What is it about?
Aggressive canine patients are sometimes harder to treat and nurse due to safety constrictions associated with their behaviour. This paper examines whether such patients receive a lower standard of nursing care as a result of this and what veterinary nursing professionals can do to improve these standards and welfare.
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Why is it important?
The key categories identified were patient hygiene, feeding, pain scoring, exercise and restraint. The current study provides evidence that aggressive canine patients do get a lower standard of nursing care compared to other canine patients. Areas of concern are highlighted when these differences are discussed in the context of animal welfare. The authors hope these findings serve as a prompt for practices to examine their performance towards aggressive patients to ensure adequate standards of nursing care and patient welfare are sustained.
Perspectives
I hope this article can help veterinary nurse re-assess their attitudes towards aggressive patients, as our patients aren't always the easiest to nurse. Often times we forget our patients are in a very scary and unfamiliar environment but we have a responsibility to be their advocates for welfare. Patients that present with behavioural problems such as aggression are not rare and make up a considerable portion of our practices and hospitals. I hope this article can help make each patient a bit more comfortable.
Lyuben Dzhugdanov
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Do ‘CARE’ labelled canine patients get a lower standard of nursing care?, The Veterinary Nurse, May 2023, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/vetn.2023.14.4.186.
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