed.
That knock back, turned into my motivation to prove them completely wrong! Following school I completed various animal care courses at college, this really cemented that I still wanted to be a veterinary nurse! When I finished college I wrote to every practice in the yellow pages asking if they would take me on as a student nurse. I was incredibly fortunate to be offered a position in a local mixed practice in 2001.
I qualified as an RVN in 2005, following my nursing course I was hugely inspired by best practice and striving for gold standards. I soon moved into a large referral hospital where I spent the next 18 years of my career. In that time I went from a newly qualified RVN working through all disciplines of referral work to a Clinical Nurse Manager, supporting large teams and managing multiple areas of the hospital.
Later in my role I was asked to help set up our satellite training academy in the practice where I was involved in teaching practical skills to students. I went onto work for a company carrying out professional discussions with students, writing exam questions, whilst locuming. I am an OSCE examiner and still go into practices now and help students prep for their exams.
It is so rewarding helping to grow the next generation of nurses! I am a director on the board at VMG and have been for the last 4 years, I feel very honoured to sit amongst some of the most inspiring leaders.
After nearly 25 years in practice, I was lucky enough to find, what I like to think is my perfect role. I love being a practice standards assessor and feel very privileged to be able to carry out this role. I think the role encompasses everything I have enjoyed and learnt along my journey. I absolutely love to help support and educate my practices, and I get to meet the best teams!
What did you find most rewarding about being a veterinary nurse?
The difference you are able to make as a nurse, to the patients and clients lives is incredible. From spending time with a non ambulatory spinal patient unable to walk, to see them taking their first steps all over again or the blind cataract patient that is completely unaware of their surroundings, then sending them home after surgery totally overwhelmed with joy as they are able to see their owners faces for the first time in months, these moments for me are beyond rewarding.
How did you first get into leadership?
As a part of a brand new referral centre, the team and caseload was ever expanding. A new role was created for a Non surgical Nurse Manager, this was supporting the non surgical areas of the practice and staff.
I was hugely passionate about progression within the areas of the hospital and the teams so I applied and was offered the role in 2010. I was lucky enough to be very supported in my management journey and had the most inspiring role models.
What transferable skills have you found the most useful for progressing in your career?
To show kindness, compassion and empathy in everything you do. It is so important when leading a team to be human, be approachable and listen.
We are all different, so to be able to put yourself in their shoes can go a long way to forming strong, respectful, cohesive teams.
How did you grow the additional skills that you needed?
When I qualified I said that’s it im never doing another qualification again, that didn’t last very long! Before moving into management I was a clinical coach. I loved this role and to this day I am still very passionate about student nurse development. I studied for my A1 Assessor qualification, not realising at the time how important this qualification would become in my career journey.
I went on to do an ILM qualification in leadership and management, a certificate in advanced anaesthesia and critical care, I also did some teaching qualifications and my IQA qualification amongst other things.
All these things combined have really helped me in my role as a practice standards assessor. I don’t think we are ever truly done learning! Dare I say it, but I’d like to do my CVLM next!
How do you bring Compassion and Empathy to your role as a leader/in practice?
I listen, I learn and I grow from every situation. A good leader never stops developing and reflecting on their own experiences. It’s ok, and important, to ask for help!
Why did you leave nursing to get into management?
I haven’t left nursing. Nursing are the roots that made me grow. My journey has opened up the most amazing opportunities and incredible relationships. I am forever grateful for that careers advice teacher for busting my bubble that day, as it only made me even more determined to succeed! I still locum for some local practices and feel it’s so important in my role as a PSS assessor to be relevant and have a good understanding of some of the difficulties faced in practice.
Thank you Claire. If you are looking to get into leadership or would like to develop your skills to help your team, have a look at our educational suite of CPD, the iVLM (introduction to leadership and management), and the CVLM/DVLM.
