The inaugural human anaesthetist Vs veterinary nurses and technologists panel and challenge
Tracks
Stream One - Goldfields Theatre
| Thursday, March 20, 2025 |
| 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM |
| Goldfields Theatre |
Overview
Cat Walker and Anita Parkin
Speaker
Cat Walker
Cat Walker Mediation & Veterinary Consulting
The inaugural human anaesthetist Vs veterinary nurses and technologists panel and challenge
Abstract
Veterinary nurses and technicians go head-to-head with human anaesthetists in this unprecedented panel and challenge. Join hosts Cat Walker and Anita Parkin as they take team veterinary technician (Trish Farry and Marcia Fletcher) and team human anaesthetist (Dr Adriano Cocciante and colleague) through their paces.
The teams will start with a panel discussion in which they compare approaches to cases, and finish with a fun-filled anaesthesia challenge! The teams will navigate questions and challenges that leverage their skills to the max, and come together at the end to see who reigns supreme in the inaugural human anaesthetist vs veterinary nurses and technicians anaesthesia challenge.
The teams will start with a panel discussion in which they compare approaches to cases, and finish with a fun-filled anaesthesia challenge! The teams will navigate questions and challenges that leverage their skills to the max, and come together at the end to see who reigns supreme in the inaugural human anaesthetist vs veterinary nurses and technicians anaesthesia challenge.
Biography
Cat Walker is a Registered Veterinary Nurse, Lawyer, Mediator, International Speaker, and Associate Lecturer. Cat has a wealth of experience in the veterinary sector including ownership and management of general practice and emergency hospitals.
Cat empowers veterinary teams to maximise patient outcomes by navigating common lines of conflict using evidence-based strategies grounded in conflict theory and neuroscience.
With a past life in performing arts, Cat’s skills as a speaker shine through with her interactive, engaging, yet extremely professional style. Delegates benefit from the pragmatic nature of Cat’s talks in which her goal is for individuals to walk away with clear strategies that they can apply to their working lives. Cat is the voice and mind behind the Radio Vet Nurse podcast with over 70,000 downloads.
Ms Anita Parkin
Veterinary Specialist Services
The inaugural human anaesthetist vs veterinary nurses and technicians panel and challenge
Biography
Anita has been a veterinary nurse for over 30 years. Working in a general practice for the first 10 years and joining Veterinary Specialist Services (VSS) in 2001. In 2017, VSS opened their 3rd practice to which Anita managed before moving into her current role of Employment Engagement Officer of all 4 for VSS’s sites.
Anita has kept her Australian qualifications current including her Certificate IV in Vet Nursing, Diploma in Surgery and ECC, and is an Accredited Vet Nurse and a Registered Vet Nurse through the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia (VNCA).
Anita’s overseas qualifications include obtaining a Certified Veterinary Pain Practitioner (CVPP) in 2012 through the IVAPM (International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management) and Veterinary Technician Specialty in Anaesthesia and Analgesia in 2009 recertified 2015 and 2019 through the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Anesthesia and Analgesia (AVTAA). She is also the proud recipient of the Steve Haskin’s scholarship award in 2018, and the Vet Nurse of the Year through the VNCA 2022 and the Earl Rippie scholarship award in 2024.
Currently Anita is the President of the AVTAA, is on the VNCA’s board of directors and is also on the VSS conference committee, CPD committee (VNCA), conference committee (VNCA), exam committee (AVTAA) and the is the Chair of the National Industry Advisory Group (NIAG).
In Anita’s spare time, she likes to relax on the couch with her fur babies.
