An experienced vet nurse is carrying on her remarkable career progression here at Willows after being appointed to a unique radiology role.
Long-serving registered veterinary nurse (RVN) Aimee Carrier has been appointed to the newly-created role of radiology team leader here in the West Midlands, heading a dedicated group of registered veterinary nurses within our diagnostic imaging service.
Aimee said working within Willows multidisciplinary hospital had given her so many opportunities to advance her knowledge and experience since joining the renowned centre almost 10 years ago, and she now wants other nurses to blossom in a similar manner.
She said: “I began my career at Willows by rotating through all of our services before moving into the lead nurse position within radiology, I then progressed to multidisciplinary team leader and have now taken up a new role as radiology team leader.
“It has allowed me to obtain a plethora of important and crucial skills across all disciplines with an understanding and appreciation for each services individual needs.
“Now, in this team leader position, my main responsibilities include overseeing the day-to-day efficiency of the radiology service and ensuring all patients receive the highest level of care throughout their visit.
“I’ll be providing the head of clinical services with up-to-date efficiency strategies, case load numbers and highlighting where improvements could be made.
“I also need to ensure sufficient out-of-hours cross sectional image acquisition in support of our radiologists.”
Having benefited from a clear career pathway here at Willows, Aimee is particularly keen to use her advancement to help her fellow nurses to progress their own careers.
As we enter Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM), which this year embraces the theme of ‘empowerment’, Aimee added that her newly-created position was a great illustration of how our hospital embodies and supports empowerment within veterinary nursing.
She said: “I am passionate about teaching and developing our nurses’ skills matrix to showcase how dynamic our team is here at Willows.
“My role, alongside our radiology team is a prime example of the opportunities available at Willows for RVNs to expand their skill sets and the develop the scope of their careers.
“It allows nurses to be fundamental in the acquisition of imaging and running the hybrid imaging list independently.
“This is vitally important as we will be depending more and more on remote reporting in the future.
“That’s why an important part of this new role will be focusing on the acquisition and teaching of accurate, well positioned, diagnostic images using varying modalities including cross-sectional CT and MRI scans.
“It’s also a key task for me to support and lead the radiology team, including performing regular performance development reviews and creating clear career pathways for new members of the service.”
