Veterinary Technician or RN?

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I'm having trouble deciding between the two careers and I'm wondering if someone else was ever, or is, in the same spot. On one hand, I love animals and working with them (my first job was at a kennel and I LOVED it) and I imagine being a vet tech would be something I'd really enjoy. On the other, I like the idea of working as an RN also; I like the idea of all the different specialties and things you get to do as an RN, plus I like the idea of helping people and taking care of them. Although, I know as far as money goes RN is definitely where it's at; it's often hard to make decent money working as a vet tech. My school offers Associate's programs for both RN and vet tech, so...

I work as a veterinary technician in a state-of-the-art ICU. I manage patients who are on mechanical ventilators, require vasopressors, etc. The nice thing about being a veterinary technician is that your scope actually extends beyond that of RNs in some cases. I regularly place central lines for CVP measurement and sampling, art lines for DBP monitoring, interpret blood gases, adjust medication doses, anesthetize critically ill patients, etc. Not tooting my own horn or anything, but it requires a lot of skill and knowledge that many do not associate with "vet techs".

There are many opportunities for advancement as a veterinary technician, including specialty certification. You can go to navta.com for more info.

It is not uncommon for technicians at my facility to be making >$50k (not as much as an RN, but comfortable). This is of course with specialty certification and extensive experience. It is very demanding and very rewarding.

I do contemplate obtaining my RN, but feel I am more challenged staying in the veterinary nursing field. Many of my coworkers are veterinary technicians gone RN gone back to veterinary technician for this exact reason.

However I am sure being an RN is a very challenging and rewarding job as well! To each there own!

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

^navta.net :)

Yeah, like I said, the main reason why I'm not entirely decided on VT is because 1. it doesn't make as much money as RN and 2. I'm still not sure I don't want to be an RN yet. I'm thinking of becoming a CNA and doing that for a while to help cement my decision, since that will help me learn how much I like dealing with people and caring for them and decide whether I want to go for my RN or not.

I realize that RN definitely makes more money than a vet tech, but at the same time, I don't want to be stuck doing something that I might not enjoy as much just for the money reason. Honestly, I think I'd rather be doing something that I love, but makes my financial situation a little tight, rather than something that I hate but makes a lot of money. Not saying I'd necessarily hate being an RN but you know what I mean, hypothetically speaking. Something which you love but makes less money might be more worth it than something you don't like as much but makes more, depending on the circumstances. Like I said, I don't plan on having kids and I'm hoping the mortgage will be paid off by time my husband is gone, so I'm hoping vet teching will be enough to pay my bills.

And yeah, I realize some vet techs can get trained on the job -- however, I think if I do do it, I want to go to school for it first instead. Like I said, my local school offers a vet tech 2-year program, and that way, I can learn all I need to before applying for a job, and will be qualified for more procedures and such. Also, it'll lesser the chance of me making a stupid mistake during the learning process, because I'll already have learned so much from school.

I thought of going on to become a full-on vet, but I dunno... there's just the fact that it takes several years of school, and I don't really have the time and/or money for that much schooling... and veterinary schools are EXTREMELY competitive... there is only one in our state and it is hard to get into. And honestly, I think I'd be satisfied with vet tech... just like I said, the only downside of being a vet tech is the money.

I think of a vet tech being more comparable with a CNA rather than a RN.

Unfortuntantly many vet offices are hiring vet assistants (no hate, i used to be one too before) in place of techs just like MA's replacing RNs in the Drs office.

So you would compare a CNA's certificate, which can take about 2 months or so to achieve, to a Vet Techs' Associates of Applied Science degree and a registered license that requires 12 ceu's every 2yrs to maintain? I would disagree. But I do agree with you about the vet assistants. Most veterinarians can only afford to hire one RVT, so they supplement by training people off the street to do the same thing, but by state law they are not allowed to, it's simply just not regulated as it should be.

a vet tech is similar if not more advanced in skill set

A vet tech is similar and can do within their vet's practice all the skills that nurses or hospital staff have to specialize in, for example rad techs, phlebotomists, scrub techs and so on. As defined by the veterinary boards in each state, an RVT can do everything that a veterinarian can do except diagnose, prescribe medications and/or perform surgery. Gray areas that are accepted are external skin suturing, tooth extraction and performing duties such as giving medications in an emergency as directed by a veterinarian over the phone.

