So I took my dog to the vet yesterday morning to be spayed, we (my dog and I) are called into the assessment room by this woman who introduces herself as the "RN" who will be taking care of my dog.
Ofcourse I am skeptical, I question her "You are a Registered Nurse?"
She replies, that yes she is a RN, the training is EXACTLY the same, except that it is for animals, and that she had to pass a board exam. She actually goes on about it for a couple of minutes.
At this point I am so stunned, that I decide not to say anything, as I am already in a highly irritated mood because I am sleep deprived, starving because I am fasting for blood work, and actively fighting with my insurance coverage to get any prescription filled anywhere, and I am afraid of over reacting. I make sure that I sound highly skeptical when I say "Oooookayyy"
I am usually not very political or sensitive to nursing slights. I am comfortable with who I am and happy with what I do. I laugh at slights to nurses on tv more often that not, but this just kept itching at me.
When I left they gave me a addressed envelope and a survey to fill out. I am considering using the envelope to write a letter to the vet to inform her that she has at least one tech that is calling herself a RN and that by allowing this to go on in her practice that she is opening herself up to potential liability.
I think you might be assuming that is the case everywhere and that's just not true. I see ads all the time for schools offering vet tech/asst. programs, 9 months and you are out the door working your new career. I've lived in five states and none of them required 2 years.
My old vet clinic didn't have trained techs, they were trained on the job. No school, none. That is just not an RN.
Those correspondence courses are NOT AVMA accredited vet tech programs. People who take them are just tossing their money down the toliet. A person that wastes their money on these programs will not be allowed to sit for the VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam) and/or the state exam in most states. After 2010 the VTNE will only be given to GRADUATES of a two year AVMA accredited program. There will be no more "grandfathering" to sit for the VTNE as there is now. On the job trained 'techs' are not techs but assistants. I will be sooooooooooo glad when the laws change so that every Tom, Dick and Harry that loves animals and works in a vet office will not be allowed to use the title of vet tech.
For more information on this subject go to http://www.navta.net which also has a list of accredited programs.
Also look at the list of duties that technicians perform everyday. Ask yourself, "Would you let an uncredentialed person person perform those duties on your furkid?".
We disagree about what it takes to be a vet tech. Schools in Arizona are advertising all day long on TV, radio, billboards, etc. that they can be a vet tech in 9 months. Come to our school, take your test, and work in a vet clinic. If we have a 2-4 year program for vet techs I am not aware of it. Not saying they don't exist, I'm just not aware of them. They aren't advertising like the 9 month programs.
Is that degree you have in veterinary medicine, biology, and pharmacology required to work as a vet tech? What state do you live in?
At my vet clinic the techs do the grooming for a fee. Perhaps it is a difference in state rules and regs.
The term RN is not the same as vet tech, licensed/certified/registered. One means one type of job and the other means another type of job. For a vet tech to represent herself as an RN means she is claiming she has met the requirements for an RN. She hasn't. Right, wrong, or indifferent people who have met the requirements to be an RN will not like it when others do as the vet tech in question did.
The issue here is not a matter of which is better, it is a matter of correct terminology.
First of all, Fuzzy, CVT has already pointed out how wrong this post is. I'm just so disappointed in those of us who feel the need to put down other professions like this. As a "mom" to many species of furkids, I am glad to know there are qualified, educated veterinary technicians working in animal hospitals -- now I just need to check with my vet to see if his "support staff" is made up of true veterinary technicians. I would choose a licensed vet tech to care for my babies in a second before I'd want an RN to care for them.
In my opinion, the veterinary technician in the original post sounds pretty insecure in the way she was trying to say she's an RN. I wouldn't be offended if, when trying to describe her scope of practice, she said -- "it's like what a registered nurse does, but for non-human animals." Where it rubs me the wrong way is her calling herself an RN (which is illegal). I agree with an earlier post that suggested vet techs have a wider scope of practice than RNs have, and they should embrace that and be proud of it. Here's a thought -- why don't true vet techs wear badges with their qualifications? There are a lot of pet "owners" (I hate that term) like me who had no clue what goes into a career as a veterinary technician. It's just like nurses in private offices not wearing badges, and then being upset when MAs are lumped into the "nurses" category. How about having pride in one's accomplishments?
