Arkansas antsy to create school for technicians to alleviate shortage

Little Rock, Ark.-The Arkansas Veterinary Medical Association is polling its membership on the potential need for an in-state school to recruit more veterinary technicians to Arkansas.

Through its newly-appointed veterinary technician committee, the association has initiated efforts, via a needs survey being distributed to 500 veterinarians, to develop a school of veterinary technology in Arkansas.

"We're going to need to prove there's a need," says Dr. David Thames, president of the Arkansas association. "We're going to need to prove these kids are going to come out and make a decent salary."

Results of the survey will be distributed to higher education authorities in the state - the critical source of funding for the project, according to Thames.

Arkansas, according to Thames, is one of the few states in the nation that does not have a school for veterinary technicians. "That's a good argument to start one," he says, adding the state has confronted a shortage in recent years.

"We have trouble getting veterinary technicians to come to Arkansas," he says.

The association says it is following up on the 1999 Megastudy to seek ways to use staff other than veterinarians in practice to help elevate the economic status of the practice.

"Among the many findings of that study," Thames says, "was that veterinarians do not fully use trained technical support personnel. It just makes sense to get these people into our practices. It's going to increase the gross income of our practices."