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Student Vet Nurse begins major fundraising effort after presenting final year research

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A student Vet Nurse has presented at the UK’s largest small animal veterinary event – then begun a major charity fundraising effort.

Final year BSc (Hons) Veterinary Nursing with Small Animal Rehabilitation student Emma Burns, from Dundonald, near Belfast, has been looking the importance of nutrition for hospitalised cats and dogs the issue for her Honours research Project – and was one of a group of students from across the UK who were invited to submit a poster on their work to the BSAVA Congress in Manchester.

Following that success, she has returned to Ãå±±½ûµØ to complete her studies – and will be walking 5k every day in May to help raise money for inherited sight loss charity Retina UK.

Emma – who was accompanied to the event by Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Sciences Kat Hart – said: “Congress was very insightful and full of interesting stalls, including the abstract poster section which I was a part of.

“It was good to get other professionals’ thoughts on my research and ideas for the future.”

Emma’s work looked at nutritional calculations in canine and feline patients – and what the impact of these calculations could be both on the health of the animal and on the effect of the treatments they were receiving.

She explained: “This research was important, as although nutrition is part of the five vital needs of animals, it is often overlooked when they are brought into a veterinary practice for periods of time.

“Patients that are hospitalised should be maintaining their weight while hospitalised - as changes could affect their clinical outcomes.

“By calculating their nutritional needs, it puts in place the prevention of weight changes for each patient.”

Kat added: “It is important for students to have the opportunity to share their expertise with other veterinary professionals, especially at BSAVA Congress which is the UK’s largest veterinary event.

“This was a great opportunity for Emma to share her research with the wider veterinary community 0 as nutrition during hospitalisation is such an important factor for the recovery of patients.”

Following Congress, Emma is now working towards completing her work and her final year exams and aiming to graduate this September – and has her first role in industry already secured.

She said: “When finishing my Degree, I have a veterinary nursing job lined up in a very busy hospital run by Clare Vet Group, Ballyclare, which will allow for me to also care for pets in the out of hours as well as working hours.

“I look forward to the future - and the potential to progress with a PGCert.”

Emma was always drawn to working with animals and at first considered studying veterinary medicine – but as she began looking at universities, she found herself drawn to both Veterinary Nursing – and to Harper Adams.

She added: “As I gained more knowledge on the different professions, veterinary nursing called to me.

“I chose Harper Adams as when researching universities, Harper seemed to be a lot more involved with their students - and it also wasn't in a main city, making it feel more like home to me.

“It has been an interesting journey studying at Harper.”

Emma has recently been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, an inherited condition that’s slowly taking away her vision and for which, right now, there is no cure.

She said: “My symptoms started mostly while I was on my placement year - which I struggled with due to the lost peripheral vision of anything below eye level.

“As of recently my vision loss has progressed - and has been very difficult to accept since the official diagnosis, thinking of the future - especially with my career as a veterinary nurse.

“The support at Harper Adams has been amazing with the Wellbeing team helping me through it and Learner Support helping put aids in place to make my time during exams easier.”

Emma has already begun her fundraising efforts and says she is looking forward to getting out each day to complete her five-kilometre walks.

She added: “I chose to do the fundraiser as a part of my process of accepting my diagnosis, knowing there isn't a fix.

“I started joining Facebook groups and Retina UK was one of them!

“They put up the campaign of the to raise funds towards more research for conditions like my own.

“I knew straight away I wanted to do it, because not only I will increase the chances to help myself but help others in the future which may be in the same situation as me.”