Twilight Theatre Nurse

Langford Veterinary Services; Langford; On-site; CAD 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A veterinary referral hospital in British Columbia is seeking a Twilight Theatre Nurse to provide surgical assistance and nursing care. Responsibilities include supporting theatre operations, maintaining patient records, and providing excellent client communication. The ideal candidate has at least one year of veterinary nursing experience and a passion for emergency care. This position involves working nights with a flexible schedule and offers comprehensive benefits and support for professional development.

Benefits

5 weeks holiday per year

Annual CPD allowance

Family-friendly policies

Employee discount

Generous pension scheme

Qualifications

• At least 1 year’s experience as a qualified veterinary nurse in a referral environment.
• Experience working out of hours or night shifts.
• Confidence in handling and restraining animals.

Responsibilities

• Provide nursing support for all surgical activities.
• Assist with anaesthesia delivery and patient preparation.
• Maintain accurate patient records and cleanliness in the theatre.

Skills

Theatre nursing experience

Animal handling

Surgical assistance

Client communication

Education

RCVS Listed Veterinary Nurse

Advanced Diploma

Job description

Overview

We have an opportunity to work as a Twilight Theatre Nurse alongside our theatre and night team within our Small Animal Referral Hospital.

The successful candidate will be based in our specialist theatres, working out of hours throughout the week. Although this role is primarily theatre based, an ability and proactiveness to nurse in ward areas with inpatient care would be expected when required. This would involve working across our specialist feline, canine medicine, neurology, surgery and intensive care wards.

This is an exciting opportunity to work in our state-of-the-art hospital and theatre, working alongside renowned orthopaedic, soft tissue, neurology and cardiology specialists. As a theatre nurse you will be actively encouraged to utilise your skills, such as scrubbing into surgical procedures and assisting the surgeons. Successful candidates will also be given training in Schedule 3 procedures such as suturing (previous experience not essential) and interoperative radiography for a range of complex cases.

The ideal candidate will have a passion for theatre work, especially in emergency surgery. We are looking for a nurse with at least 1 year’s experience as a qualified veterinary nurse ideally in a referral environment, with previous exposure to working out of hours/nights. Student teaching plays a large part of our nursing roles at Langford and therefore teaching and supervision would also be a key responsibility.

Role summary: 31 hrs/wk on average, working 7 nights on, 7 nights off. Monday-Friday 8 hr twilight shifts plus a 30-minute lunch break, Saturday and Sunday 11 hr night shifts + 1 hour lunch break. Please note this role includes working bank holidays which fall on a normal working week and includes an element of on-call work.

We would like to share a quote from one of our Theatre Nurses, Lydia Jarvis as she talks about what she enjoys most about being a Theatre Nurse:

“ I like being a Theatre Nurse at Langford Vets because of the wide variety of surgical cases we can get involved with. I enjoy working with a very close-knit team made up of RVNs, theatre assistants and surgeons. As a theatre nurse I get the opportunity to scrub in and assist the surgeons with orthopaedic, soft tissue and neurology surgeries which I find very interesting!”

Benefits and wellbeing

Our people are at the heart of what we do and as your employer we want to ensure we offer flexibility, support and staff development, where possible, through:

Time off
- 5 weeks holiday per year (plus bank holidays)
- Additional holiday entitlement for Long Service

Wellbeing
- On site Mental Wellbeing Champions
- EDI committee
- Employee Forum – to ensure all employees voices can be heard
- Menopause Café
- Wellbeing talks and events
- Cycle to work scheme
- Family friendly policies, including enhanced maternity and paternity pay (after 2 years’ service)

Health
- SimplyHealth Cashplan membership
- Free annual flu vaccination
- Free Specsavers eye test voucher

General
- Free onsite parking
- U2 bus service link to Bristol
- Annual CPD allowance
- Employee discount
- Generous pension scheme – we match up to 8% pension contributions
- Reimbursement of one professional membership fee per year

How to apply

If this role sounds like the right fit for you, don’t delay, click ‘Apply’ and begin your career with Langford Vets.

Role purpose

The main purpose of the post is to provide out of hours theatre support within the Small Animal Referral Hospital. You will be responsible for assisting with surgical procedures, administering nursing care to animals, promoting client communication and working within the Terms of the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct for Nurses.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist nursing support for all surgical activities to include Soft Tissue, Neurology, Orthopaedics, and Cardiology as both a circulating and scrubbed nurse.
• Assist veterinary surgeons, students and other staff with in-patient care throughout the referral hospital to include restraint and support for clinical procedures and emergency cases.
• Prepare for and assist with the delivery of anaesthesia – to include anaesthetic machine checks, selecting and safety checking breathing systems and endotracheal tubes, assisting with patient restraint and placement of intravenous catheters.
• Prepare patients for surgical procedures according to surgeons’ requests and hospital protocols.
• Prepare theatres and surgical trolleys for use during surgery – including damp dusting and selecting appropriate instruments and consumables, liaising with the clinician in charge, and ensuring equipment (diathermy/suction) is functioning and set up; ensuring pre-operative X-rays are available as required.
• Sterilise and maintain surgical instruments and equipment; use of instrument disinfector, autoclave and ethylene oxide sterilising units; wrap single instruments/kits and consumables to ensure effective sterilisation.
• Provide nursing care to patients in the immediate post-operative recovery period.
• Maintain accurate patient records with regards to all clinical notes, treatment, diagnoses, client communication and client/patient information.
• Ensure procedures and consumables are entered onto patient records to keep invoices up to date during their stay.
• Maintain cleanliness of the theatre environment and follow current cleaning SOPs and processes.
• Be able to work independently within a theatre environment.
• Flexibility to provide support to the out-of-hours service and caseload.
• Maintain good working relationships with team members and communicate effectively with clients and colleagues.
• Carry out all other reasonable duties as requested by the line manager.

Person Specification

• One year in veterinary practice or ability to prove similar levels of knowledge and experience
• Previous work in OOH or night shift
• Able to carry out veterinary nursing duties as listed above
• Advanced Diploma
• Confidence and experience in effective handling and restraint of animals
• Clinical coach or similar
• RCVS Listed Veterinary Nurse
• Interest in advancing own qualifications