Five-year plans

I like planning and being organised, and I used to always have a five-year plan. Back surgery and life in general has got in the way of that recently, but I still think having a five-year plan is a good motivator.

I started thinking about this because of discussions around the training of vet nurses, and the increase of diploma and degree programmes with unpaid placements.

These placements are supported by a vet clinic as a training practice and provide the clinical hours required to complete a vet nursing course to join the RCVS register. They are an essential part of the vet nurse education in the UK, and one of the reasons the UK vet nurse qualification is so highly regarded.

Yet, I know some people are uncomfortable with the aspect of unpaid staff in the form of SVNs.

So, where does my plan come in?

If, as an SVN, you had a five-year plan to qualify, would you:

• wait for a paid SVN job to come up in your area?
• move to get a paid SVN job elsewhere?
• apply to a college or university and get an unpaid placement that allows you to start in the next academic year?

Timelines

There are now many ways to get the clinical hours as an SVN – and more than just the September start to the academic year.

My five-year plan starts to come into action because the number of employed SVN positions is very small and can be very limited in more remote geographic areas. Therefore, if you live in one of these areas, your chances of getting an SVN position as an employed position are very low and may, in fact, be zero.

While age is not a barrier to learning, many other aspects of life exist that give us timelines to work to. For example, if you wish to work overseas for a time, most working visas have a higher age limit, while emigrating also has age-related guidance. Planning to buy a house, start a family or embark on further studies all add timelines to our lives.

Finally, access to funding for diploma courses can be affected by your age, so it is understandable many SVNs are aware of an academic ticking clock, and that potentially waiting around for a paid SVN position might not be the best option.

More choice

The concept of unpaid placements was first established in vet nursing as part of the new degree programmes.

Where the level three diploma was historically based on teaching students who were employed by a clinic, the degree required a different set up for a variety of reasons. This gave more student choice as the number of overall spaces to train as a vet nurse grew – which is always a good thing.

We accept vet students aren’t paid for rotations and EMS, and understand this is part of their educational journey. So, while I appreciate some of the issues that arise around SVNs being in a clinic who are from different schemes, so may be employed or on placement, I do think the option to be able to complete an education to a planned and organised life is important.

Life doesn’t always wait for everything to be “perfect” before helping you out, so sometimes you need to seek your opportunities where you can – and compromise on some other areas to get to where you want to be, when you want to be there.

Five-year plans may have a place in all our lives – maybe I need to get another one started!