Shirley qualified as a RVN in 2003 at the Royal Veterinary College through the Bachelor of Science degree route. On qualification she worked in a large multidisciplinary specialist referral hospital for 10 years where she became theatre supervisor and helped to manage a team of 60 nurses. Shirley moved back to Northern Ireland in 2014 and worked in a busy hospital until joining NiVS late 2018.
As head nurse, Shirley leads the team of nurses, which on a day to day basis involves co-ordinating the case load of surgical procedures and diagnostic work ups and staff through the hospital. I support the nursing team with anaesthesia training and queries they have and I monitor the anaesthesia for the more advanced procedures we carry out such as implanting pacemakers and thoracotomies.
As head nurse I co-ordinated the work that went into gaining the RCVS practice standards accreditation for NIVS. This involved putting together protocols and practices and sending evidence of this to the RCVS. Since the start of my career I have been trained and worked in specialist referral level hospitals in England where I gained an advanced diploma in Veterinary Nursing and experience. Coming back to Northern Ireland where I was born I am proud to be able to share this knowledge with my team here at NIVS and maintain a standard of care that I would be happy my own pet could avail off.
When time allows I deliver external training (CPD) to qualified nurses and through nurses meetings encourage my team to provide internal CPD to each other and keep up to date with current research findings so we are always learning and learning from each other.
