Veterinary nurse
You need to be qualified to practice as a veterinary nurse in Sweden. To be qualified, you need a Swedish licence or a so-called special permit. The Board of Agriculture issues Swedish veterinary nurse licences.
Belonging to the Animal health staff
As a veterinary nurse you belong to the animal health staff, which implies that
- the public is aware of your specific qualifications
- you must practice your profession in accordance to science and proven experience
- you take full personal responsibility of the treatments you carry out
- you must follow the requirements regarding your profession, such as keeping journals, issue certificates, confidentiality and duty of notification
- you are under government supervision and you may be reported to the Veterinary Disciplinary Board for Animal Health Staff (Ansvarsnämnden för djurens hälso- och sjukvård).
As a veterinary nurse, you are allowed to independently and without delegation, perform work duties for which you have both formal and actual qualification. It is however of importance that you have the actual qualifications (skills) to perform the treatments you do. The actual qualifications is what treatments you are skilled to perform, while the formal qualification is the theoretical knowledge you gained during your education. You are personally responsible for how you perform the treatments.
To work in Animal health care
There are two groups of personnel working in Animal health care. The group Animal health staff include professions such as licensed veterinarians and licensed veterinary nurses. The other group is Other personnel, such as veterinary assistants, some farriers, equitherapists and masseuses. If you are not part of the Animal health staff, you are Other personnel and you are limited in what treatments you can do according to the so-called treatment ban.
In short, the treatment ban means that you are not allowed to
- perform operative procedures or give injections
- perform treatments that may cause suffering that cannot be considered insignificant
- treat animals that have been sedated, anesthetized, or are locally anesthetized by injection
- treat animals that may be suspected of having an epizootic or a zoonosis.
You can read more detailed information about the treatment ban here but the information is only available in Swedish.
Can a foreign education lead to a veterinary nurse license in Sweden?
Within the Animal health care, it is possible to work either as a licensed veterinary nurse, or as a veterinary assistant (djurvårdare). The difference between veterinary nurse and veterinary assistant (djurvårdare) does not always exist in other countries, and it can therefore be difficult to assess whether a certain degree in animal health care from a foreign country can lead to a Swedish license or not.
A degree from abroad
If you already have completed an education in animal health care abroad, and would like to know which profession that corresponds to, you could get an idea by answering the following questions:
- Can I work on my own responsibility after completing my education?
- Am I allowed to vaccinate animals and write vaccination certificates?
- Am I allowed to – under some conditions – perform simple surgical procedures?
- Is my education focused on dogs/cats and horses?
- Do my knowledge correspond to the formal qualifications of veterinary nurses in Sweden?
- Do I have an education on university level?
- If I had been working with people – had my title been a licensed nurse?
If you have answered Yes to most of the questions, the likelihood is that the profession corresponds to a veterinary nurse profession in Sweden.
If you have answered No to most of the questions, the likelihood is that the profession corresponds to the title veterinary assistant (djurvårdare) in Sweden.
However, the answers to the questions above only give an indication as to which profession you have practiced, and the set of questions is not an exact template of whether you can get a license or not.
The veterinary nurse program is given by the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences, SLU. The Swedish veterinary nurse education is a three year university education. The education is focused on the animal species dogs, cats and horses.
There is no formal requirement of an education to become a veterinary assistant (djurvårdare). However, many practicing veterinary assistants have studied animal care during upper secondary school or have completed a complimentary vocational education.
Studying to become a veterinary nurse abroad
We can never say in advance if a foreign education will lead to a Swedish license as a veterinary nurse. Different circumstances can affect the assessment, such as a change in educational content over the years, additional studies or professional experience. Each application for a license is therefore assessed individually.
There are however some guidelines for you to consider:
- Degrees from an third country (outside EU/EEA and Switzerland) are required to be on university level, cover at least three years of studies, and have a corresponding content as the Swedish education.
- Degrees from other EEA-countries or Switzerland should as far as possible correspond to the requirements above to increase the possibility to get a license as a veterinary nurse in Sweden.
How to apply for a license as a veterinary nurse
The application for a veterinary nurse license is made by using our internet service. You will need to upload digital copies of your diplomas and other certificates. You may choose whether you want to scan your documents or submit photos of them. We must be able to read all the documents in the application in order to make our assessment. It is therefore important that the digital copies are clear and legible. If we consider the quality insufficient, you will need to resubmit the documents and then the processing time will be longer. The application fee is currently SEK 1,660, and you pay at the end of the application process by using either Visa or MasterCard.
