Equine ambulatory nursing: maximising our teamwork potential and accelerating patient care

The role of the equine ambulatory nurse is a new concept, recently in discussion across the equine veterinary profession, that sees equine nurses step up to use their skills in a new area. The overall aim is to offer a better team approach to patient management and encourage nurses to assist in the management of cases outside of the clinic (Figure 1), as well as taking on some of the tasks normally allocated to the veterinary surgeon, when not in the clinic.

For a while, the equine nursing role was somewhat behind that of our colleagues in small animal practice, with the absence of nurse-led consults, schedule three procedures, nurse clinics and district nursing. With the equine veterinary profession currently short of vets (Grieve, 2022), now seems like the perfect time to showcase equine nurses' skillset.

Ambulatory or outpatient care makes up a large proportion of equine work. Ambulatory vet and ambulatory nurse roles should not be confused, although the two are designed to work alongside one another. These roles are not intended to replace the role of the veterinary surgeon, but instead to support it and provide additional services and support that our vets do not always have the time or the training for.