I was on call for emergencies the other night and I started every appointment with, “Hello, I am Dr. Andrews and this is Sarah, a registered veterinary technician, and we will be helping your pet today.”
I do this on emergencies as I am seeing people for the first time, and they are scared and need to know the team that is going to be taking care of their pet.
Registered veterinary technicians are a vital part of that team, and many people don’t know how important, skilled and amazing these individuals are. With next week being National Veterinary Technician week, I think it’s time to change that.
So what is a registered veterinary technician?
We can start with what they are not. They are not your veterinarian’s assistant. Registered veterinary technicians have completed rigorous training and passed a licensing exam to become credentialed animal health professionals.
Registered veterinary technicians are highly trained with a vast amount of technical skills. They administer and monitor anaesthesia through to recovery, comforting your pets as they wake up. They are radiology technicians, taking x-rays and performing ultrasounds.
They are dental hygienists. They are phlebotomists, taking blood samples and performing testing. They are surgical assistants. They are pharmacy technicians. They are in appointments taking clinical histories, and holding for examinations. They are the bridge between the veterinarian and the client answering your questions.
You may have been noticed that I have listed at least six different careers in human medicine and this is far from an exhaustive list of all the skills that registered veterinary technicians have or the jobs that they complete on a daily basis. To be honest, a registered veterinary technician will likely do several of these vastly different duties within the same hour, let alone within the same day.
To say they are impressive would be an understatement.
In addition to these technical skills, most veterinary hospitals are also managed by registered veterinary technicians. Inventory managers are the ones making sure when you call at the last second because you suddenly ran out of Fluffy’s allergy medication that it is actually in stock in the clinic, among other things.
They can also be practice managers making sure the hospital is actually running so you can get your pets treated. And if you have ever tried to wrangle a group of perfectionists with varying levels of imposter syndrome, you understand what kind of superhuman powers that takes.
Registered veterinary technicians do all of this and still take the time to sneak in and comfort the scared pet in the kennel waiting for their procedure. Or spend their lunch hour sitting with the recovering patient. They are the heart of the veterinary clinic and in my opinion rarely get the recognition they deserve.
The next time you are at your veterinary office, thank your registered veterinary technicians. I want to thank every registered veterinary technician out there for everything they do. You are awe-inspiring and it is a privilege to get to work with you every day.
Dr. Courtney Andrews is a veterinarian at Lockerby Animal Hospital, a graduate of the Royal School of Veterinary Studies and dog mom to Argyll and Einstein. Animals & Pets is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
