The Expanding Role of Veterinary Technicians

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1982

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Small Animal/Exotics20TH ANNIVERSARY

Compendium

September 1999

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20th

ANNIVERSARY

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1980

Animal HealthTechnician

®

(later renamed

Veterinary Technician

®

)

is launched

1981

North American Veterinary Technician Association (NAVTA) is formed

Teresa Sonsthagen, BS, LVT

1977 the AVMA contracted with theProfessional Examination Service toprovide an entry-level professionalexamination to graduate techniciansin six states. Currently, 45 states usethe Veterinary Technician NationalExamination, which is still adminis-tered by the Professional Examina-tion Service but is developed by theVeterinary Technician Testing Com-mittee of the American Associationof Veterinary State Boards. There is

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1963

Members of the first formal college-level training program for animal health technicians (eight students) are graduated

1973

The first animal health technology programs are evaluated and accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Committee on Accreditation of Training for Animal Technicians

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n the early 1960s, as technologic andmedical advances were improving veteri-nary medicine, pet owners began to de-mand a higher quality of care from theirveterinarians. Veterinarians realized that to meet this demand, they neededtrained staff members to assist them in their daily clinic activities. Thus the

“

ani-mal health technician

”

was born.

Education and Accreditation

The first animal health technician educational program was offered by theState University of New York, Delhi, New York, in 1961. By 1968, colleges anduniversities to the south and west had begun to offer similar programs. Today,there are 76 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)

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accredited vet-erinary technology programs in the United States and a number of other pro-grams are being started, including a few online.The first veterinary technology programs were opposed by many veterinarians who feared that formally trained technicians would become too independentand begin

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quacking!

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To address these concerns, the AVMA established theCommittee on Accreditation of Training for Animal Technicians (later renamedthe Committee on Animal Technician Activities and Training) in the early 1970s; its focus was to develop an accreditation process for animal health techni-cian programs. In 1989, this council was renamed the Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities, which coincided with the professional titlechange from animal health technician to veterinary technician.Because of an increasing demand for regulation and recognition of veterinary technology, the need for a national credentialing examination was realized. In

the Expanding Role of Veterinary Technicians

Teresa Sonsthagen, BS, LVT

Instructor Veterinary Technology Program North Dakota State University Fargo, North Dakota

Highlights and Horizons in

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increasing consideration to requirethat all veterinary technicians takethe examination and eventually tolimit the test to graduates of accred-ited veterinary technology programs. As with many professions, contin-uing education is an important as-pect in the career of veterinary tech-nicians. The AVMA first offered a1-day continuing education sessionspecifically for technicians at theirannual meeting in 1978; in 1997,veterinary technicians were includedin the planning of those sessions.Today, 32 states require veterinary technicians to earn continuing edu-cation credits to maintain their cre-dentials. To fulfill this need, bothtechnician and veterinary associa-tions plus regional and national asso-ciations offer multiple-day continu-ing education programs.

Getting Organized

In 1981, a group of technicians rep-resenting 20 U.S. states and Canadi-an provinces met in East Lansing,Michigan. Their goal

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to improvethe professional and public recogni-tion of veterinary technicians

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ledto the formation of the North Amer-ican Veterinary Technician Associa-tion (NAVTA).

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NAVTA representsand promotes the veterinary technol-ogy profession; it

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provides direc-tion, education, support, and coordi-nation for its members and works with other allied professional organi-zations for the competent care andhumane treatment of animals.

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In 1993, representatives from 13countries met to help organize theInternational Veterinary NursesCongress (renamed the InternationalVeterinary Nurses and Technicians Association. The United States wasrepresented by NAVTA, and Canada was represented by the Canadian Asso-ciation of Animal Health Technolo-gists and Technicians. This organiza-tion strives to collect and disseminateinformation, foster and promotehigh standards of education, pro-mote the interests of the profession,and provide advice to professionalassociations.

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In 1994, NAVTA began to devel-op guidelines for recognizing vari-ous veterinary technician specialty groups. The Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Tech-nicians and the Academy of Veteri-nary Technician Anesthetists weregranted provisional recognition by NAVTA in 1996 and 1999, respec-tively.In the 18 years since its inception,NAVTA has provided support to itsmembers by initiating the formationof the AVMA/NAVTA liaison com-mittee. This committee has accom-plished a number of major goals: Itdeveloped a position statement rec-ognizing veterinary technology as anintegral part of veterinary medicine;defined the terms

veterinary technician

,

veterinary technologist

, and

veterinary assistant

; recommended the cri-teria for technicians serving on disasterresponse teams; and helped place atechnician on the AVMA

’

s WellnessCommittee.

The Future

The future holds some critical junctures for the profession. Amongthese are the debate over titles, re-sponsibilities, education, and qualifi-cations

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issues that need to be re-solved for the profession to continueadvancing. In addition, whereas someveterinarians believe there is a short-

Compendium

September 199920TH ANNIVERSARYSmall Animal/Exotics

s

Education is Key.

Veterinary technicians play an importantrole in the clinic setting. A 1999

Veterinary Technician

marketprofile study showed that 90%of veterinary technicians areresponsible for client educationand 83% are responsible for staff training.

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Purchase Power.

Today

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sveterinary technicians havesignificant input into whatproducts their clinics purchase. A 1994 veterinary sales representativesurvey (conducted by Veterinary Learning Systems and tabulated by Data Vision Research, Princeton,NJ) discovered that veterinary technicians have almost as muchinfluence on purchasing decisions(46.4%) as practice owners do(54.1%).

1994

The first National Veterinary Technician Week is observed

OWNERS’ OUTLOOK

1982

Animal HealthTechnician

®

becomes the official journal of NAVTA

age of qualified technicians, many technicians argue that the problem isa shortage of well-paying technicianpositions. A significant number of technicians are moving to higher pay-ing jobs in sales, industry, and re-search or leaving the profession en-tirely, thus contributing to thisperceived shortage. In reality, thenumber of accredited veterinary tech-nology programs is on the rise; also,most veterinary technology programshave waiting lists and are thereforeincreasing class sizes to meet the in-creasing demand for education. A 1994 NAVTA utilization survey documented that most veterinariansare still performing tasks that techni-cians are educated to do (e.g., col-lecting blood samples, taking radio-graphs, placing intravenous catheters,

1990

The AVMA/NAVTA liaison committee is created

1993

NAVTA represents the United States at an organizational meeting of the International Veterinary Nursing Congress

1998

NAVTA hosts the first state representative workshop for leadership training Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians administers its first examination

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