Depending on where you studied, the required documents for your application might differ. Follow the link below for a specification of what documents are required for your application and additional information about your application.
Education in Veterinary Nursing from an EU/EEA-country or Switzerland
If you have a degree in veterinary nursing in an EEA-country or Switzerland you need to submit the following documents during the application process:
- A copy of your diploma or other degree certificate, in original language.
- A translation of your diploma or other degree certificate, to Swedish or English. The translation must be done by an authorised translator.
- A copy of your personal transcript of the courses taken during the education (“Diploma Supplement”), in original language.
- A translation of your personal transcript of the courses taken during the education (“Diploma Supplement”), to Swedish or English. The translation must be done by an authorised translator.
- Certificates of previous professional experience, if any, including which work tasks that you performed.
- Certificates of professional experience from working in Sweden within the field of Animal health care, if any.
- A ”letter of good standing”, an original certificate from a competent authority showing that you have no disciplinary sanctions in your profession as a veterinary nurse. This should not be older than three months. If your diploma was issued more recent than three months ago, the letter of good standing is not necessary. This is only required if the profession veterinary nurse (or similar profession) is regulated in the country where you have been working.
- A copy of your passport or other proof of the professional's nationality in case you are not a registered citizen in Sweden.
- A proof that you have satisfying knowledge of the Swedish language. Danish and Norwegian are considered equated to the Swedish language.
You apply through our internet service.
Please note that information you fill in is not saved in the form. This means that if you do not complete the application process during one session you will have to re-enter all the data and upload the required documents again.
Certificates for Swedish language
There are no specific requirements what a proof of satisfying knowledge of the Swedish language must be, this it is assessed in each individual case. Below are examples of what such proof can be:
- A copy of a certificate from SFI or similar education.
- A copy of a certificate confirming that you have studied in Swedish. The education should cover at least one year. There is no requirement what subject was studied as long as the classes were given in Swedish.
- Grades in Swedish from a Swedish upper secondary school education.
- Proof of at least one year of professional experience in Sweden where the working language is Swedish. This means that work experience outside of animal health care is also taken into account.
If you have a Swedish upper secondary education but your veterinary nurse degree is from another country than Sweden must also prove your Swedish knowledge according to the above.
Exemptions from Swedish language
If you consider that you have specific reasons why you do not need sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language, you can apply for an exemption from that requirement while applying for a license.
There is no specific form to fill out when applying for an exemption. You can write an application that you upload instead of the certificate of knowledge in Swedish. We will then consider if your special reasons are sufficient to give you an exemption. Your application for exemption from the requirement for the necessary knowledge in Swedish must include:
- A description of your special reasons for not being able to communicate with animal owners in Swedish, reading and writing your veterinary medical journals in Swedish and reading and understanding the Swedish regulations concerning animal health professionals
- A description of how you and your future employer together plan to ensure that you can communicate with animal owners.
- A description of how you and your future employer together plan to ensure that your journals will be kept in Swedish
- How you will learn about the Swedish animal health care regulations
Your future employer must certify that this plan will be implemented as described in the application.
Assessment of your application
When we have received your application, we will send your education documents to the Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets- och högskolerådet) for an evaluation of your education. Please note that this will take some time, resulting in a longer time for the assessment process. Initially, we will evaluate whether your education leads to the profession veterinary nurse (djursjukskötare) or veterinary assistant (djurvårdare) in Sweden. We check if your education include such training that is included in the formal qualification of a veterinary nurse. We will further evaluate if your education has given you basic knowledge that is required to act in accordance with science and proven experience. When we have assessed your application we will decide, resulting in any of the following outcomes.
License as a veterinary nurse
If your education corresponds to the Swedish education in both level, study duration and content and if you have experience from work in the field of Animal health care, it may be possible for you to receive a license without further complementary actions. Additionally, this requires that you have sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language.
Compensation measures
If your education leads to the profession veterinary nurse but the content substantially differ from the Swedish education, you may receive a license after you have completed compensation measures. Such compensation measure can be an adaptation period while working as a veterinary nurse on a special permit. The length of the adaptation period is decided in each individual case. To work on a special permit gives you the same rights and obligations as a licensed veterinary nurse. This requires that you have sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language.
