Link: Vet Nurse or Vet Tech? Both Sides of the Debate

Written by Lori Hehn | Jun 14, 2016 12:49:05 PM

The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America is starting a “veterinary nurse initiative” this year that would rename veterinary technicians as veterinary nurses. The initiative includes trying to establish a national standard for credentialing. Be sure to check out our other Link Posts.

"NAVTA would like to use the term “veterinary nurse” as a standardized title in all 50 states, just as it is used in the U.K. and Australia, for example, in addition to a standard that would be set in all 50 states for maintenance of credentials."

Read the full Article from AVMA.org

Dr. Hehn's Take

Vet nurse may be more widely accepted by the non-veterinary public because they are familiar with the word "nurse." It may help them to understand the general role of a vet tech. Having the term "nurse" as an official title it seems is going to be difficult to achieve in some states, especially because of opposition from the human nursing community.

The other side is that veterinary technicians do much more than human "nurses" do. They take x-rays, draw blood, run fecals and labwork, perform dentals, assist in surgery and much more. To me the term technician is more descriptive of all of these duties that vet techs do. I think that people just prefer the word nurse.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out through the AVMA and NAVTA. What are your thoughts on this hot topic?

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