From a Dream to a Career: Lou Begins Her Veterinary Nursing Journey at Roundwood Vets
If you have visited Roundwood Vets over the past few months, you may already have met Lou.
Lou joined our team in June as a Veterinary Care Assistant, but there was always a bigger ambition behind her decision to join us. Lou wanted to become a Veterinary Nurse.
In September, she took an exciting and important step towards that goal when she officially began her training as a Student Veterinary Nurse through our Veterinary Nurse Apprenticeship pathway.
For Lou, this isn't simply the next step in a job. It's the beginning of the career she has worked hard to pursue.
And for us, her journey represents something we care deeply about at Roundwood: investing in people and giving them the opportunity, training and support to grow.
Great veterinary teams don't simply happen. They are developed.
Becoming a Registered Veterinary Nurse takes years of study, practical experience, assessments and dedication. Being a veterinary nurse training practice requires commitment too, both from the student and from the experienced team supporting them.
So, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to introduce you properly to Lou, share a little of the journey that brought her to Roundwood and explain why training the next generation of veterinary nurses matters so much to us.
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Lou's journey started long before she joined Roundwood
Lou's route into veterinary nursing is perhaps a little different from the one you might expect.
She graduated from the University of Cambridge, where she studied English, and initially began working in education.
But there was another ambition pulling her in a different direction: working with animals.
Once Lou realised where she wanted her future to take her, she didn't simply start applying for veterinary nurse apprenticeships. She deliberately set about gaining as much relevant experience as possible.
She volunteered as a care assistant in a veterinary practice, volunteered with the RSPCA as a cattery worker and undertook a primate keeper internship at a safari and conservation centre. She chose those different environments because she wanted to understand animal care from different perspectives and prepare herself properly for a career in veterinary nursing.
And the more experience she gained, the more certain she became.
In her application to Roundwood, Lou described working with animals as a “vocational life passion and not just a job”.
We think that tells you quite a lot about her.
Why veterinary nursing?
Working in veterinary practice gave Lou the opportunity to experience much more than the lovely side of working with animals.
She saw busy days and unexpected cases. She experienced some of the emotional challenges that come with veterinary work and recognised the responsibility involved in caring for poorly animals and supporting the people who love them.
Rather than putting her off, seeing the reality of veterinary practice confirmed that this was where she wanted to be.
When she applied to us, Lou told us:
“I have loved my time at the vets more than anything else I have ever done.”
And when we asked her why she wanted to become a Veterinary Nurse, she ended her answer with something particularly memorable:
“I feel that there is no other path.”
That matters.
Veterinary nursing can be an enormously rewarding career, but it isn't an easy one. It requires compassion and resilience alongside clinical knowledge. There are physically demanding days, poorly patients, worried owners and inevitably times of sadness and loss.
Going into the profession having already experienced some of those realities, and still knowing that this is what you want to do, provides a strong foundation for the journey ahead.
Why did Lou choose Roundwood?
This is one of the parts of Lou's story that means a great deal to us.
Before applying, she had clearly taken the time to find out what kind of practice we are.
Being an independent veterinary practice appealed to her, but she also told us that our values stood out because they showed that we care not only about the animals we treat, but also about the people caring for them.
She noticed our emphasis on education and development. She had seen that other Student Veterinary Nurses had trained at Roundwood and felt that being surrounded by people who understood the journey would be an important source of support during her own training.
Lou even specifically mentioned our values of honesty, teamwork, growth, fun, kindness and conscientiousness in her application.
That's rather lovely for us to look back on now.
Because a few months later, Lou isn't simply reading about our commitment to developing our team.
She's part of it.
Why didn't Lou start as a Student Veterinary Nurse straight away?
When Lou joined Roundwood in June, she came to us as a Veterinary Care Assistant rather than immediately beginning her nursing apprenticeship.
That was intentional.
Our Veterinary Nurse Apprenticeship pathway represents a significant, long-term commitment for everyone involved, and we believe it's important to build strong foundations first.
Those first few months gave Lou time to settle into Roundwood, get to know our patients and clients, understand how our team works and gain further experience of everyday life in a busy veterinary practice.
