Do “CARE” labelled canine patients get a lower standard of nursing care compared to other canine patients?

Orpet, Hilary; Dzhugdanov, Lyuben

Abstract

Aggressive canine patients are not rare to encounter in practice as current surveys show that 7% of UK owners’ dogs demonstrate aggressive behaviour towards strangers (Casey et al. 2014), with human-directed aggression as the main presentation of canine aggression reported to veterinary behaviourists (Bamberger and Houpt, 2006 ). Veterinary staff come into close contact with canine patients and so are more likely targets of aggression (Fatjo, 2007). However, despite the risks aggressive behaviour brings to veterinary personnel, the RVN must ensure the patient receives adequate care. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 ensures animal needs are met by the person responsible for their care (GOV UK, 2006), therefore this responsibility extends to RVNs during their hospitalization. Under the RCVS code of professional conduct, the duty of RVNs is to make animal health and welfare their first consideration by providing appropriate and adequate nursing care (RCVS, 2017). This study aimed to identify if the standard of nursing care differs between CARE-labelled canine patients and other canine patients with an objective to determine if the patient type of CARE or NON-CARE is associated with any statistically significant difference in nursing care. The hypothesis for this project was “Canine patients labelled as aggressive receive a lower quality of nursing care compared to non-aggressive canine patients

Citation

Orpet, H., & Dzhugdanov, L. (2023). Do “CARE” labelled canine patients get a lower standard of nursing care compared to other canine patients?. Veterinary Nurse, 14(4), 2-10. https://doi.org/10.12968/vetn.2023.14.4.186

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 25, 2023
• Publication Date: May 19, 2023
• Deposit Date: Sep 21, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 19, 2023
• Journal: Veterinary Nurse
• Print ISSN: 2044-0065
• Publisher: Mark Allen Healthcare
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 2-10
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/vetn.2023.14.4.186