Introduction:

Today, in California and throughout the United States, it is generally agreed there is a shortage of veterinarians and in California it is safe to say there is a severe shortage of Registered Veterinary Technicians. California has approximately 7200 practicing veterinarians and only 3400 RVT’s.
In the early 1980s the first class of students were passing their state boards and were at that time referred to as Animal Heath Technicians (AHT’s). At that time approximately six schools were offering a two year program that qualified students to take the state board exam. Today, there are 12 sites that offer these programs including three sites operated by trade schools. Sadly, the number of students sitting for the board exams is almost the same as it was twelve years ago. And tragically one of the community college programs is closing due to low enrollment numbers.
Since the conception of the veterinary technician program it has basically remained the same. Upon completion of an accepted program, candidates are allowed to sit for the state board exam and if successful began their career as a board certified veterinary technician. Fifteen years ago this same shortage was evident and this author introduced three innovations to address the issue. The Career Ladder and Certificate Programs in Community Colleges were enthusiastically accepted by the Board of Governors and directives were given to promote and develop these concepts. At the same time the Five Year Plan was also accepted. For reasons unknown to this author the Career Ladder and the Certificate Programs were dropped by the CVMA. The Five year plan still exists and accounts for an average of six new candidates per year for the state board exam.
Presently the RVT Committee of the Veterinary Medical Board is promoting some new job tasks for RVT’s. These tasks would describe some specific activities the only RVT’s could perform. It is assumed that the purpose is to attract more people to the profession. Unfortunately this has created a conflict between some RVT’s and the CVMA. The conflict revolves around two issues. The first is a perceived encroachment by the job tasks into what is seen as the practice of veterinary medicine. The second is a perceived threat to present activities, now performed by non-licensed technicians, which if enacted would have financial impact on some veterinarians. While this conflict is absorbing a large amount of energy and time, it unfortunately does not address the big issue - a severe shortage of RVT’s. It also does not offer a long term solution to the problem.
This brings us to the present tense and the big question - "What can we do to attract, develop, and retain more people to the vocation of Registered Veterinary Technician?"

A Bold and Realistic Proposal:

A. Accept, develop, and promote the concept of the Career Ladder.

The Career Ladder will serve as an instrument of attraction,
Human resource development and retention.

B. Accept and lobby the Veterinary Medical Board, community
Community colleges, and the AVMA to accept and utilize
the concept of Certificate Programs.

Certificate Programs in community colleges will shorten the
access time to take the RVT board examination. The Career
Ladder will encourage and reward these people to complete
the A.A. degree and continue with their professional growth.

C. Clearly define the activities and responsibilities of veterinary
assistants and Registered Veterinary Technicians and establish a
goal for a time when these activities will be enforced.

The efforts and the accomplishments of people who become
RVT’s must be validated and respected. With a clearly defined
scope of practice that is enforced, the quality
service we offer the public is enhanced.

D. Develop and aggressively enact a program to promote the
vocation of Registered Veterinary Technician.

This program will be directed to schools, ROP Programs,
and the general public. It will be directed to employees in veterinary facilities. And most importantly, it will be directed to veterinarians.

E. Investigate and promote the use of Distance Education.

Distance Education brings the information necessary for
vocational development to any student in any location and will
clearly enhance access to a career in veterinary medicine.
Existing Community College programs would be the logical
source of this concept.

We have a big problem. There is a severe shortage of RVTs in this state, and a matter of fact the problem exists throughout the United States. What makes this problem even more important is that there is also a shortage of veterinarians.

The big question is Why? We will explore and discuss the answer to this question later on BUT, right here and right now we need to agree on two things:

1. We have a problem... a shortage of RVTs.

2. We need a remedy to this problem.

Some would say that the problem is that the RVT profession is broken. I would suggest that it is not broken. I would suggest the RVT profession (today) is incomplete, not finished. The initial problem is that in its original form it was NOT developed as a long term career. What we have is a short term career with an average career duration of seven plus or minus years - depending on who you talk to.

We need to finish the job. In order to this we need a model or a picture of a long term career. With this model we can develop a detailed description and then begin to promote and activate the model.

I think we all agree that this is a major problem - BUT there is good news. Many of the pieces of this needed plan are already in place. We just need to "connect the dots" and finish the plan. When we have put together a long term plan for professional development it will provide a positive, pro-active tool that will help us ATTRACT and RETAIN men and women to this very important part of the practice of Veterinary Medicine.

Let's talk about this picture for a few minutes.

Like most professions the development comes in stages.

STAGE ONE begins this journey and involves a large amount of non-technical information and duties.

STAGE TWO involves a lot of teaching, training and mentoring and the duties become more technical. A milestone in this part of the journey is when many of these people become RVTs.

As this journey continues there is a transition from being a HELPER to a position of COLLEGIALITY. This feeling of collegiality is very important. When my techs feel like they are working WITH me versus working FOR me, they go home each evening with a sense of personal pride and accomplishment. These people are more likely to want to develop their career and stay in the field.

Successive STAGES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT need two things:

1. A clear description of the steps along the path and,

2. Recognition of achievement.

Without these two things many people will miss the vision. If we do not describe it, it will not be seen. Likewise, without clearly described milestones - i.e., certificates, degrees, credentials, it will be difficult give the proper recognition for the accomplishments and professional development.

I think it is safe to say that if we do not validate our technician's contributions and reward them for their efforts they will leave our practices and eventually leave the field - as we witness today.

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This brings us to the PLAN and in this case I have two pieces of information to offer for consideration while we work on creating a long term plan: the CAREER LADDER and a list of ACTION ITEMS.

With regard to the Career Ladder, my preference is to omit the reference to my name. In other words I think we should refer to it as THE Career Ladder and not Dr. Seely's Career Ladder. It is not my Career Ladder and it certainly is not original. It is modeled after several successful career plans already in existence, Laboratory Technicians, Dental Assistants and Hygienists, and Medical Nurses.

It is of interest to note that Lab Techs are clearly quite technical. Dental Assistants are primarily technical and the activities of the Dental Hygienists move into the realm of dental science. Nursing has very well defined delineations between LVN, RN, and PA. And in the field of veterinary medicine our assistants begin in the technical realm and make a transition into medical, surgical and dental activities.

As we look at and discuss the Career Ladder as pictured here today please keep in mind that this is presented as a CONCEPT. This will be our skeleton that we will change into our LONG TERM CAREER PLAN.

What we see here is a ladder that offers a pathway, or a vision of professional development. There are steps and grades but in my mind at least, there is no top to the ladder. Even if a technician or RVT makes the decision to go on to be a veterinarian, we who are veterinarians enjoy the fact that it is a profession of lifetime goals and personal development.

Also note that as presented here the primary steps are described as Tech I, Tech II, etc. But it is clear that the primary levels of accomplishment coincide with educational degrees - i.e. A.A., B.A., M.A. etc...

The ACTION ITEMS are basically a number of items that we as a committee can endorse and present to the Board of Governors for immediate consideration. This list is provided as an attachment to this document

NOTE: In general all concepts were well received. The RVT Committee MSP a motion to request that the CVMA Board of Governors approve the formation of a Task Force to further develop these concepts and create an action plan. This meeting will be in June of 2005.

Please add your comments.