Surgical Skills for Nurses

As a Veterinary nurse you play a key role in the preparation of patients for surgery, the running of theatres and during patient management in the post-operative period. You are also permitted to perform minor surgical procedures under veterinary direction and doing so can be hugely rewarding whilst assisting the efficient flow of a surgical list.

This course will provide you with an overview of how to prepare a patient for surgery, how to apply key surgical principles to optimise tissue healing and considerations for nursing the post-operative patient. The lectures will include a step-by-step guide to performing the surgical techniques listed below and there will be an opportunity to practice all of these techniques in wet lab practical sessions.

What you’ll learn:

• Use of surgical instruments
• Suture patterns and materials
• Knot tying
• Use of skin staples and tissue adhesive
• Fine needle aspiration and biopsy techniques for skin lesions
• Simple skin mass excision
• Open wound management
• How to apply tie-over wound dressings
• Indications for surgical drains, how to use them and how to secure them

Tutor :  Faye Swinbourne BVM&S MVetMed DipECVS MRCVS RCVS & European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery

This course is kindly sponsored by Veterinary Instrumentation

What do Vet Nurses say about this course?

“A well rounded and enjoyable course, good for beginners and more experienced nurses. Well run course, have had a really positive experience.”

“I’ve really enjoyed this course and has given me the confidence I need to be able to go back to practice and use the skills I’ve learnt today. Thank you.”

“Brilliant day. Content was good and relevant to my day to day work. Really improved my confidence surgically. Good combination of theory and practical.”