VetNurse.co.uk has joined forces with the Veterinary Wound Library to give veterinary nurses a new, NURSE ONLY source of help and advice for their questions and queries on veterinary wound care.

The new Wound Management Expert Help Forum is a completely new social media format through which any veterinary nurse can come and ask a question which is then shared amongst experts in their field for a reply. Importantly, only the nurse who asked question and the experts can take part in the discussion.

For the new forum, VetNurse.co.uk has joined forces with Georgie Hollis from The Veterinary Wound Library and her team of Bandaging Angels, who include Shelly Jefferies RVN, Zara Clephane RVN and Louis Pailor RVN.

The idea was inspired by Sir Tim Berners Lee, the so called 'father of the Internet', who gave a speech last year in which he bemoaned the lack of provenance and transparency for information and opinions shared on Facebook. What’s more, expert opinion is often drowned amongst the opinions of people who are certainly not experts, and who quite often don’t know what they are talking about.

This new format overcomes this problem because only veterinary experts with a completed profile which shows their qualifications are allowed to reply to questions in the Expert Help Forums on VetNurse.

Furthermore, the forum is a safe NURSE ONLY space to discuss your remit, challenges and responsibilities in a friendly, peer-led environment that can support nurses working in diverse teams.

Aside from giving you the confidence of knowing that you are getting help from someone whose qualifications you can see, there are a number of other benefits of this format. First, because the discussion is kept between someone who is looking for help and someone who is there to help, there is no risk of the discussion becoming hostile, as sometimes happens in less controlled discussion formats.

Second, unlike Facebook, where posts are very much ‘here today, gone today’ your questions will become part of a searchable knowledgebase that others can refer to. By working with the Vet Wound Library team we will be able to ensure the very best evidence-based support is offered alongside the opportunity for further education and telemedicine support if required.

Last but not least, both the question author and the experts can claim time spend in the Expert forums towards their annual CPD requirement. Just click ‘claim CPD' at the top of the thread and then collect a certificate from time to time in your profile.

To encourage our first raft of questions VetNurse.co.uk and The Veterinary Wound Library are offering a £25 Amazon voucher for the best four questions about veterinary wound care submitted to the Wound Management Expert Help Forum by August 20th 2020. Don’t hold back, your question can be a general one about techniques or materials, process or procedure or even a specific case.

To submit your question, login to www.vetnurse.co.uk and visit the Wound Management Expert Help Forum.

And please do share the news about this new resource amongst your fellow nurses.

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vet nurses.