RE: re: compensation / role of techs

[Guest guest]

Thanks Dr. Wall for your comments, they are greatly appreciated. I feel very fortunate to work in veterinary medicine and at a facility that supports and promotes

rehabilitation. I am also very proud of the fact that I am a registered veterinary technician. In veterinary medicine, the term technician is a broad statement, but to educate those who may not understand, an RVT, LVT, or a CVT is a graduate of an American

Veterinary Medical Association accredited program. These programs offer an associate degree, which can also lead to a BS in veterinary technology from many different institutions. These programs offer in-depth courses in pharmacology, anesthesia and surgery,

parasitology, and many other courses including in-depth anatomy. The anatomy instruction is very in-depth and is more than a few day course offered in a certification program. One of my current goals is to work with the American College of Veterinary Sports

Medicine and the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America to start a Veterinary Technician Specialty (VTS) certification for those RVT’s who would like to seek additional in depth training in the field of sports medicine and rehabilitation

to increase the knowledge base of RVT’s involved rehabilitation, and to help us earn more professional respect. Please consider the training of veterinary technicians before labeling them with just the term “technician”.

With that being said, as I read all of the various posts related to compensation, I do find the statement that “I’ll just go be a technician” to be very offensive.

I have been involved with rehabilitation for several years and I observe this same mindset all the time. I greatly respect the knowledge base and techniques that physical therapists bring to the table. They have an overwhelming amount of knowledge with modalities

and manual therapies and other techniques. At the same time, in most veterinary practices, technicians are a valuable commodity for the hospital due to their training. Veterinary technicians will never have the knowledge that PT’s do with manual therapies,

but a lot of veterinarians utilize technicians for rehabilitation because on the slow days, the RVT can run anesthesia, take radiographs, provide restraint for aggressive animals, give sedation when required, and fulfill a lot of roles in a veterinary practice

that others haven’t been trained to do.

From the veterinarian perspective, if a veterinarian took a two week course in physical therapy techniques and human anatomy, would they be allowed to work

on humans even it was under the supervision of an MD or a PT? Absolutely not. The point of this statement is to allow everyone to remember that rehabilitation is a part of veterinary medicine and veterinarians and veterinary technicians will always be involved.

Without question, PT’s are a valuable asset to this profession as well, and instead of everyone pointing fingers about who is the best care provider, let’s think of our patients that we serve and do our best to better develop our collaborative relationships

to improve the quality of their lives, regardless of who provides the care.

From: VetRehab [mailto:VetRehab ]

On Behalf Of Unifour Referrals Rehabilitation

Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 8:39 AM

To: VetRehab

Subject: re: compensation / role of techs

Thank you . I'm glad an RVT finally stepped into this conversation. My clinic is not so modernized that the RVT's are fully utilized. But I feel that being the only RVT that is

specialized, I am more utilized then others. I do 95% of the work in rehab. Including designing the rehab plan for each pet, doing all the modalities, designing diet plans, and speaking with owners about the progress of their pets during the process, with

a veterinarians supervision. I am not compensated any differently then the other employees in the clinic. The clinic did pay for my schooling completely to become a CCRP but, there are employees here that are not registered that make more money then I do.

I have my own clients and case loads. I'm glad your clinic is up to date on it's way of thinking about the people who have taken the initiative to learn and perfect their skills!

Veterinary Referrals Hospital of Hickory, Rehabilitation Angie , RVT, CCRP Find us on Facebook!