An interview with Nicola Ruedisueli, RVN PGCHE FHEA PGDip VetEd, BVNA Head of Learning & Development
Nikki qualified as a veterinary nurse in 1985 and after ten years in a small animal orthopaedic referral practice, moved to work for Mars UK. Nikki worked in various roles at Mars, including as Veterinary Business Manager and Veterinary Nurse at the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition. Nikki’s passion for education and the VN profession led her to Nottingham Trent University to write the FdSc Veterinary Nursing Course in 2007. In 2019, Nikki became the Head of Learning and Development at the BVNA, and also works as a weekend nurse in a local veterinary hospital.
What are your top tips for making the most of BVNA Congress 2022?
Plan which sessions you want to go to beforehand using either the Congress Guide or the Congress App. Remember that all sessions will be recorded so you can watch them afterwards if there are a couple you want to go to at the same time. Definitely take advantage of the Exhibition Hall, not only will there be bargains and samples to be had, we have the Exhibition Hub area which will have demonstrations of equipment, discussion groups and VNJ writing workshops. It’s also where you will find food and drinks. The great thing about BVNA Congress is that you can meet up with old friends, make new ones and join in with the social events such as Quiz night and the Dinner Dance. The atmosphere is very different from other conferences; it is the only veterinary nursing congress led by veterinary nurses, making it a more relaxing environment.
What sessions are you particularly looking forward to this year?
It’s no secret that I love my geriatric animals so definitely ‘Caring for the Geriatric Patient’ on Saturday afternoon. My other areas of interest are wounds which has a couple of sessions on Friday and rehabilitation, which is on Sunday. I’m really interested in the Building Resilience sessions each morning as I think we are becoming more aware of the fact that we need to look after ourselves if we want to give our patients the best nursing care we can.
Could you tell us about your role as Head of Learning and Development at the BVNA?
Well, it was a huge learning curve when I started as part of my role is editing the VNJ. As I had not done any editing before, I approached it the same as marking assignments. I’m proud of the new look of VNJ and hope that members are enjoying it. I love talking to new authors who are thinking about writing for us – there is nothing like seeing your own work in print.
As Head of Learning and Development, I am part of a team with Educational Manager Charlotte Bullard. We work really well together and often get carried away with what we want to do. We look at projects such as the Learning Pathways which are bite-sized CPD that can lead on to other courses or discounts to membership of organisations. The department manages the Regional Representatives who represent BVNA and the vet nursing profession in their areas, and we are hoping to get back to holding in-person events this year, which is great. I am also involved in the various projects proposed by Council Members such as Protect the Title, Diversity Inclusivity and Widening Participation group and OneHealth groups working with human-centred nurses. It’s a very exciting time for the vet nursing profession and I love being a part of it, especially with legislative changes coming along. All the different parts of my role come under the umbrella of increasing the impact of veterinary nurses in clinical practice by supporting them through all the steps in their careers.
Why do you feel the BVNA’s educational offering is important in supporting the needs of veterinary teams?
Veterinary nurses have so much to offer and their skills and knowledge are often under-rated. We don’t consider ourselves a CPD provider but by facilitating CPD, we hope to empower vet nurses to put themselves forward. Vet nurses are a major part of the veterinary team and we are currently under-utilised by a lot of practices. BVNA is hoping that the Protect the Title campaign will raise awareness of what we are capable of, not only among the veterinary team but amongst the public as well. Education is the key to this: there may be particular areas that vet nurses are interested in where they can gain more knowledge and then perhaps lead the veterinary team into better patient care.
What has been your top career success so far, and what have you learned from this?
