What Uber can teach us about the national credential initiative
Have YOU ever had to explain your job title to an Uber driver? Ken Yagi has, and part of the reason he's in favor of the title change to registered veterinary nurse.
If you've ever cringed when some asks what you do for a living because you're just not sure how to explain it, you're in good company. Watch as Ken Yagi, BS, RVT, VTS (ECC, SAIM), and Tasha McNerney, BS, CVT, CVPP, VTS (anesthesia and analgesia), share their views on tech titles and roles.
Don't have time to watch? The takeaways:
“I personally like the idea of an across the board-all across the nation-registered veterinary nurse. I think it lets people know what we do,” McNerney says. “I think that registered veterinary nurse is a step in the right direction for us as a profession to come together under one name and present ourselves to the public as ‘We're veterinary nurses, and we're awesome!'”
While Yagi says it communicates that it's a lot more than just paperwork, the nurse provides care and physical work for the patient.
“It's a different focus that we have within the veterinary team, caring for the patients and doing the physical work, as well as being able to assess the patients, he says. “We provide the nursing care that they need in order to provide the best patient care that we can.”
In states that allow it. Source: dvm360 clinical updates: Future of veterinary medicine survey
McNerney agrees, “We don't just hold the animal for the doctor. We're an integral part of the medicine team. We're making decisions together with the doctor to elevate the standard of care for patients.”
Source: dvm360 clinical updates: Future of veterinary medicine survey
For Yagi, the name change not only communicates to the outside world, but it also can have the power to change the mindset of team members as a whole, elevating patient care.
“One thing I want to see changed is for the veterinary technicians to think of veterinary technology as more than receiving orders and carrying out the physical act of doing that order,” Yagi says. “There's a lot of thinking involved and I think that if everyone had that mindset, it'll elevate the profession even higher.”
In states where it's allowed. Source: dvm360 clinical updates: Future of veterinary medicine survey.
Watch the full video above to hear their heartfelt opinions on what the term nurse would bring to the profession.