I learned about people that can't afford albuterol buying and using the horse version of the medicine

A lot of pet medicine and people medicines are the same and the pet medicine is a lot cheaper for many reasons but mainly because there are no insurance companies involved to jack up the prices. However, a veterinarian would NEVER EVER prescribe medicine to a person due to the severe legal repercussions. They might work out a little something with a close family member or employee, I have certainly seen that happen, but they would not even give a person a skin ointment unless they were crazy.

worked as a vet tech while completing my BSN - I never attended a formal vet tech program but was taught on the job. I was allowed to do blood draws and start IV's, I filled Rx's, performed heartworm/fecal tests, cleaned kennels, assisted the vet as needed, etc.

This aggrivates me just as much as it aggravates RN's and LPN's when a CNA/MA, etc calls themselves a nurse. You were not a vet tech you were a vet assistant, as you just clearly explained. And you have just pointed out how vets will take someone off the street and teach them how to mimic a vet techs skills. The reason I say mimic is that I have seen this a million times. A vet asst will be taught how to do advanced skills but will never be taught the reasoning behind them or the complications to look out for, or even how to protect your patient or yourself. I have seen two asst's bitten in the face and several exposed to harmful situations without protection, such as chemotherapy, x-ray radiation and diseases such a lepto. It's dangerous to the asst, to the peolpe the asst's are helping and to the pt's.

She loved working as a tech and still works the odd shift when she is home between semesters....but she has never made any more than $10.50 per hour...even now being in vet school....and this is at a very exclusive vet practice in South Florida

She doesn't make more than $10.50 an hr because she is not a licensed/registered vet tech, she is a vet asst. And being in vet school makes no difference, you have to attend an accredited school and pass the vet tech national examination in order to be compensated at the rate of a vet tech. A newly graduated vet tech will average about $12/hr in a small animal practice. If she is actually an RVT and she is getting paid so little she is being taken advantage of, seen this plenty of times throughout my ten year career.

So, if you want to earn a salary you can live well on, go the nursing route...(I would also prefer to be a vet tech and hope my daughter will hire me when she starts practicing so I can give this nursing thing up!!!)...

No offense to you, but I pray for anyone that will be working with your daughter that she does not hire you. And you will not be hired as a vet tech, unless you go back to school and get your VT degree, you will be a vet asst. And like other places that I have worked where they make the mistake of hiring family that person runs around wreaking havoc because they think they know it all where in truth they are actually dangerous and have no fear of getting fired no matter how ridiculous they are because they are family. Places like that usually have high turnover. Vet hospitals generally have higher turnover anyhow because most of the staff do not have a degree that is required to work there, except the RVT's, so to them it is not a career. The vet asst's are usually high school students, the ladies working the front desk are usually older ladies either close to retiring or are retired and still like to work a little, or are vet tech's and vet asst's playing the dual role thing. And the RVT's usually stick around for a year or two til they move on looking for higher pay, better treatment, some type of advancement, benefits, etc until they have tried everything and then decide to go to RN school, lol.

I graduated from an accredited college, passed my national exam and practiced for even ten years. I have experiance in small animal, exotics, some large animal, research, pharaceutical sales and management. I searched and searched for what I wanted but finally came to realize that I should have gone to nursing school all those years ago. Nothing will ever replace how I felt about my furry patients but I need more. I wan't to be a neonatal NP and am currently in RN school.

So to get to the point OP, a vet tech's pay will max out at about $20/hr and with that you will be doing more management and less pt care, which is what I love. And it is extremely rare to get any type of benefits, such as health care, sick days, vacation days, etc unless you are working for a corporation such as with research, pharm sales or Banfield Pet Hospitals.

I would encourage you to go to nursing school for all the reasons the other people have mentioned. Better benefits, better pay, advancement, etc. The politics and bullying happen in the VT world just as with nurses. As an RN after you get tired of bedside nursing you can go back to school and advance even further, the skies the limit, or so it seems to me.

Also, I think someone on here mentioned getting a vet tech BSN. I have never in ten plus years met a vet tech with a BSN and a small animal vet will never pay you more than a 2 yr vet tech that can do all the things that they require to be done. The only place you would possibly use a vet tech bsn is in research and even then they prefer something more useful, sorry to say, such as bsn in biology or animal science.

Specializes in ICU.

Apparently it depends on the vet you work for, and the area. My friend's title is a "vet tech," but she has never been to school for it. Also, my cousin is a vet tech, and she does not have any sort of degree, either. My daughter worked as one for a while, and her only degree is in social science. I agree, some veterinarians simply cannot pay for college educated personnel, and do "on the job training."

