Well this topic has been the cause of many heated debates and I for one think that the only person that should assume the title of veterinary technician or work as a veterinary technician are those who have graduated from an accredited veterinary technology program.
What's the difference some may ask? Well there are many differences.
On the Job trained techs have had no formal post secondary school training in veterinary technology. That means that they lack the fundemental knowledge and skills that all technical procedures are based on. The skills they have aquired are those that have been taught to them at the workplace, usually by a veterinary technician or another On the Job trained tech. It can be assumed then that the level of skill aquired is based on the skill level of the one teaching the particular task. This I find discerning as the one teaching the task may have no formal training and may be passing along incorrect methods of performing these tasks. As many working in the field know, not all veterinarians are technically inclined either making them not always the best teachers. By lacking the background knowledge that makes up the framework for why we do what we do, how can you know if what you are doing is accurate? or what steps you can take to make sure you provide valid results every time? And this doesn't even get into a discussion on uneducated people doing anesthesia!
I am sure I will take a lot of heat from the On the Job trained techs out there for my viewpoint but I feel strongly about this!
I started out working as a vet assistant/receptionist in a small animal practice that had no technician. Because I was keen to learn, the vets started to teach me some technical skills. I was happy and confident with my skills and thought it was cool that they gave me these growing responsibilities, I had no fear. At that point decided I would like to take a formal program and enrolled in an accredited course for veterinary technology. I did not realize how little I knew until I started going to school and I probably wouldn't have known either if I hadn't enrolled in the program. I am so glad that I did because I realized how much more there was to know as a technician and how easy it is to learn other peoples bad habits that have been taught to you when you are On the Job trained. So I am not some technician who only went to school and then started working in practice....I started out as being trained on the job, so I speak form experience when I say there is no comparison.
The other advantage of being school trained at an accredited college is that you can continue on to become a registered veterinary technician. This requires you to write and pass a national exam as well as keep up with continuing education and belong to the OAVT. This ensures that technicians are continuing to upgrade their skills and knowledge in the fast changing world of veterinary medicine.
In Ontario you can't legally call yourself a Veterianry Technician unless you have graduated from an accredited program. But there are still vets out there who think it is fine to call anyone they have doing technical jobs a technician. This is apalling. Unfortunately it is still legal for vets to delegate technical jobs to whomever they feel is fit, but the OAVT is working to try to change this. Hopefully self-regualtion of technicians in the near future will help. Would a vet be happy if people they were working with called themselves vets because they could perform similar tasks without the background knowledge??? I doubt it.
How would owners feel if they found out that uneducated/unqualifed people were perfoming procedures on their pets when there are properly trained capable people out there to hire? I would guess they would be just as upset as if they found out that the nurse that just took their blood was really not a nurse but the janitor that the doctor decided to call a nurse!
Hopefully, if you are a pet owner and have read this, you will ask your veterinarian next time if they have school trained and registered veterinary technicians!
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5 comments:
I totally agree with you Kris. We've had many discussions about this since I moved to BC. There is only one tech school here that only takes in 20 people a year. If it's anything like our program, the full 20 don't graduate. I don't understand why vets would want to put their license on the line because they are too cheap to hire a RVT. There is definitely a lack of techs in BC, but from what I've seen so far, the tech association here isn't doing anything to rectify this situation. I strongly urge pet owners to find out who is performing procedures on their animals and not blindly trust that someone qualified is doing it. For the sake of our profession, I hope that things will drastically change here in BC, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. It makes you wonder why some of us actually put ourselves through school when any joe blow can walk off the street and do our job and be paid the same. I'm sure you wouldn't want someone who calls themself a nurse, but has had no formal training, to be performing things on you. I wouldn't even let them take my temperature. I've gotten some heat on VSPN.org about my opinion of assisstants doing my job, but if they really wanted to do my job properly, they would go through the proper channels and learn it properly through an accredited school.
Lisa,
I think that having a strong association is key in advancing our careers. Even though we are still struggling in Ontario we seem to be moving in the right direction. I was amazed to learn before that BC only has one vet tech program but I am even more astonished that they only accept 20 students per year! How are they ever going to increase the numbers of vet techs in the province??? I think another key factor that the BC assosciation should look at is educating the vets to let them know how much more we can do for them and then educating the public about what we do so they start asking their vets who is working for them. I am not sure, but I hope BC has some sort of regulation at least (like Ontario) for the exclusive use of the VT title to only those who have graduated from an accredited program. If not that would be a great start!
I enjoyed the article...It stopped and made em think...Anyone got any advice out there for someone who is considering the field of Vet assistant/tech???
Not to be bitty. But I really get sick of so called rVT's complaining about trained techs. Do you know how many students I have failed out of their internships because they couldn't tell me what the normal vitals were on an animal after 1 1/2 years of school.
I have worked with many shcooled and trained on the job techs over the past 15 years, and very rarely have I had much faith in the graduates from a program.
Just throwing my 2 cents in, just because you have a degree, doesn't mean you know anything.
why is it always about a title with you people?
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