Rejection
If your education leads to the profession veterinary assistant (djurvårdare) and this is the profession you have been working as previously, we will reject your application.
Education in Veterinary Nursing from a third country (outside EU/EEA or Switzerland)
In order to receive a license as a veterinary nurse in Sweden after completing an education in a third country, the education must have been on university level, in corresponding length and have corresponding content as the education in Sweden.
If you have a degree of veterinary nursing from a third country, you must attach the following documents to your application:
- A copy of your diploma or other degree certificate, in original language.
- A translation of your diploma or other degree certificate, to Swedish or English. The translation must be done by an authorised translator.
- A copy of your personal transcript of the courses taken during the education (“Diploma Supplement”), in original language.
- A translation of your personal transcript of the courses taken during the education (“Diploma Supplement”), to Swedish or English. The translation must be done by an authorised translator.
- Certificates of previous professional experience, if any, including which work tasks that were performed.
- Certificates of professional experience from working in Sweden within the field of Animal health care, if any.
- A copy of your passport or other proof of your nationality in case you are not a registered citizen in Sweden.
- A proof that you have satisfying knowledge of the Swedish language. Danish and Norwegian are considered equated to the Swedish language.
You apply through our internet service.
Please note that information you fill in is not saved in the form. This means that if you do not complete the application process during one session you will have to re-enter all the data and upload the required documents again.
Certificates for Swedish language
There are no specific requirements what a proof of satisfying knowledge of the Swedish language must be, this it is assessed in each individual case. Below are examples of what such proof can be:
- A copy of a certificate from SFI or similar education.
- A copy of a certificate confirming that you have studied in Swedish. The education should cover at least one year. There is no requirement what subject was studied as long as the classes were given in Swedish.
- Grades in Swedish from a Swedish upper secondary school education.
- Proof of at least one year of professional experience in Sweden where the working language is Swedish. This means that work experience outside of animal health care is also taken into account.
If you have a Swedish upper secondary education but your veterinary nurse degree is from another country than Sweden you must still prove your Swedish knowledge according to the above.
Exemptions from Swedish language
If you consider that you have specific reasons why you do not need sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language, you can apply for an exemption from that requirement while applying for a license.
There is no form for this. You can write an application that you upload instead of the certificate of knowledge in Swedish. We will then consider whether the particular reasons you have provided are sufficient to provide you with an exemption.
Your application for exemption from the requirement for the necessary knowledge in Swedish must include:
- A description of your special reasons for not being able to communicate with animal owners in Swedish, reading and writing your veterinary medical journals in Swedish and reading and understanding the Swedish regulations concerning animal health professionals.
- A description of how you and your future employer together plan to ensure that you can communicate with animal owners.
- A description of how you and your future employer together plan to ensure that your journals will be kept in Swedish
- How you will learn about the Swedish animal health care regulations.
Your future employer must certify that this plan will be implemented as described in the application.
Assessment of your application
Initially, we will evaluate whether your education leads to the profession veterinary nurse (djursjukskötare) or veterinary assistant (djurvårdare) in Sweden. We check if your education include such the training as is included in the formal qualification of a veterinary nurse. We will further evaluate if your education has given you basic knowledge that is required to act in accordance with science and proven experience. When we have assessed your application we will decide, resulting in any of the following outcomes
License as a veterinary nurse
If your education corresponds to the Swedish education in both level, study duration and content and if you have experience from work in the field of Animal health care, it may be possible for you to receive a license without further complementary actions. Additionally, this requires that you have sufficient knowledge of the Swedish language.
Special permit
If your education corresponds to the Swedish education in both level, length and content, but you do not have any experience from work in the field of Animal health care, you have to complement your education with an adaptation period while working as a veterinary nurse on a special permit. The length of the adaptation period is decided in each individual case. To work on a special permit gives you the same rights and obligations as a licensed veterinary nurse.
Rejection
Your application for a license as a veterinary nurse might be rejected in the following cases:
- Your education is not on university level.
- Your education is shorter than three years.
- Your education does not give knowledge that is included in the formal qualifications of a veterinary nurse in Sweden.
- Your education does not cover one or several of the fundamental courses included in the Swedish education.
- Your education does not include the animal species cats/dogs and horses to a sufficient extent.
- Your education does not cover any of the animal species dogs/cats or horses.
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