I think of a vet tech being more comparable with a CNA rather than a RN.

Unfortuntantly many vet offices are hiring vet assistants (no hate, i used to be one too before) in place of techs just like MA's replacing RNs in the Drs office.

So you would compare a CNA's certificate, which can take about 2 months or so to achieve, to a Vet Techs' Associates of Applied Science degree and a registered license that requires 12 ceu's every 2yrs to maintain? I would disagree. But I do agree with you about the vet assistants. Most veterinarians can only afford to hire one RVT, so they supplement by training people off the street to do the same thing, but by state law they are not allowed to, it's simply just not regulated as it should be.

a vet tech is similar if not more advanced in skill set

A vet tech is similar and can do within their vet's practice all the skills that nurses or hospital staff have to specialize in, for example rad techs, phlebotomists, scrub techs and so on. As defined by the veterinary boards in each state, an RVT can do everything that a veterinarian can do except diagnose, prescribe medications and/or perform surgery. Gray areas that are accepted are external skin suturing, tooth extraction and performing duties such as giving medications in an emergency as directed by a veterinarian over the phone.

I learned about people that can't afford albuterol buying and using the horse version of the medicine

A lot of pet medicine and people medicines are the same and the pet medicine is a lot cheaper for many reasons but mainly because there are no insurance companies involved to jack up the prices. However, a veterinarian would NEVER EVER prescribe medicine to a person due to the severe legal repercussions. They might work out a little something with a close family member or employee, I have certainly seen that happen, but they would not even give a person a skin ointment unless they were crazy.

worked as a vet tech while completing my BSN - I never attended a formal vet tech program but was taught on the job. I was allowed to do blood draws and start IV's, I filled Rx's, performed heartworm/fecal tests, cleaned kennels, assisted the vet as needed, etc.

This aggrivates me just as much as it aggravates RN's and LPN's when a CNA/MA, etc calls themselves a nurse. You were not a vet tech you were a vet assistant, as you just clearly explained. And you have just pointed out how vets will take someone off the street and teach them how to mimic a vet techs skills. The reason I say mimic is that I have seen this a million times. A vet asst will be taught how to do advanced skills but will never be taught the reasoning behind them or the complications to look out for, or even how to protect your patient or yourself. I have seen two asst's bitten in the face and several exposed to harmful situations without protection, such as chemotherapy, x-ray radiation and diseases such a lepto. It's dangerous to the asst, to the peolpe the asst's are helping and to the pt's.

She loved working as a tech and still works the odd shift when she is home between semesters....but she has never made any more than $10.50 per hour...even now being in vet school....and this is at a very exclusive vet practice in South Florida

She doesn't make more than $10.50 an hr because she is not a licensed/registered vet tech, she is a vet asst. And being in vet school makes no difference, you have to attend an accredited school and pass the vet tech national examination in order to be compensated at the rate of a vet tech. A newly graduated vet tech will average about $12/hr in a small animal practice. If she is actually an RVT and she is getting paid so little she is being taken advantage of, seen this plenty of times throughout my ten year career.

So, if you want to earn a salary you can live well on, go the nursing route...(I would also prefer to be a vet tech and hope my daughter will hire me when she starts practicing so I can give this nursing thing up!!!)...

No offense to you, but I pray for anyone that will be working with your daughter that she does not hire you. And you will not be hired as a vet tech, unless you go back to school and get your VT degree, you will be a vet asst. And like other places that I have worked where they make the mistake of hiring family that person runs around wreaking havoc because they think they know it all where in truth they are actually dangerous and have no fear of getting fired no matter how ridiculous they are because they are family. Places like that usually have high turnover. Vet hospitals generally have higher turnover anyhow because most of the staff do not have a degree that is required to work there, except the RVT's, so to them it is not a career. The vet asst's are usually high school students, the ladies working the front desk are usually older ladies either close to retiring or are retired and still like to work a little, or are vet tech's and vet asst's playing the dual role thing. And the RVT's usually stick around for a year or two til they move on looking for higher pay, better treatment, some type of advancement, benefits, etc until they have tried everything and then decide to go to RN school, lol.

I graduated from an accredited college, passed my national exam and practiced for even ten years. I have experiance in small animal, exotics, some large animal, research, pharaceutical sales and management. I searched and searched for what I wanted but finally came to realize that I should have gone to nursing school all those years ago. Nothing will ever replace how I felt about my furry patients but I need more. I wan't to be a neonatal NP and am currently in RN school.