To be honest, I think the public perception of the word "nurse" is quite inaccurate and leaves much to be desired, so it kind of puzzles me that vet techs even want the title nurse. A lot of people think "nurse" means "giver of sponge baths, bedpan-emptier, and hand-holder", so a veterinary nurse might be thought of as "groomer and glorified walker." It seems like what they want is recognition for their education, qualification, and licensure. It seems to me that working on advocating for a greater public understanding of what true vet techs are would suit them better.
Actually my name tag has my name, my title (CVT) as well as the hospital name. I wear it proudly. Plus my (and the other technician in the office) certification certificate with my current renewel card is framed in the waiting room right next to the doctor's license.
Weren't these protection laws created for the HUMAN public? I just don't see the point in caring if an animal caregiver calls herself a nurse or an RN. It's silly IMO (to call yourself an RN or a nurse) if you're not, but in the animal world I just don't see the harm.
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so what the heck then huh?
then why not call the lady who gives me a pedicure an rn too while we're at it. i mean she DID study a&p to become a beauty tech.
Wow, such an interesting topic, and so many point of views! I love it!
Had I been in this situation, I probably would have just made a comment to the staff member right when she said that, what kind of comment I don't know.....
I wonder what would have provoked her to refer to herself this way... Did she know you were one? A lot of people who aren't in the medical field or familiar with it aren't even sure of the differences between a nurse/rn/lpn...etc... So I wonder what her motivation was to be so specific. Thats probably what I would have asked just from curiosity. I understand the seriousness of the professional/legal aspect but hey on a lighter note maybe she was just trying to impress you or relate to you. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. She should feel proud of her title whatever it may be.
Animal nurse, I would have been cool with but yeah OP you're not alone in feeling a little stange about this........
A Certified Vet. Tech. is registered and must pass state boards in Virginia. They are nurses for animals, performing many similar assessments etc. To be more accurate she should have stated she is a Veterinary Tech. or Veterinary nurse.
Being a Veterinary Tech. before becoming an RN, helped my clinical and communication skills. It also was alot of fun!!! When I retire from nursing (humans) I hope to go back to it.
A Certified Vet. Tech. is registered and must pass state boards in Virginia. They are nurses for animals, performing many similar assessments etc. To be more accurate she should have stated she is a Veterinary Tech. or Veterinary nurse.
Being a Veterinary Tech. before becoming an RN, helped my clinical and communication skills. It also was alot of fun!!! When I retire from nursing (humans) I hope to go back to it.
Count me in to the group that thinks that someone who call themselves an R.N. should actually be an R.N. and someone who calls themselves a nurse should actually be a nurse. Our profession has enough problems with image and educating the public to what we do, what our profession is all about and the education it takes to be a nurse. Sorry, maybe a lot of you don't agree with me, especially those who are not R.N.s.
On a personal note it makes me nuts to hear false representation. For example the show survivor had a winner in one season, Tina, the woman they represented as a "nurse" and it turned out that she had worked for a time as an aide and didn't even have a high school education. Every now and then there is a news story about a "nurse" doing something illegal and unethical and after a few days the story clarifies that the "nurse" is really a health care worker or NA. At present my inlaws are looking for a "nurse" to be a companion/aide to my mother in law. They interchange the term nurse. Of course, I don't say anything but I do find it personally offensive. Right or wong, that is my feeling.
As for the vet tech, that is just plain misrepresentation. I she is licensed or registered I'm sure that they have their own titles.
I do stand corrected after reading some of the previous posts. I didn't know that they incorporated the title of "nurse" into some of the official titles for trained animal care givers. Who, don't get me wrong, I have great respect for.
Fuzzy
370 Posts
Those correspondence courses are NOT AVMA accredited vet tech programs. People who take them are just tossing their money down the toliet. A person that wastes their money on these programs will not be allowed to sit for the VTNE (Veterinary Technician National Exam) and/or the state exam in most states. After 2010 the VTNE will only be given to GRADUATES of a two year AVMA accredited program. There will be no more "grandfathering" to sit for the VTNE as there is now. On the job trained 'techs' are not techs but assistants. I will be sooooooooooo glad when the laws change so that every Tom, Dick and Harry that loves animals and works in a vet office will not be allowed to use the title of vet tech.
For more information on this subject go to http://www.navta.net which also has a list of accredited programs.
Also look at the list of duties that technicians perform everyday. Ask yourself, "Would you let an uncredentialed person person perform those duties on your furkid?".
Fuzzy, CVT