There is an enormous amount to learn before formal nursing training even begins.
How do you approach a frightened cat without making them more anxious?
How do you help maintain a clean and safe clinical environment?
How does a team communicate when an emergency arrives in the middle of an already busy day?
How do you support someone who is worried about their pet?
And just as importantly, how do you recognise when you need to stop and ask someone more experienced for help?
Those first months also allowed us to get to know Lou.
Enthusiasm is important, but becoming a veterinary nurse requires much more. It requires reliability, resilience, compassion, teamwork, curiosity and a genuine willingness to keep learning.
Then, in September, Lou reached the milestone she had been working towards.
She officially became a Student Veterinary Nurse.
And now the hard work really begins!
Those three little letters take a lot of work
If you've visited us before, you may have noticed that some members of our nursing team have three letters after their names:
RVN
It stands for Registered Veterinary Nurse.
Three little letters.
An enormous amount of work.
For now, you may see SVN after Lou's name, which stands for Student Veterinary Nurse. You might also spot these letters in emails or other correspondence from members of our student nursing team. We use them to help you know when you are speaking with one of our Student Veterinary Nurses while they are working towards becoming an RVN.
Lou is undertaking the Level 3 Veterinary Nurse Apprenticeship in Companion Animal Practice.
The apprenticeship combines academic study with practical training in veterinary practice and typically takes around 30 to 36 months.
Lou's studies will cover subjects including anatomy and physiology, medical and surgical nursing, anaesthesia, diagnostic techniques, medicines, pain assessment and patient care.
Alongside her work in practice, there is dedicated learning time, assignments and assessments, clinical skills to develop and demonstrate, revision and practical examinations.
So although Lou will be learning while working, an apprenticeship should never be mistaken for an easy route to qualification.
It takes real dedication.
Working and studying at the same time
This is something we think deserves recognition.
Lou isn't stepping away from veterinary practice for several years and returning with a qualification. Her academic learning and practical development happen alongside one another.
There will be busy days at Roundwood as well as college and study.
There will be assessments to prepare for and clinical skills to practise.
There will be things that make perfect sense immediately and, inevitably, other things that need revisiting several times before they finally click.
Lou was very clear when she applied to us that she understood the commitment involved.
Before beginning her apprenticeship, she had already spent months undertaking voluntary animal-care roles specifically to gain the experience she needed to pursue veterinary nursing. Before that, she had completed three years of university study.
To Lou, starting her apprenticeship wasn't the beginning of the commitment.
It was the next step after everything she had already done to get there.
Veterinary nursing can't just be learnt from a textbook
There is another reason practical training is so important.
You simply cannot learn everything required to become an excellent veterinary nurse from a textbook.
Lou can study what happens to an animal's body under anaesthesia, for example. She can learn which parameters need monitoring and why changes may be important.
But she also needs carefully supervised experience of applying that knowledge to the patient in front of her.
The same is true when nursing a poorly cat or dog.
There are temperatures and heart rates to understand, medicines and treatments to learn about, pain to assess and clinical changes to recognise.
But there is also the individual patient.
The little dog who normally loves food but turns away from breakfast.
The cat who retreats to the back of their kennel because they're frightened.
The patient who seems just a little quieter than they did an hour ago.
Good veterinary nursing is about developing the knowledge to recognise those changes, understand their possible significance and communicate concerns to the wider clinical team.
It is also about knowing when a frightened animal needs you to slow down and give them a little more time.
Interestingly, Lou had already begun learning that lesson before she arrived at Roundwood.
During her RSPCA volunteering, she wrote about learning the importance of giving each cat an individual experience, from how their enclosure was arranged to how she approached them when trying to gain their trust.
Clinical knowledge matters enormously.
So does kindness.
What does being a veterinary nurse training practice actually mean?
You may have heard us describe Roundwood as a training practice before.
But what does that really mean?
Put simply:
We don't just employ Student Veterinary Nurses. We take responsibility for helping to train them.
That involves the whole team.
Lou will learn from experienced Registered Veterinary Nurses and Veterinary Surgeons within the practice.
They will demonstrate skills, answer questions and explain why things are done in particular ways.
They will supervise her as she develops her practical abilities.
