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Meet the Medicine Nurses
Susannah, Bethany and Sam make up our Medicine nurse team bringing over 23 years of nursing experience between them
Susannah, Bethany and Sam make up our Medicine nurse team bringing over 23 years of nursing experience between themThey are passionate about providing the highest standards of care for each and every pet that visits the hospital. Their advanced training and wealth of experience gives them a high-level of clinical expertise which they share in many ways including creating and implementing protocols and in training others.
Our Medicine nurses play a key role in inpatient care, helping to manage complex medical inpatients and ensuring that all inpatients are receiving the most up-to-date care available.
They play a key role in our Oncology Service, and have been instrumental in developing cytotoxic drug safety guidelines for the hospital, administering chemotherapy to patients and ensuring that chemotherapy protocols are correctly recorded and administered.
Medicine nurses play an essential role in many procedures including endoscopy, imaging and other investigations such as bone marrow or CSF sampling. Our Nurses monitor and conduct often challenging anaesthesia and assist with the procedure itself.
In addition, the Medicine nurses have responsibility for organising the Medicine service’s day and liaising with other services including Diagnostic Imaging, Surgery, Dentistry and Anaesthesia; ensuring that the day runs as smoothly as possible.
The team are involved in practice-wide initiatives and have many additional responsibilities which they have taken on. Susannah plays an important part in our Clinical Steering Group. Bethany and Susannah are clinical coaches who teach, support and guide students throughout their training to become Qualified Veterinary Nurses. Sam is an important member of our Feline Friendly Group which maintains our cat friendly hospital status and she is passionate about being an advocate for our feline friends who can find the hospital environment a stressful place.
The medicine nursing team works closely with the new ECC department as many of our Medicine patients have severe conditions that may require intensive care.
Meet the team
Susannah
I started at Eastcott over 11 years ago and have grown with the practice. I have been qualified for over 6 years now and have worked in referrals for most of this time – first in a mixed role then moving onto Medicine a number of years ago.
I enjoy the variety that I see in Medicine, from the hospitalised patients that you care for from admittance to discharge and see the improvement that they make, the oncology cases that come in every week, happy to see you and build a bond with both them and the client, to the endoscopic investigations and foreign body removals.
I think that nurses have amazing qualities and skills which should be utilised and encouraged to develop to make the most of their potential. Nurses are not generally recognised by the wider public for the essential role that we play in caring for animals which is why VN Awareness Month is so important.
I am passionate about representing nurses in clinical group meetings to enable us to use the full extent of our skills and abilities and help to make improvements in training so that we can best care for our patients which is ultimately why we do and continue to love our jobs.
Outside of work I enjoy walking my 2 dogs: Gus and Wilbur, spending time with my family and friends, baking and Millinery!
Bethany
I have been qualified as a Veterinary Nurse for over 5 years now having worked my way up from work experience every weekend at the age of 14, to Nursing Assistant training after finishing school, then on to training as a VN. I have been at Eastcott for over 2 years now and the title of being Veterinary Nurse is one I am proud to have. I have worked in a variety of teams over my career and each one has proven to me that this is a career of great strength, selflessness and care in so many ways, from patients to owner and beyond to all members of the team. Medicine is my particular area of interest and I love the range of cases; being part of a detective team in the animal specialist world doing investigations into any patient that we see and helping to provide a range of procedures, treatments and care.
I feel lucky to follow such interesting and at times intense cases from beginning to end, witnessing the care, skill and knowledge of such an amazing team. The determination and passion that nurses show, going above and beyond to better the care and wellbeing of our patients is the reason I went in to nursing and continue to love the job that I do.
Outside of work I think it is important to rebalance and I do this by spending time with my partner and pet apricot call ducks that we hatched a couple of years ago at home. I also enjoy walking, baking and doing crafts; my latest challenge is needle crafting.
Samantha
Veterinary nursing has taught me so much, not only in a professional sense but also a personal. I strive to grow and develop as a nurse daily, learning from the incredible colleagues I am surrounded by to provide a standard of care and treatment processes that we can all be proud of.
I have been at Eastcott for 19 months, after working nights at another referral, hospital and I have enjoyed every moment! Every day I get to come to work and assist my colleagues in providing varying and exciting forms of treatment and care. My favourite medicine procedures include: Endoscopic imaging, oesophageal balloon dilation and chemotherapy. I particularly love the heavy involvement that we as medicine nurses have within chemotherapy, as it fills me with a great deal of pride and a sense of fulfilment knowing that we play such an integral role throughout the patients’ treatment.
I have a great passion for implementation of feline friendly considerations within the practice and enjoy being involved in the continuing hard work the feline friendly team carries out to ensure that the hospital is providing an environment that works to reduce stress in our, often worried, feline friends.
Outside of work I enjoy going to the gym, hiking and spending time with my very handsome cat Rhubarb who I hand-reared after he was found alone as a very young kitten.