ABSTRACT OF THE WEEK

Today's Veterinary Practice
Volume 13 | Issue 4 (Jul-Aug 2023)

Key Takeaways for Veterinarians from the NAVTA Demographics Survey

Today's Vet Pract. Jul-Aug 2023;13(4):10-14. 4 Refs

Kate Boatright¹

¹ University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Author Abstract

Supporting the credentialed veterinary nurses/technicians in your clinic will help them to achieve their professional goals and take a step toward profession-wide improvements in utilization, mental health, compensation, and title protection.

Companion Notes

Key takeaways for veterinarians from the NAVTA demographics survey

(NAVTA = National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America)

Results of NAVTA’s most recent demographics survey earlier this year

(last performed in ‘16, usually done every 5 years, but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic)

- CrVTs are critical to veterinary team and patient care

(CrVTs = credentialed veterinary technicians)

- it’s important veterinarians understand the findings of the survey

- and how to best support our colleagues going forward

- compensation is improved but remains a problem

- 25% increase in computed average annual salary since the 2016 survey

- $52,000 in ‘22 compared to $41,600 in ‘16)

- this number is calculated based on the following:

- average number of hours worked per week: 37.5 hours

- average pay per hour: $26.50

- “I’m certainly seeing this [pay increase] with our graduates,” said Kathy Koar

(MSEd, CVT, director of veterinary nursing at Harcum College in Philadelphia)

- higher compensation allows graduates to start “grown-up lives with only one job”

- increase is not profession-wide, especially in more rural areas

- according to Ashli Selke, RVT, CVT, immediate past president of NAVTA

- she’s based in the Midwest and said,

“The average technician I see does not make that.”

- most survey respondents were attendees at 1 of 2 major national conferences

- Selke says it’s important to ask,

“Who are the technicians who are able to go to these conventions?”

- she hypothesizes attendees are likely to have jobs with higher pay

- also, more veterinary nurses/technicians employed in research responded

- they have the highest hourly pay and more responded this year

- 39% of respondents ranked salary as the top challenge currently

- 1 in 3 CrVTs maintains a second job, often full time

- mental health and wellness remain major concerns

- “high volume of colleagues experiencing compassion fatigue”

- considered 2^nd biggest problem for the profession in the next 5 years

- 65% of respondents reported experiencing compassion fatigue

- 70% reported professional burnout

- 1 in 3 veterinary technicians knows someone who died by suicide

(someone in the veterinary profession]

- 61% of respondents reported concern about someone dying by suicide

(someone in the veterinary profession]

- veterinary schools and veterinary technician/nursing programs are trying

- they’re openly discussing wellbeing and mental health issues

- including coping skills

- but, clearly efforts to support mental health must continue

- establishing a national credentialing standard and title protection is a priority

- the title “veterinary technician” is often used for licensed and unlicensed individuals

- title protection would limit the use of “veterinary technician” to licensed individuals

- Selke notes that compensation and title protection are closely linked:

“If there’s not title protection, we can’t differentiate ourselves from veterinary

assistants”

- currently, 31 states have no title protection for CrVTs

- 12 of those states do not define veterinary technician in their practice act

- in the ‘22 demographics survey

- 83% of respondents indicated a national title is important

- 87% felt title protection was important

- 85% prefer the term “veterinary nurse” (a dramatic increase from ‘16

- currently, CrVTs can be denoted by 1 of 4 different credentials depending on the state

- CVT, RVT, LVT, and LVMT

- staff turnover was ranked the second most challenging aspect of the job

- turnover is multifactorial and influenced by concerns around the following:

- salary and benefits

- mental health

- lack of title protection

- proper utilization

- only 40% of respondents felt they were fully utilized

- major factors that CrVTs viewed as barriers to utilization

- lack of trust or confidence in the CrVT skillset by clinicians

- training uncredentialed staff to do the same tasks as CrVTs

- not allowing CrVTs to do the tasks they are trained for

- due to perceived control issues

- Selke stressed “We want to help veterinarians”

How veterinarians can support their CrVT colleagues

- Selke and Koar suggest the following ways to support CrVTs in the clinic:

- use appropriate titles

- reserve the term “veterinary technician” for those with credentials

- know the practice act and scope of practice for your state

- let CrVTs perform at their highest level

- share business data with CrVTs when discussing compensation packages

- invite CrVTs’ opinions into practice protocol development and other decisions

- offer student debt relief or assistance as part of a benefits package

“Selke reminds veterinarians that `We went to school to try to elevate ourselves and practice with veterinarians.””

Article Tools:

Email to me

Archives Highlights:

Risk Factors for Injury in Border Collies Competing in Agility Competitions.
The jump height relative to the shoulder height was associated with injury, with dogs jumping noticeably above or below shoulder height more likely to report a history of injury. Other identified risk factors included the number of weekends spent competing/year, the number of competitions at the national level, the age when starting elbow height jumps and backside jumps, the acquisition of the dog from a breeder, and the age of the handler.

Clinical characterization of a novel episodic ataxia in young working Cocker Spaniels.
The mean age at clinical onset was 4 months. Signs were acute and included episodic body swaying, titubation, cerebellar ataxia, wide-base stance, and hypermetria, all while mentation remained unaltered. Duration of episodes ranged from 30 minutes up to 24 hours, and their frequency varied from weekly to once every 5 months.

Association between highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks and weather conditions in Japan.
We found that higher average air temperatures two to three weeks prior, lower average wind speeds four weeks prior, and longer sunlight hours two and four weeks prior to outbreaks were significantly associated with increased risk of HPAI outbreaks in Japan. These results suggest that weather may influence environmental survival and transmission of the virus, as well as patterns of wild bird movement that could seed new outbreaks.

Prevalence of Encephalitozoon hellem among companion and exhibition birds in Japan.
Although microsporidia can rarely cause severe systemic infections, including hepatitis, nephritis, and enteritis in young birds, most infected birds are subclinical and thought to recover spontaneously after a period of temporary spore shedding if they do not have immunosuppression. Microsporidia can cause self-limiting infection in immunocompetent humans and life-threatening chronic diarrhea in immunocompromised individuals.

Emergency Approach to Acute Seizures in Dogs and Cats.
This review presents a systematic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of single seizures, cluster seizures, and status epilepticus in dogs and cats.