Motivation and Prior Animal Experience of Newly Enrolled Veterinary Nursing Students at two Irish Third-Level Institutions

Veterinary nurses report an intrinsic desire to work with animals. However, this motivation may be eroded by poor working conditions and low pay, resulting in the exit of experienced veterinary nurses from clinical practice. This study sought to quantify the level of animal-handling experience students possessed at the start of their training and to explore the factors motivating them to enter veterinary nurse training in two Irish third-level institutions. The authors had noted a tendency for veterinary nursing students to possess limited animal-handling skills, despite their obvious motivation to work with animals. The study explores possible reasons for this, as it mirrors previous reports in relation to students of veterinary medicine. First-year veterinary nursing students at Dundalk Institute of Technology and University College Dublin were surveyed and a focus group was held in each institution to explore student motivations for choosing this career and their prior animal-handling experience and wo...