Medical Nursing Podcast | CPD for Veterinary Nurses

Laura Jones RVN VTS(SAIM)

Every veterinary nurse and technician wants to give great care. And not just to give great care - but to use more skills, and get more job satisfaction whilst doing it. Join RVN and veterinary technician specialist in small animal medicine, Laura Jones, as she demystifies complex diseases and body systems, breaking them down into small, easy-to-understand chunks that you can use to plan the best possible care for your patients. Every week, in under an hour, you'll get a simple explanation of a different medical condition - along with a list of skills to use, and nursing considerations to apply to your own patients. So if you want to know EXACTLY how to plan amazing nursing care for your medical patients, don't miss an episode!

  1. Jun 1

    115 | The real difference veterinary nurses make to medical patients (when we get the chance)

    Today I want to show you what happens when we GET to do more as veterinary nurses and technicians. I'm very aware that, as primarily a referral RVN, there are differences in what I do in referral vs what I do when I work in GP. However, there's one thing that remains the same regardless of the clinic I'm working in that day - I still get to use my skills with medical patients. Internal medicine sounds fancy, but it just means 'medicine'. We all see medicine every day. I was nursing CKD patients, diabetics, dyspnoeic cats, dogs with diarrhoea, etc, WAY before I went into referral. So if you're thinking there's less you can do with your patients because you're in general practice, I want to challenge that thought today. In this episode, I don't just want to tell you what you can do, I want to SHOW you. And to do that, I'm bringing you the real in-clinic stories from the over 200 nurses and technicians that I've worked with inside the Medical Nursing Academy. Those nurses have all done things they should be incredibly proud of. They've helped their patients in new ways, they've changed their clinic culture, and they've indirectly helped the rest of their nursing team develop and cultivate their passions, too. It doesn't matter where you work - you can still use more of your skills and make even more of a difference to your patients, your clients, and your colleagues. So grab a cuppa and let's talk about how. --- 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.

    27 min

  2. May 25

    114 | My honest reflections after 20 years of vet nursing (and what we should aim for next)

    We're finishing off Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month 2026 with something a little different. No guests, no guidelines. Just me, twenty years of memories, a few things I wish someone had told me earlier, and some honest thoughts on where I think we go from here. In episode 114 of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I'm reflecting on nearly two decades of vet nursing - the good bits, the hard bits, the moments I nearly walked away, and the moments that made everything make sense again. We've talked this month about what we can do, and what vets think of us. But this episode is more personal, vulnerable, and about the bigger picture. We're chatting all about where we've come from, where I think we're heading, and what I'd love us to hold onto along the way. If you've ever felt like you weren't quite cut out for this, had moments where you felt exasperated by a profession that didn't value your skills, or wondered whether you were really making a difference, you need to hear this episode.  --- 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.

    35 min

  3. May 11

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

    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.

    53 min

  4. May 4

    112 | Talking about 'utilising vet nurses' isn't enough - we need to ACTUALLY use our skills. Here's how to do exactly that.

    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.

    39 min

  5. Apr 27

    111 | Not utilising veterinary nursing skills is costing your clinic THOUSANDS. Here's what to do about it (ft Alyssa Mages, CVT, FVTE)

    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

    46 min

  6. Apr 20

    110 | The REAL difference vet nurses make to quality of life (and why we NEED to talk about it)

    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.

    29 min

  7. Apr 13

    109 | Here's how to make a REAL difference to your CKD patients as a busy vet nurse

    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.

    35 min

  8. Apr 6

    108 | Is it time to rethink urinary disease? Here's how to manage your blocked cats the RIGHT way

    In episode 108 of the medical nursing podcast, we're looking at a set of diseases we see all too often - feline lower urinary tract diseases. Now I say diseases, plural, deliberately - because thinking of FLUTD as a spectrum of diseases, rather than a standalone condition itself, is one of the most important shifts we can make in how we approach it.  I'm going to be bringing you the need-to-know information from the 2025 iCatCare consensus guidelines on the diagnosis and management of lower urinary tract diseases in cats, AND some really useful information from the 2024 AAFP intercat tension guidelines, because as you'll see, the two are far more connected than you might expect. Over the next half an hour or so, we'll discuss how and why FLUTD occurs, how to stabilise and support obstructed patients, how to nurse cats with lower urinary disease, and how we can do more to support these patients long-term, both in and out of the hospital. There's far more we can do with these patients than we might think, and by the end of this episode, you'll feel more confident managing these patients, and able to put more of your skills to use. iCatCare Lower Urinary Disease Guidelines: 📲 https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X241309176  AAFP Intercat Tension Guidelines: 📲 https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X241263465 --- 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.

    42 min
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About

Every veterinary nurse and technician wants to give great care. And not just to give great care - but to use more skills, and get more job satisfaction whilst doing it. Join RVN and veterinary technician specialist in small animal medicine, Laura Jones, as she demystifies complex diseases and body systems, breaking them down into small, easy-to-understand chunks that you can use to plan the best possible care for your patients. Every week, in under an hour, you'll get a simple explanation of a different medical condition - along with a list of skills to use, and nursing considerations to apply to your own patients. So if you want to know EXACTLY how to plan amazing nursing care for your medical patients, don't miss an episode!

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