This is a difficult one to answer; I’m incredibly proud of my RVN status, I love working in practice but am aware at nearly 60 years old, I can’t do it full-time anymore. I really enjoyed my time as a Course Leader as I was helping shape the vet nurses of the future, but I suppose my move to BVNA tops the list. I was nervous even applying for the role as I wasn’t sure I could do it, but as I wrote my cover letter about all the experience I have had, it made me realise that I had a lot of transferrable skills. I love being a part of representing the profession with the Council Members. The staff at BVNA are wonderful, we are a small but mighty team and it is amazing what we accomplish. The main thing I have learnt is to just go for it. What’s the worst that can happen? I always seem to push myself outside of my comfort zone, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have written the FdSc VN course at Nottingham Trent University nor would I have become the Head of Learning and Development at BVNA.
“Vet nurses are under-utilised in practice… we can either look at what we’re taught and scale back on it, or look to change the attitude toward what vet nurses can do in practice.”
What challenges have you encountered in your career or the profession, and how have you overcome them?
Another good question. I think the first one was making the move from practice to working at Mars UK as a business manager for Waltham Clinical Diets. It was so different to what I was used to and completely overwhelming in the first few weeks. The main way I found to manage it all was to learn as much as possible about nutrition, clinical diets and map reading. I find I need the information to feel comfortable and I am not a typical salesperson. Once the training period had finished, I felt much better as I was in charge of my own time.
A personal challenge is working with the menopause. It unfortunately, started 11 years ago and I have hot flushes every couple of hours, suffer from brain fog which can be mild or severe, lack of sleep and numerous other wonderful side effects. I’m lucky that BVNA is really supportive and that I work mainly from home but it can be a significant problem at times. I was honoured to be part of the menopause campfire with MMI last year and I’m hoping that the open discussion helped women in the profession – we should be talking about it more.
I think over the years, whilst I have seen how far the profession has progressed, I feel that vet nurses are under-utilised in practice. I have been very fortunate in the practices I have worked for; I completed my training at Liverpool University Small Animal Hospital where the value of vet nurses was well recognised. However, we barely touch half of what we are taught during training so we either look at what we are taught and scale back on it or look to change the attitude toward what vet nurses can do in practice. Obviously, I go for option two, which is part of the reason that I wanted to join BVNA. I have always been a strong advocate of the veterinary nursing profession but previously didn’t have a big impact on change, so I moved to somewhere that I can. I feel I can make a difference by working with the Council Members to implement change, they are the voice of veterinary nurses and work with key stakeholders to raise awareness of the challenges we face.
“If you have an area of interest, take ownership and lead the team. You can do it.”
If you had to give VNs three pieces of advice, what would they be?
You are more capable than you know. If you want to try something new or complete a course, go for it. I have had an amazing career because I kept pushing myself; although there are times that I wished I could settle, I think I would be bored if I did.
Be proud of your accomplishments and the vet nursing profession. We need to put ourselves forward more to be an integral part of the vet-led team. If you have an area of interest, take ownership and lead the team. You can do it.
Don’t get drawn into the negativity around you, always find something positive about things. If life has sent you a curve ball, identify something good to come out of it; you may not be able to do that until you have been through the experience but it is worth it. If there are people in your team that you find challenging, find out more about them, and find ways to improve communication with them – they may surprise you.
I know this is the fourth piece of advice, but make sure you use hand cream a lot. My hands look like they belong to an 80-year-old having been dipped into all sorts of things. So definitely the best piece of advice is to use hand cream.
Finally, what do you consider to be your most valuable learning opportunities during your career, and how can others benefit from or find similar opportunities?
I think the main thing is being able to identify those opportunities that come along and take them. I have had several crossroads in my career, such as moving to a business manager role, becoming a vet nurse at the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, writing the FdSc VN course and becoming a course leader and finally my biggest leap into the unknown was to move to BVNA as Head of Learning and Development. Each time I nearly didn’t take the opportunity because I was worried I couldn’t do it but I kept thinking that if it didn’t work out, I could go back and work in practice. We have a trade and that is very valuable, we have lots of transferrable skills which makes us an asset to any team. Be proud of who you are, take a leap of faith and make sure we let everyone know what an amazing profession we belong to.
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