Diary of a Student Veterinary Nurse: Emergency at Seven

So I was at work yesterday, it was a funny old day anyway as all our vets were away at the London Vet Show and our locum had decided to call in sick, meaning we had no Vet! So we cancelled the morning consultations apart from a stitch removal and a Post-Op and had the Vet from our other surgery come over and cover for the afternoon, meaning our other surgery had no vet for the afternoon! So the morning was all weird and trippy because us nurses all felt as though we were sitting around waiting for the vet to arrive for hours. The afternoon went pretty quick, we’d left it a bit empty in case of any emergencies from our sister surgery turning up but there were none so it was a nice relaxed afternoon. So we were all finished and just sitting around waiting for 6.30 to come so that we could go home when a romanian lady runs in the door clutching a border terrier and with her hand covered in blood. Well, in a moment of panic and confusion (note: something that nurses are not meant to do ) I ran out to the prep room and called for the head nurse. It turns out this tiny dog had been hit by a car, and was in really bad shock. It’s colour was really pale and it was disorientated, hence the blood on the owners hand – the dog had been biting her when she had tried to pick it up. So, having no vet on premises (he’d left ten minutes before) we called the emergency service, jumped into the receptionist’s car (with dog and owners) and were on our way to Beckenham. When we arrived the Vet took the dog through and placed him into an oxygen tent. The prognosis was not too terrible. The next 24 hours would be critical, but the vet gave the dog a 70% chance of survival. He quite possibly had a broken leg but stabilising the dog and treating it’s shock was the most important thing, so this would not have been x-rayed until the next day. So the last I knew of this poor little terrier he was in an oxygen tent, on I/V fluids and had been given a huge shot of painkiller. Let’s just hope he pulls through and is back to his terrier activities within a couple of weeks!