The role of a Veterinary Nurse is broad – no two days are quite the same.

Our veterinary nurses are involved on a daily basis in a wide range of imaging techniques. Today we are focussing on the veterinary nurses role in radiography.

Radiography, or X-rays as they’re commonly known, are a painless, non-invasive procedure commonly used to produce images of the inside of the body,

it’s a very effective way of looking at the bones and can be used to help detect a range of other conditions.

X-rays are a type of radiation that can pass through the body of your pet. As they pass through the body, the energy from X-rays is absorbed at different rates by different parts of the body. A special detector called an x-ray plate, positioned on the other side of the body picks up the X-rays after they’ve passed through. The plate is then inserted into a special machine, which turns this information them into an image.

Dense parts of the body that X-rays find it more difficult to pass through, such as bone, show up as clear white areas on the image. Softer parts that X-rays can pass through more easily, such as the heart and lungs, show up as darker areas.

X-rays can be used to examine most areas of the body. They’re mainly used to look at the bones and joints, although they’re sometimes used to detect problems affecting soft tissue, such as internal organs.

X-raying is a procedure in which veterinary nurses are required to perform an integral role, from positioning the patient to developing the x-ray image. As part of their training, Veterinary Nurses must undertake theoretical and practical exams in the use of radiography; so all of our team of Registered Veterinary Nurses are highly knowledgeable and experienced in this field.

Not only will the nurses at Ash Tree assist the vet in preparing the imaging suite for radiography, they will help position the patient for the relevant x-ray images to be taken, monitor the patient whilst it is sedated or under a general anaesthetic, recover the patient from their procedure, attach the x-rays to their digital record, monitor the patient during recovery; the list goes on!