Clinical practice veterinary technician specialties announced
The first certification tests could come as early as next year.
Surveys of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and veterinary team members say it's time for species-focused technicians to get their own version of veterinarians' American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP). To that end, the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) has provisionally recognized the Academy of Veterinary Technicians in Clinical Practice (AVTCP) as a new veterinary technician specialty.
The first three species-specific categories are canine/feline, avian/exotic, and production animal. Veterinary technician specialty (VTS) applicants will need to demonstrate “superior, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary” knowledge come time for the first test expected to be administered in 2012, says the chair of the AVTCP, Liza Wysong Rudolph, LVT, CVT.
“By successfully passing the comprehensive examination, specialists in clinical practice will demonstrate they're capable of providing a level of clinical practice that is clearly superior to the general veterinary technician,” Rudolph says.
The new academy and the specialties will be “provisional” until 10 years' worth of certification exams have been conducted. More species-specific specialties are expected in the future-the AVTCP plans to model the ABVP, which has 10.
Rudolph says the three new specialties will stand apart from other academies' offerings because of a multidisciplinary approach. “This differs from other current recognized academies in a major way,” she says. “Their members spend 75 percent of their workday in one very specific discipline in the administration of veterinary care.” The AVTCP applicants will get a broad test covering anesthesia and analgesia, behavior, dentistry, diagnostic imaging, knowledge of systems and common diseases, general nursing, laboratory testing, pharmacology, practice management, and surgical nursing.
Veterinary technicians interested in learning more about VTS certification in Clinical Practice should e-mail Rudolph at lwrlvt@aol.com. The AVTCP's goal is to make candidate information packets available in the next six months to interested technicians so they can start their case reports and logs in the next year.
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