Medical Nursing Podcast | CPD for Veterinary Nurses

In episode 113 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm doing something different - something I've never done in history of the show.
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.
---
About Scott:
📲 Learn more about Scott: https://vtx-cpd.com/about/
📲 Learn more about the Veterinary Thought Exchange: https://vtx-cpd.com/
📲 Listen to Scott on the VTX Podcast: https://vtx-cpd.com/podcasts/
---
Looking for medical nursing CPD?
📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/
📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library 
---
More free ways to learn with me:
📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast 
📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing 
🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com 
---
This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

For a long time, we've talked about how 'utilising vet nurses' is important - and how everything gets better when our skills are really used.
But how well are we REALLY doing that?
In episode 112 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, and the first episode of VNAM 2026, we're talking all about what utilisation really looks like.
We'll explore the workforce crisis driving this conversation, what the evidence says about veterinary nursing - how patient care improves, how practice revenue improves, and how professional longevity and burnout improve - and we'll look at HOW to do more with your patients, in your practice, right now.
If you're a registered or student veterinary nurse, or a credentialled technician, you won't want to miss this episode.
---
Resources mentioned this episode
📲 Technician utilisation guidelines: https://www.aaha.org/wp-content/uploads/globalassets/02-guidelines/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines/resources/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines-new.pdf
---
Looking for medical nursing CPD?
📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/
📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library 
---
More free ways to learn with me:
📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast 
📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing 
🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com 
---
This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In this episode of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm joined by Alyssa Mages, Credentialled Veterinary Technician, panel member on the AAHA Veterinary Technician Utilisation Guidelines, mentor at MentorVet and CVO at Empowering Veterinary Teams.
Alyssa and I sat down for a really important conversation - about the global challenges veterinary nurses and technicians face, about utilising our skills (and what happens when clinics don't), and about how things like burnout, attrition and retention issues are having a significant impact on all of us.
More importantly than that, we discussed not just how things are different in the UK and US, but how our roles are much more similar than it might first seem - and how we can work together to improve utilisation, job satisfaction, autonomy, confidence and retention.
Wherever you are in the world, and whatever your job title - technician, nurse, paraveterinarian or anything in between, I know you'll get so much value from this episode 💜
Resources mentioned this episode:
📲 About Alyssa: https://www.empoweringveterinaryteams.com/who-we-are/
📲 AAHA technician utilisation guidelines: https://www.aaha.org/resources/2023-aaha-technician-utilization-guidelines/
📲 The economic cost of burnout in veterinary medicine: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.814104/full
---
Looking for medical nursing CPD?
📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/
📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library 
---
More free ways to learn with me:
📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast 
📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing 
🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com

In episode 110 of the Medical Nursing Podcast we're sitting down and talking about something we're often afraid to mention - and that's quality of life. 
Not end of life, not euthanasia, but quality of life. An often misunderstood term, and one we need to normalise. Because the truth is, quality of life is the ultimate goal every single one of us have for every single one of our patients, every day. We make a bigger difference to it than you realise, and the evidence to back that up is VERY clear.
So we are going to get into the evidence today. We're going to look at what the research really says about which factors most influence quality of life in our patients with chronic conditions, whether that's diabetes, CKD, osteoarthritis, chronic enteropathy, or other long-term diseases. And we're going to explore how we, as veterinary nurses and technicians, can make a difference to this.
Resources mentioned this episode:
📲 Feline Musculoskeletal Pain Index: https://painfreecats.org/the-fmpi/
📲 Canine Brief Pain Inventory: https://www.vet.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/canine-bpi.pdf
📲 Pet Diabetes App (including QoL survey): https://www.rvc.ac.uk/clinical-connections/pioneering-pet-diabetes-app
📲 Quality of Life Assessment Tools: https://www.rcvsknowledge.org/resource/quality-of-life-assessment-tools/
📲 Vetmetrica QoL Assessment: https://www.vetmetrica.com/Auth/Login
---
Looking for medical nursing CPD?
📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/
📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library 
---
More free ways to learn with me:
📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast 
📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing 
🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com 
---
This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.

In this episode, we're chatting about something every single one of us deals with, whether you're working in general practice, referral, or out-of-hours - and that's chronic kidney disease.
CKD is one of the most commonly-diagnosed conditions in our senior patients - in both cats and dogs. Despite how often we see this disease, our role as nurses in caring for these patients is often quite limited, and there's still a big disconnect between how we treat these patients in practice and what the evidence suggests about their management.
Today I'm bringing you an evidence-based overview of CKD, focusing on the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) guidelines on its management. We'll explore why CKD is so hard to diagnose early - and why it's so important that we do - alongside how we can use things like staging to plan both effective treatment AND nursing care for our patients. So you can spend less time feeling like you're just watching CKD patients sit on fluids, and more time using your skills and truly advocating for your patients.
Resources mentioned this episode:
📲 Staging CKD: https://www.iris-kidney.com/iris-staging-system
📲 Treating CKD by stage: https://www.iris-kidney.com/iris-guidelines-1
📲 Early detection of CKD: https://www.iris-kidney.com/ckd-early-diagnosis
---
Looking for medical nursing CPD?
📲 Get unlimited CPD inside the Library Club: http://vimn.thrivecart.com/libraryclub/
📲 Snag a webinar from the on-demand library: https://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/veterinary-education-webinar-library 
---
More free ways to learn with me:
📲 Grab the show notes and references from today's episode: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com/podcast 
📲 Follow me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vetinternalmedicinenursing 
🖥️ Learn more about medical nursing: http://www.veterinaryinternalmedicinenursing.com 
---
This podcast does not replace a veterinary surgeon's advice, and its content is provided only for information. A veterinary surgeon must diagnose all conditions and prescribe all treatments, and veterinary nurses and technicians must ensure they work within local legislation and regulating body guidelines at all times. Any products or treatments discussed are for information only and do not constitute endorsements of products or services.