Each year, International Veterinary Nurse Day on the 14th October celebrates Veterinary Nurses and the vital role they have in patient care and wellbeing. As well as using their passion, knowledge, and dedication to care for our pets in practice, veterinary nurses also continue to contribute to patient welfare beyond practice, throughout a wide range of roles in industry.
To explore this in more detail, and to share some of the opportunities available to nurses in industry, we spoke to three veterinary nurses at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health UK Ltd about their individual career experiences.
Jodi
Jodi Clements has a wealth of veterinary nursing experience and over her 25-year career she has enjoyed a wide variety of clinical roles including small animal, farm, equine and small animal locum nursing. However, there came a point several years into her career where Jodi was craving a better work-life balance and an improved wage.
Jodi took a bold step and left veterinary nursing for a year, she moved into a different sector in order to gain some office-based experience – a position which then lead to her applying for and being offered the position of Senior Claims Assessor for a well know pet insurance company. “Within this role I really did feel like I was able to utilise many of my skills – I was eventually promoted to Claims Manager. The dynamics of managing a team of veterinary nurses who had all left nursing to join the insurance industry provided me with many opportunities to develop as a leader.”
Due to relocation, Jodi moved from this position and returned to clinical practice, eventually becoming Head Nurse of a small animal practice with hospital status. After starting a family and the subsequent switch to part time hours, she opted to take the role of Senior Consult Nurse. Whilst enjoying many aspects of practice life, from running bespoke clinics to ‘hero’ procedures, the lack of work life balance and opportunities led to the need for a change.
“Managing a team of veterinary nurses who had all left nursing to join the insurance industry provided me with many opportunities to develop as a leader.”
“I saw the advertisement for a Technical Services Adviser for Boehringer Ingelheim pop up in my social media feed and the job description fitted my CV perfectly, so I applied!” Alongside a team of Technical Vets, the Technical Services Advisers provide technical information and support to veterinary professionals (and occasionally pet owners), as well as identifying and reporting pharmacovigilance information. The majority of these enquiries are for small animals, but the team also supports technical enquiries for all species and products across the UK and Ireland. This requires constant maintenance of product knowledge and disease areas, ensuring the provision of accurate and complex technical advice alongside a high standard of customer service – all whilst complying to the relevant regulatory guidelines.
For Jodi, the benefits of being in industry are the work-life balance, and “…being able to utilise your hard-earned veterinary nursing knowledge and understanding of the veterinary industry as a whole.”
Jess
Jess Peggram began her career in a small animal practice, and after qualifying in 2014 became Head Nurse of the clinic after four months. There was plenty of variety throughout her time as a nurse in practice, where she worked at an emergency out of hours hospital, at an exotics speciality clinic, and also spent some time as a locum. “After eight years in practice I felt that I had achieved and experienced everything I had wanted to as an RVN, and that it was time for a new challenge. It was not an easy decision because I really loved my job, but I had reached the point where I wanted to explore a new role in order to further develop my career.”
Jess joined Boehringer Ingelheim as a Technical Services Adviser, and whilst in that role developed a keen interest in pharmacovigilance. When the opportunity to join the Pharmacovigilance team arose, she was keen to take the role, and was supported in moving teams. She now works as a Pharmacovigilance Case Entry Specialist alongside assisting the Regulatory Affairs Team. The role focuses on ensuring accurate case entry of suspected adverse events into the pharmacovigilance database in compliance with regulatory requirements and company standard operating procedures. Sheworks closely with the Technical Services team and other customer facing functions to ensure that suspected adverse reaction cases and related complaints are investigated, recorded and reported accurately. She also liaises with regulatory authorities such as the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and the Health Products Regulatory Agency.
“Don’t assume you aren’t qualified or experienced enough for a certain role – just go for it!“
There have been many highlights of the move to industry, such as “the opportunity for progression and to meet and collaborate with so many new people, as well as the learning and development support that is available.”
Jess had some really encouraging advice for any nurses looking to make the change. “The variety of skills and knowledge gained from nursing are so valuable in industry . Don’t assume you aren’t qualified or experienced enough for a certain role – just go for it! The jump from practice to industry can seem daunting, but it is equally exciting and opens up so many opportunities.”
Emily
Before moving into a role in industry, Emily Topping was an equine veterinary nurse, who first started her career as a rider and groom. She then progressed onto a placement in an equine veterinary practice, enjoying the varied caseload and practical features of the job. The practice had a particular focus on racehorses, encouraging Emily to develop an interest in breeding and care of foals.
She wasn’t actively planning on making a move, but rather found “…the opportunity was presented to me at the right time. I enjoyed the medical side of the work that we did like being involved in treating infections, and loved working in the laboratory. So when the opportunity came up to move to a lab based role I took it.”
Emily began working at Boehringer Ingelheim’s production site in Pirbright, a site which focuses primarily on the production of Foot-and-Mouth Disease vaccine. The site produces around 200 million doses of the vaccine each year, and in doing so supports governments in the control of infectious animal diseases and is of major social and economic importance. When Emily first transitioned from practice, she was working in formulation and filling of vaccines. Two years later she accepted a promotion into the lab. She is now a Senior Cell Technician, which involves cultivating cells for a particular strain of virus for the Foot-and- Mouth antigen.
She really appreciates the amount of opportunities available in industry: “There is a lot of career progression, being able to expand in whichever direction you wish to pursue.”
“There is a lot of career progression, being able to expand in whichever direction you wish to pursue.”
Her advice for veterinary nurses who may be looking for a move into industry is: “Do your research and find a company that invests into you growing as an individual. It is a very rewarding and fulfilling role to have, and you are still saving animals – but just in a different way.”
A final example of a role that Veterinary Nurses have transitioned into at Boehringer Ingelheim include that of Territory Manager (across all the species), where nurses can use their knowledge of the veterinary industry and products to provide exceptional support and assistance to practices. As demonstrated, there are so many positions in industry that veterinary nurses can excel in, providing opportunities for growth and development, and offering chances to progress into a myriad of roles.
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health
Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health is working on first-in-class innovation for the prediction, prevention, and treatment of diseases in animals. For veterinarians, pet owners, farmers, and governments in more than 150 countries, we offer a large and innovative portfolio of products and services to improve the health and well-being of companion animals and livestock. As a global leader in the animal health industry and as part of family-owned Boehringer Ingelheim, we take a long-term perspective. The lives of animals and humans are interconnected in deep and complex ways. We know that when animals are healthy, humans are healthier too. By using the synergies between our Animal Health and Human Pharma businesses and by delivering value through innovation, we enhance the health and well-being of both.
For more information visit: https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/animal-health
For exclusive access to more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly newsletter
You may also like:
What’s it like to be a vet in industry?
Celebrating PRIDE month at Boehringer Ingelheim UK & Ireland