So to get to the point OP, a vet tech's pay will max out at about $20/hr and with that you will be doing more management and less pt care, which is what I love. And it is extremely rare to get any type of benefits, such as health care, sick days, vacation days, etc unless you are working for a corporation such as with research, pharm sales or Banfield Pet Hospitals.

I would encourage you to go to nursing school for all the reasons the other people have mentioned. Better benefits, better pay, advancement, etc. The politics and bullying happen in the VT world just as with nurses. As an RN after you get tired of bedside nursing you can go back to school and advance even further, the skies the limit, or so it seems to me.

Also, I think someone on here mentioned getting a vet tech BSN. I have never in ten plus years met a vet tech with a BSN and a small animal vet will never pay you more than a 2 yr vet tech that can do all the things that they require to be done. The only place you would possibly use a vet tech bsn is in research and even then they prefer something more useful, sorry to say, such as bsn in biology or animal science.

I agree with most of what was said here. However, I know many specialty veterinary technicians who make over $30/hr and are not in management (including myself, though I am a nursing supervisor with some managerial duties). I also have a complete benefits package with a pension (as do all employees here). I think I pay $40/month for excellent benefits for my family. There is a specific skill-set that is required for some jobs, and employers pay well for it. Just have to work hard and study hard to obtain the skills and knowledge in demand.

Additionally, the sky is the limit with veterinary nursing as well. Sure you won't make 6 figures, but you can come close, and have a (potentially) more stimulating job.

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

Also, I think someone on here mentioned getting a vet tech BSN. I have never in ten plus years met a vet tech with a BSN and a small animal vet will never pay you more than a 2 yr vet tech that can do all the things that they require to be done. The only place you would possibly use a vet tech bsn is in research and even then they prefer something more useful, sorry to say, such as bsn in biology or animal science.

True, but in my area at least, the only programs that offer vet tech associates are the expensive for-profit schools. Vet tech BSN is usually seen as a stepping stone to get your DVM.

Apparently it depends on the vet you work for, and the area. My friend's title is a "vet tech," but she has never been to school for it. Also, my cousin is a vet tech, and she does not have any sort of degree, either. My daughter worked as one for a while, and her only degree is in social science. I agree, some veterinarians simply cannot pay for college educated personnel, and do "on the job training."

This is equivalent to a MA calling themselves an RN.

This is now illegal in many states, as the title "veterinary technician" is protected by law for those who have veterinary technician license.

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
This is equivalent to a MA calling themselves an RN.

This is now illegal in many states, as the title "veterinary technician" is protected by law for those who have veterinary technician license.

I may be mistaken and I tried to google it but -- it's my understanding that, at least in most states, you don't have to graduate from an accredited facility to take the vet tech test/boards? Similar to being a pharm tech.

I may be mistaken and I tried to google it but -- it's my understanding that, at least in most states, you don't have to graduate from an accredited facility to take the vet tech test/boards? Similar to being a pharm tech.

Now, I might not be absolutely correct on this - but from the research I've done, it depends on the facility you're applying for more than anything else. Some want those with prior training/experience, others don't and will train them from the ground up. A lot of facilities prefer those who are already educated/trained and know what they're doing, but it varies. Again, someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Personally, though, I want to go to school simply to have the education/training before I apply to a job. So I plan to do that whether I go for vet tech or RN -- take the 2-year program to learn as much as I can first. That way, I figure, the chances of me making a stupid mistake during the training will be lesser since I already know more. I want to know as much as possible to avoid making a mistake such as a med error that might hurt an animal, etc.

Some states have a "grandfather" or "alternate route" that allows assistants with X years experience, a degree in a related field (biology for example), and/or extensive CE hours (usually hundreds) in specific subjects to sit for the exam. In my experience, these technicians are usually much better/more qualified than new grads who just passed their exam.

SugarBabe-

You are correct. However, if you are not licensed you cannot perform VT tasks, such as induction of general anesthesia, splinting/casting, etc. There are many tasks you can perform once properly trained. However as we all know, just because you know HOW to do something, doesn't mean you know WHY or WHAT IT DOES. Many assistants can administer medications, but do not understand the pharmacology and physiology of why. This is where the additional education comes into play.

The facilities who hire non-credentialed assistants are usually low-volume community clinics. The specialty/referral hospitals almost always require you to have your license.

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