113 | What vets REALLY think about veterinary nursing (ft Scott Kilpatrick)

It's Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month, and what better way to celebrate it than by having a conversation that we have honestly been avoiding for YEARS.

VNAM is the month where we come together as a profession to celebrate, acknowledge and highlight our skills, knowledge, and how this can be better utilised by our profession.

But one thing I see quite a bit, given that social media is a big part of my role, is this: a divide between vets and nurses. And instead of communicating about this openly, sometimes there can be a tendency to assume we’re not valued, or appreciated, or ‘allowed’ to use our skills.

So in this episode, I’m doing something different - something I’ve never done in the 112 episodes you’ve heard so far.

I’m bringing a vet on to chat with us.

This isn’t a clinical episode, though we do chat a little bit of internal medicine (it’s impossible not to when you get a medicine RVN and a medic together!).

It’s a conversation that I think we ALL need to have, about what vets really think of our role, our knowledge, and our skills - and how vets and nurses can work together to improve both of our roles.

Scott Kilpatrick is a veterinary surgeon and specialist in internal medicine. Scott is not only a vet, but also a vet who works very closely with veterinary nurses and technicians, and couldn’t do his job without them. And, when not working in clinical practice, he’s one of the directors at VTX - a CPD company tirelessly championing veterinary nursing. 

If you’ve ever felt disheartened by a ‘vet-nurse divide’ or felt unsure on how to approach your vets about something - using your skills, suggesting a treatment for a patient, or sharing your opinion about a case - I know you’ll get so much value from this conversation.

Is underutilisation a real problem, or a perceived one? The short answer is both.

There's a very real gap between what nurses are trained to do and what they're actually doing day-to-day. We know this from the evidence, and from our own experience. But there's also a perception problem, where nurses feel undervalued even in environments where vets genuinely do respect their skills, simply because nobody's ever had the conversation.

That silence is doing a lot of damage.

Scott talks candidly about what he thinks drives this gap, and it's not what you might expect. It's rarely about vets thinking nurses aren't capable - more often, it's habit, assumption, or a clinic culture that doesn’t make open conversation easy. 

How veterinary nurses can do more to support their vets with medical patients

Internal medicine cases are complicated - we know this (which is why I love them so much!)

We’re talking multi-systemic disease, long hospital stays, a whole lot of unknowns, patients that don’t fit neatly into a ‘category’ and clinical diseases that are ever-changing. 

Which means the nursing team isn't just helpful in this setting - we’re essential.

Scott walks us through what he relies on his nursing team for, what information he needs from them every single day, and how that directly impacts his role in managing cases and making treatment decisions.

If you’ve ever wondered how much your observations genuinely make a difference, or felt like they’re not listened to, you need to hear this - because this is the value vets directly take from our nursing skills (even if they don’t always tell us in real time).

I also share my own perspective as a medicine RVN and VTS who works closely with her vet team - what that relationship looks like in practice, and how having deeper clinical knowledge changes what I'm able to do, and the relationships the vets and nurses have.

What do vets look for in their veterinary nurses? What makes a great vet nurse?

Scott's answer to this might surprise you, because it's not just technical skill (though of course that matters). 

But what’s really valuable is the combination of clinical knowledge, communication, and the confidence to speak up. To flag something, to push back, to make suggestions, to say what isn’t working, and to advocate for the patient when it matters.

What do you do if you want more as a vet nurse, but you’re not sure how to ask for it?

This is the bit of the episode I’m most excited about, honestly.

Scott talks about how he'd advise a nurse/technician who wants to do more but doesn't know how to approach it. 

We talk about whether CPD and further qualifications actually change how vets perceive their nursing colleagues and utilise their skills, and what he does specifically to make his team feel trusted and capable.

I add my own reflection on how I've approached expanding my role over the years. It hasn't always been smooth - you know we are not about highlight reels here, and there have been mountains to climb at points in my career. But there's a way to do more, and it starts with knowledge and the confidence to have a conversation.

What vets wish nurses knew, and what nurses wish vets knew

As a profession, we’re not great at bringing these two things together, which is why I wanted to make sure that Scott and I had that conversation today.

We’re talking all about what Scott wishes more nurses understood about the pressures vets are under, what it takes to delegate well, and why some vets struggle to hand over - even when they want to.

And we discuss what I wish more vets understood about what it feels like to be consistently underutilised. To know you could do more, care better, and catch things earlier, but not always having the space to try.

How to successfully nurse internal medicine patients in general practice

We all know that medicine patients come through first-opinion practice long before they reach a specialist. Kidney disease, diabetes, GI patients, blocked cats… you name it - they see GP first.

And that means that, regardless of the clinic you work in, there are SO MANY opportunities to make a difference to these patients as an RVN.

So I wanted to make sure you had, straight from a medicine specialist, the info you need to do that successfully.

Scott covers the monitoring parameters to prioritise, how to communicate concerns in a way that actually lands with your vet, and how nurses in GP settings can start building the kind of trust that gets them more responsibility over time.

Did you enjoy this episode? If so, I’d love to hear what you think. Take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram (@vetinternalmedicinenursing) so I can give you a shout-out! And if you've got a vet in your life who needs to hear this conversation, send it their way - this is a conversation everyone needs to hear. 

Thanks for learning with me this week, and I’ll see you next time!

About Scott

Scott Kilpatrick BSc (Hons) BVM&S MSc DipECVIM-CA FRCVS

Scott is an RCVS and EBVS Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine working in referral practice in British Columbia. He's one of the directors at the Veterinary Thought Exchange, a company dedicated to high-quality continuing professional development for the whole veterinary team. He is a Fellow of the RCVS, hosts the VTX podcast, delivers CPD globally, and is a tireless cheerleader of veterinary nursing. You can find out more about Scott and VTX at vtxcpd.com.