We invite you to explore our vacancies for the position of Veterinary Nurse within our Emergency & Critical Care department. As part of our continually expanding nursing team, you will be responsible for providing high-quality veterinary care, ensuring the sustained delivery of emergency animal services to all members of our community.

About Us

Lort Smith is a Melbourne icon, serving its people and animals for 89 years. We are Australia’s biggest not-for-profit animal hospital treating over 20,000 animals a year across two locations.

Our North Melbourne hospital is a contemporary facility equipped with CT, digital radiology, ultrasound, endoscope, in-house laboratory, patient monitors and purpose-built separate dog and cat ICU wards.

It has been specifically designed to optimise animal health using fear free principles with updated facilities to support the wellbeing and operations of our hard-working staff.

To learn more about Lort Smith and the work we do, please visit: www.lortsmith.com or look us up on Instagram.

About the Role

• Provide clinical care to animals as prescribed by veterinary services
• Monitor assigned animals’ welfare and wellbeing and escalate issues where necessary
• Know and understand the identification of infectious diseases and follow correct reporting protocols
• Maintain up to date clinical nursing records
• Conduct patient triage assessments independently and escalate cases requiring urgent care to a veterinarian
• Carry out CPR according to RECOVER guidelines
• Monitor patients under anaesthetics for standard routine and emergency procedures
• Obtain blood samples, IV catheter placements and clinical pathology
• Work independently in areas such as intensive care, accident & emergency, overnight care and/or night service

We have multiple permanent part-time or full-time roles available. If you are accredited & have more than 4 years’ experience in an animal hospital or busy clinic or shelter and you satisfy the below criteria, then please apply directly via this ad.

About You
You are confident in your knowledge and skills to care for our patients together with your caring and supportive team. You find motivation in delivering quality veterinary nursing in a fast-paced setting with a genuine commitment to helping people and the animals they love.

You will bring

• Formal qualifications in Veterinary Nursing – Bachelor of Nursing or Certificate IV Vet Nurse
• Minimum of 4 years in an animal shelter, veterinary practice or hospital environment
• Proven experience nursing in an ECC department or equivalent emergency setting
• Triage skills – Being able to manage multiple emergency cases concurrently - patients may vary in species from domestic small animals, to Exotics and wildlife
• Ability to communicate clearly with the Veterinary team on best plan for triaged patients
• Proven ability to monitor waiting patients, while also triaging incoming patients
• Anaesthesia experience with critical patients such as FLUTD cats, enterectomy and enterotomy procedures
• Specific experience, knowledge and understanding of capnography, doppler and oscillometric blood pressure monitoring
• Experience in monitoring anaesthetics for general procedures and/or emergency procedures (must have been monitoring anaesthetics consistently as a minimum for the last 2 years)
• Additional study such as NCert (ECC/anaesthesia), VTS (ECC/surgery/anaesthesia & analgesia) will be highly regarded
• High emotional intelligence and self-awareness
• Ability to work well in a large, diverse team

What we offer

• Ongoing development and training delivered via a dedicated nursing training team on the floor or custom-made online training packages
• Join a large team of experienced nurses who you can learn from every day
• Choice of varied rosters
• Continuous professional development allowance of $1000 per annum (pro rata for PT)
• Access to our own high-quality equipment
• Outstanding support from a highly skilled team
• Wellbeing support and highly regarded EAP
• Interesting and diverse caseloads – it’s never boring
• Discounts on veterinary treatment, products and pet insurance
• Pet friendly policies
• A diverse team environment

If you are excited about the prospect of joining our team, please apply directly via this ad.

You must supply evidence of qualifications listed on your CV prior to employment and as part of the recruitment process.

Contact us via careers@lortsmith.com if you'd like us to send you a position description.

Lort Smith is a great place to work. We are an equal opportunity employer and actively support workplace diversity, equity and inclusion.