Adv On Noticeboard Offering Vet Nurse Advice

[Boronia]

I saw on a local noticeboard a sign that read:

Vet Nurse Advice...call xxxxxxx (phone number) if you have any questions about your pet.

It went on to say that she would mind your pet as well for a fee, (yep, fine, that is ok)

My question is..is this normal for a vet nurse to charge for advice?...wouldn't there be some legal ramifications?

Edited July 18, 2011 by Boronia

[Staranais]

If your law is the same as ours then anyone at all (including a vet nurse) is allowed to give, and charge for, advice on animal health. I wouldn't say it was a common thing for a vet nurse to do, but depending on what type of advice she is charging for, she is probably entirely within her legal rights to offer advice for a fee. If she is an educated and experienced nurse, she will have invested substantial time into her qualifications & knowledge, so I guess why shouldn't she make money from it?

It would be illegal if she were implying that she's a vet, but she clearly isn't. It would also be illegal if she were attempting to prescribe restricted drugs or do surgery on animals, which are also privileges reserved for vets. Again, I don't think she's doing that! :D

I'm not sure if you'd have any real legal comeback if you take the advice and it turns out to be crap or dangerous, however. It's not like paying for advice from a vet, where we can get fined or struck off by the vet council if we are negligent or incompetent when diagnosing or treating your animal. Perhaps someone who is good at law could comment on what legal comeback someone would have if they took advice from a vet nurse that turned out to be dangerous or wrong?

Edited July 18, 2011 by Staranais

[Greytmate]

Is she charging for advice?

As long as she is referring people to qualified vets or behaviourists for advice outside her level of expertise then she might be offerring an excellent service. Somebody in her position might possibly be able to give basic advice on parasite treatment and prevention, grooming and nutrition, dealing with undesirable non-dangerous behaviours like toilet training, and basic dog training.

Or she might have no idea at all about any of those things. The title "vet nurse" does carry some respect with a lot of people. But the quality of vet nurses can vary incredibly, much more so than in most other professions. There are some I would not trust near a dog at all. There are others that have a much more well-rounded knowledge of dogs than many vets do.

[matilda1]

I am a vet nurse and have people asking me for advice all the time.

I don't advertise and I don't charge for it, but it starts with the phone calls at work where I am PAID to give advice within my realms of knowledge.

Obviously any MEDICAL questions need to be referred to the Veterinarian.

But don't under-estimate a good nurse.

We have so much knowledge from behaviour (the basics unless continued education), to nutrition, general pet health, diseases, breeding and all manner of things.

I think it's a great service to provide. There are many people out there who do not have a knowledgable person to turn to and possibly have simple questions which do not warrent a trip to the vet and paying for a full consultation.

Go for it I say. (as long as she is staying within her realms of knowledge which she seems to be)

[tdierikx]

I'm NOT a vet nurse (or a vet), and I still have plenty of people asking me for advice on all manner of doggy stuff... *grin*

Fair enough - I foster a lot for rescue, so have built up a reasonable range of experience in many doggy matters - but I'm very quick to refer to professionals if the issue is not purely a common sense one.

I don't charge anything to talk to anyone about dogs... it's my fave topic actually... haha!

T.

[mita]

As long as she is referring people to qualified vets or behaviourists for advice outside her level of expertise then she might be offerring an excellent service. Somebody in her position might possibly be able to give basic advice on parasite treatment and prevention, grooming and nutrition, dealing with undesirable non-dangerous behaviours like toilet training, and basic dog training.

In fact, a service like that might be welcomed by a number of people. Better still, a vet nurse with that level of knowledge/skills, working out of a vet practice.

[Boronia]

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my post...what I meant was...if a vet nurse does advise a person and that person doesn't follow the advice or follows the advice incorrectly, it may open the nurse to verbal abuse or legal proceedings. At least when the nurses are working in the surgery environment they are covered by insurance (though they will still get verbal abuse from some of the general public I reckon )

I didn't mean the notice-board nurse was unqualified for giving advice....good on her for helping.

As a little note.. I do love my friend who is a vet nurse and gives me some great advice...and especially good vaccination advice.