If I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked to weigh in on the hottest debate in recent technician history, I think I might be able to retire. Vet Tech or Vet Nurse, does it matter? The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) feels passionately that the only appropriate course of action for veterinary medicine is moving toward a national credential of veterinary nurse.
National credentialing would be accepted across the country, across all veterinary medical boards, associations, and/or registries. The Merriam-Webster definition of nursing is: “the job of taking care of people who are sick, injured or old” and a nurse is: “someone who is trained to care for sick or injured people…” If we swapped people and animals, does that sound any different from what we do? Human nurses provide care according to the nursing process— they examine a nursing deficit (often related to quality of life), implement nursing interventions to alleviate that deficit, and then examine whether intervention worked. Do we do that? We absolutely do.
Historically, nursing has been limited to people. In order to sell this change to the public, we have to buy into it ourselves. We as the veterinary technician community have to agree and we have to own it. Many of us feel that we do MORE than human nurses and we have worn that as a badge of honor. Veterinary technicians do dentistry work, anesthesia, hospice, and other tasks that human registered nurses do not and can not perform. However, there are human healthcare professionals who do these things. Nurse anesthetists, dental hygienists, ultrasound technicians, and lab technicians, just to name a few.
The question: Are veterinary technicians different from human nurses? This is an apples to oranges comparison. Think about the sheer number of people in this country, and the money that goes into human healthcare versus veterinary medicine. It makes sense that a human nurse could not be responsible for lab tests, dental cleanings, and anesthesia all in a good day’s work. Often services for one are not even available in a facility that houses another. A human laboratory technician is not responsible for administering the antibiotics to a patient who has a positive culture, they simply report it. A human radiology technician is not responsible for placing a bandage on a patient with a fracture, they simply take the x-ray.
Veterinary technicians, on the other hand, are responsible for the whole entire patient. Underlying every one of those tasks we perform is nursing care. We are responsible for the care of a pet in its entirety. You can not convince me that this holistic approach to care is not nursing. The debate is not about whether we do more or less than human nurses. This is not a competition (of course if it was, we’d win because we absolutely do more). It is not about whether we should distance ourselves from human nurses by calling ourselves technicians. It is actually about whether we are performing nursing care— holistic care— of the veterinary patient. And in fact, we are. #IAMAVETNURSE
--David Liss, RVT, VTS (ECC, SAIM)
National credentialing would be accepted across the country, across all veterinary medical boards, associations, and/or registries. The Merriam-Webster definition of nursing is: “the job of taking care of people who are sick, injured or old” and a nurse is: “someone who is trained to care for sick or injured people…” If we swapped people and animals, does that sound any different from what we do? Human nurses provide care according to the nursing process— they examine a nursing deficit (often related to quality of life), implement nursing interventions to alleviate that deficit, and then examine whether intervention worked. Do we do that? We absolutely do.
Historically, nursing has been limited to people. In order to sell this change to the public, we have to buy into it ourselves. We as the veterinary technician community have to agree and we have to own it. Many of us feel that we do MORE than human nurses and we have worn that as a badge of honor. Veterinary technicians do dentistry work, anesthesia, hospice, and other tasks that human registered nurses do not and can not perform. However, there are human healthcare professionals who do these things. Nurse anesthetists, dental hygienists, ultrasound technicians, and lab technicians, just to name a few.
The question: Are veterinary technicians different from human nurses? This is an apples to oranges comparison. Think about the sheer number of people in this country, and the money that goes into human healthcare versus veterinary medicine. It makes sense that a human nurse could not be responsible for lab tests, dental cleanings, and anesthesia all in a good day’s work. Often services for one are not even available in a facility that houses another. A human laboratory technician is not responsible for administering the antibiotics to a patient who has a positive culture, they simply report it. A human radiology technician is not responsible for placing a bandage on a patient with a fracture, they simply take the x-ray.
Veterinary technicians, on the other hand, are responsible for the whole entire patient. Underlying every one of those tasks we perform is nursing care. We are responsible for the care of a pet in its entirety. You can not convince me that this holistic approach to care is not nursing. The debate is not about whether we do more or less than human nurses. This is not a competition (of course if it was, we’d win because we absolutely do more). It is not about whether we should distance ourselves from human nurses by calling ourselves technicians. It is actually about whether we are performing nursing care— holistic care— of the veterinary patient. And in fact, we are. #IAMAVETNURSE
--David Liss, RVT, VTS (ECC, SAIM)
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