Veterinary nursing has experienced the immigration of new concepts and terminology relating to human nursing theories for a number of years, many of which, such as nursing models and care plans, are now integral parts of the veterinary nursing academic landscape. Despite this, it is proposed by the authors that veterinary nurses are, for various reasons, reluctant to incorporate care planning into their daily clinical practice, resulting in the development of a theory–practice divide. As there are published reports from veterinary nurses who have applied the Orpet and Jeffery Ability Model (2007) to their practice with successful outcomes, it is suggested that adoption of this veterinary nursing model provides the best chance of closing the theory–practice gap. When used in conjunction with the nursing process, the Orpet and Jeffery Ability Model (2007) can enable veterinary nurses to deliver a high standard of individualised nursing care to their patients in practice, in addition to further developing the profession as a whole.

Planning patient care is an integral part of veterinary nursing practice. Part one of this article outlined how the Orpet and Jeffery Ability Model (2007) can be used to enhance the processes involved in planning care and encourage a holistic view of veterinary patients. This second part builds on the existing literature regarding the use of this model in practice by examining the outcomes arising from its use by 56 registered veterinary nurses in practice, as part of their studies towards the Royal Veterinary College Graduate Diploma in Professional and Clinical Veterinary Nursing. The observed positive outcomes included perceived increased recognition and enhancement of the unique role of the veterinary nurse and improved individualised and patient-specifc care through use of the client questionnaire. The predominant negative outcome was the length of time taken to complete the planning of patient care. While this may decrease if use of the model was routinely adopted by practising veterinary nurses, it is proposed by the authors that signifcant local adaptations of the model are required to ensure that this adoption occurs.