I have worked in Firmount Veterinary Practice for eight years and have recently qualified as a Veterinary Nurse with RCVS and have also just been appointed Head Nurse.  Firmount is a very busy mixed practice and we have two student nurses working here as well.  I came from Glenavy originally but I now live in Lurgan with my beautiful Golden Retriever called Gaby.

I have always loved working with small animals and spent every school holiday working in a local veterinary practice.  As soon as I could, I enrolled at Greenmount Campus on the Animal Nursing Assistant Course.  I really enjoyed the course and decided that I wanted to become a qualified veterinary nurse so I progressed to the RCVS, NVQ Level 2 Veterinary Nursing Course and finally to the Level 3 Course.

Don’t think these courses are easy!  I can assure you that they are very intensive and cover a wide range of subjects including preparation for surgery, blood sampling, bandaging, and assisting with operations.  And when you add in the other bits of the job – talking to owners, ordering supplies and keeping the paperwork up to date - the work of a veterinary nurse entails much more than many people think!  

I enjoy working as a team member providing nursing care for a wide range of sick animals. Most of our work is with cats and dogs but it’s especially interesting working with smaller pets such as guinea pigs and hamsters, and sometimes more exotic animals such as snakes and tortoises.

No two days are ever the same and I get great satisfaction in seeing sick animals recover and then educating owners in how to maintain the health of their pets.

I would recommend the veterinary nursing courses at Greenmount to anyone interested in becoming a qualified veterinary nurse.

Veterinary Nurse Claire Wilkinson from Firmount Veterinary Practice in Antrim with her Golden Retriever Gaby