RVN: Registered Veterinary Nurse, what do you think?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Are you for the enactment of the title RVN: Registered Veterinary Nurse?

    • 10
      Yes! We are all nurses no matter the patient
    • 26
      No! Veterinary Technicians are not nurses
    • 5
      No, This will confuse the general public
    • 3
      Yes, it will help the public understand what Techs do
    • 2
      Unsure / resistant to change

40 members have participated

I am a Licensed veterinary technician (LVT) in New York, I had to complete a 2 years of a specialized college curriculum and graduate with a B or better average to acquire an AAS: Associate of Applied science in veterinary medicine. that allowed me to sit for my board exam: the VTNE to obtain my state license to practice. I currently have to complete CE credits every year and am audited triennially by the state to make sure I have completed those hours. I am currently working on additional boards to become a VTS: ECC (Veterinary Technician Specialist: Emergency & Critical Care) witch will require 2 years of case studies, additional course work & another exam including a practical. My current job title in the busy 24/7 ER in which I work is ICU Nurse. I do everything that job implicates for a human nurse, but I am also the Radiology Technician, Lab technician, anesthesiologist, phlebotomist, Etc.

I tell you all this because I am aware that in the human nursing field there is little knowledge of who we are and what we do. What is our schooling like? what do we do in practice?

And now NAVTA has initiated conversations with global, national, and state organizations regarding implementing the term Veterinary Nurse for the veterinary technician profession, as well as establishing a national standard for credentialing and using Registered Veterinary Nurse, or RVN, as a unified title...

Among Veterinary technicians there are those for and against the change from Veterinary Technician to Veterinary Nurse, but how do you all feel about it? are you ok with sharing your 'protected' title with your veterinary counterparts?

Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.
Being the animal lover/pet owner I am, after you draw blood, start an IV, give a blood transfusion, administer anesthesia, assist with surgery and recovery, and deliver loving after care to my fur babies, I'd be glad to call you my pets' nurse. No issues sharing the title.

I totally agree. Vet Techs that actually have a degree and clinical training are worth their weight in gold. I couldn't do what they do and I really see no issue in them being referred to as Veterinary Nurse.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I actually had more experience with actual horses than the vet I worked with. I had and rode and worked in the horse business for almost 30 years. She used to lean on me for lameness exams, even to the point where I would get on them and tell what I felt. It can be very subtle. Good techs are like good nurses, they sometimes have an insight that the doctors are "in tune" to. When I used to explain my job, I said that I was like a nurse for the vet. They understood that.

Fun thread for one who has done both :)

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Specializes in ED.

Rolling up in here like a wrecking ball! I am an RN AND a LVT. The T standing for technologist woot woot! That means I am bachelors level for all you fine folks just tuning in. In my program I not only learned disease processes, I had to be a lab tech, phlebotomist, x-ray tech, surgical tech, anesthesiologist (I typically intubated animals and was responsible for administering and titration of anesthetic agents.) I had to be familiar with ABGs, how to titrate drips by gtts instead of pumps....not everyone in the veterinary field is a minimaly educated dingdong and there are programs pretty comparable to nursing school. Veterinary technologists have earned the right to be called veterinary nurses.

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Specializes in ED.
No matter what YOU call yourself you are NOT a nurse. You cannot do what I do.

I'm an ER RN AND a LVT. They are veterinary nurses, just as much as we are nurses. Does this diminish your role in anyway? Maybe your feelings are a bit hurt?

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I am an RN AND a LVT. The T standing for technologist woot woot! That means I am bachelors level for all you fine folks just tuning in. In my program I not only learned disease processes, I had to be a lab tech, phlebotomist, x-ray tech, surgical tech, anesthesiologist (I typically intubated animals and was responsible for administering and titration of anesthetic agents.) I had to be familiar with ABGs, how to titrate drips by gtts instead of pumps....not everyone in the veterinary field is a minimaly educated dingdong and there are programs pretty comparable to nursing school. Veterinary technologists have earned the right to be called veterinary nurses.

I think very few people initially had an issue with it. That is until a couple of vet techs hopped on here (you know, a nursing forum) to let us know how much better they are than us human nurses. Which begs the question, if the vet techs think they are so much better why would they even want to be associated with the term "nurse"? Wouldn't that just make them seem like the poop-cleaning, pill-pushing doctor's handmaids they apparently think we are?

Frankly I don't care what they call themselves. And I don't recall any discussion among the nurses here that referred to vet techs being minimally educated or ding-dongs. Lots of dissing nurses from the vet side though.

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That about sums it up. ^

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Any support for the term "Registered Veterinary Medic"?

It carries a number of implications, most of which apply:

- Wide scope of practice

- Not 'mere' nurses

- Haven't done much collective bargaining or profession-wide organizing, which contributes directly to...

- Underpaid

Veterinary techs could have a moral victory, without diluting the RN branding or pay scale, and nurses and vet 'medics' could finally get along. Sound good?

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Or how about "Veterinarian Assistant" sort of like Physician Assistant?

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Specializes in School Nursing.

If the training and nationalized board exam is comparable, I really don't take issue with it. I agree vet "tech" doesn't do the profession justice.

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I think very few people initially had an issue with it. That is until a couple of vet techs hopped on here (you know, a nursing forum) to let us know how much better they are than us human nurses. Which begs the question, if the vet techs think they are so much better why would they even want to be associated with the term "nurse"? Wouldn't that just make them seem like the poop-cleaning, pill-pushing doctor's handmaids they apparently think we are?

Frankly I don't care what they call themselves. And I don't recall any discussion among the nurses here that referred to vet techs being minimally educated or ding-dongs. Lots of dissing nurses from the vet side though.

That about sums it up. ^

Yes, this is really the crux of it.

What was the OP's initial post supposed to do, on a nurses' site, except provoke?

We all have pets, and we ALL know what you do. I am grateful my pets have always had the best professional, medical and loving care. Not to mention the techs who have personally been a comfort to me...they know how to handle us Pet Parents as well!

Utmost respect and thanks to them, but RN and LPN are protected titles.

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If the training and nationalized board exam is comparable, I really don't take issue with it. I agree vet "tech" doesn't do the profession justice.

But neither does "nurse", given the descriptions posted here. Before I was an RN, I was a paramedic and trained in a lot of advanced techniques. Never once did I think of myself as a "mobile nurse" when acting as a medic and vice versa. If you've done both jobs you'd know the difference. Which is why I contend they shouldn't be veterinary nurses, they should have something more specialized and definitive of the work they do.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I didn't dis anyone :) I respect both fields and commented on how being one helped with the other. I too intubated and ran anesthesia. Need to be able to put in an arterial catheter to monitor blood pressure. I knew a lot about pharmacology, which I still love today. Also reading labwork. I wish I had time to do both. It is a cool job. The pay sucks. When I was in college in the 90s for my Bio degree. New grad large animal vets made about $35K/year. Insane. just as much school as an MD. Don't know what it is today.

I know this is a nursing forum, but there are some of us that are crossovers.

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