They will give feedback, help her understand when something hasn't quite gone to plan and encourage her when something that once seemed incredibly difficult finally starts to feel natural.
We are also proud to have four qualified Clinical Coaches at Roundwood. Lou has a Clinical Coach assigned to her who will work closely with her throughout her training, supporting her with her Nursing Progress Log (NPL), teaching and helping her prepare for exams and assessments. But while Lou has that dedicated one-to-one support, training a Student Veterinary Nurse is very much a whole-team effort, with our nurses, vets and wider team all sharing their knowledge and experience along the way.
That requires time, patience and commitment.
And we believe it is time very well spent.
Because every experienced veterinary nurse was once a student who needed someone to teach them.
Someone supervised their first attempt at a new clinical skill.
Someone answered the question they were nervous about asking.
Someone helped them understand the difference between knowing something for an exam and recognising it in the patient lying in front of them.
Eventually, those students become the experienced nurses teaching somebody else.
We are proud that Roundwood is part of that cycle.
What does this mean when Lou is helping to care for your pet?
Being a training practice does not mean handing responsibility to someone before they are ready.
Quite the opposite.
Student Veterinary Nurses develop progressively, undertaking appropriate tasks as their knowledge and practical abilities grow, with the necessary supervision and support.
So, over the coming months and years, you might see Lou observing one of our experienced team members.
You may see her assisting with your pet's care.
You might notice one of our nurses explaining something to her or supervising as she develops an appropriate new skill.
And you may hear Lou asking lots of questions.
We hope she does.
Being comfortable enough to say “Can you explain that to me?” or “Can you check this with me?” is an important part of becoming a safe and knowledgeable veterinary professional.
Investing in people means more than paying for a course
We often talk about investing in our team.
Lou's journey is a good example of what we actually mean by that.
It means creating time for learning.
It means experienced team members sharing knowledge that they have spent years developing.
It means supervision, mentoring and feedback.
It means giving someone opportunities to stretch themselves while making sure they have the right support around them.
And sometimes it means helping them through the weeks when studying, working and dealing with a difficult case all feel particularly challenging.
We want Roundwood to be somewhere people can build careers, not simply have jobs.
There is another benefit too.
Teaching someone encourages all of us to keep learning.
When you have to explain why something is done in a particular way, you revisit your own knowledge. You discuss cases. You ask questions. You share experiences. And you continue thinking about whether there are things you could do even better.
That culture of learning ultimately comes back to the place that matters most:
The care we provide to our patients.
The journey towards becoming an RVN
There is still a long way to go.
There will be new skills that don't come easily the first time.
There will be assignments, assessments and practical examinations.
There will almost certainly be evenings when Lou would prefer to be doing something other than revising anatomy!
But there will also be some wonderful firsts.
The first time something she has learnt at college suddenly makes perfect sense because she sees it in practice.
The first time a difficult clinical skill begins to feel natural.
The first time she realises that something she once needed lots of help with has become something she can approach with confidence.
And eventually, we hope, there will be one particularly special milestone:
The day the letters after Lou's name change from SVN to RVN.
They may only be three letters, but they will represent several years of learning, practical experience, examinations and hard work.
That will be quite a day.
This is only Chapter One
One of the lovely things about being a community veterinary practice is that many of our clients get to know our team over years rather than weeks.
So we hope some of you will get to share a little of this journey with Lou too.
You might meet her now, near the beginning of her training, and then see her again in six months, a year or two years, with more knowledge, more experience and growing confidence.
We hope to share some of those milestones with you along the way.
Because we're proud of Lou.
But we're also proud to be a practice where someone can arrive with an ambition and be given the opportunity, training and support to turn that ambition into a profession.
Great veterinary teams don't simply happen.
We have to nurture them, teach them and invest in them.
And then, one day, the student who needed someone to teach them becomes the experienced nurse teaching somebody else.
That's why being a training practice matters to us.
So, if you see Lou around Roundwood, do say hello and wish her luck with her training.
We know our Roundwood community will be cheering her on alongside us.
Congratulations, Lou. We're very glad you chose Roundwood for your journey, and we can't wait to watch you grow!
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