I attended veterinary technician school myself and worked as an LVT prior to veterinary school. I advise and support assistants in our hospital that are trying to get through school themselves. That being said, there are realities that must be faced in our profession. There are not nearly enough LVTs available to support the number of hospitals out there and I don't see that ever changing. We have one LVT for our hospital and searched for an additional one for a year with no success. Unfortunately, salaries in our profession pale in comparison to human medicine and are not attractive enough to ever expect a burst in the supply of credentialed staff. I know hospitals that have no LVTs at all because there simply is no supply. Our one LVT is excellent and I would not trade her for the world, however we have three assistants that are excellent at placing peripheral IVC as well and I rely on them on a daily basis. I can and do place IVC myself to help when I can but as a doctor trying to juggle multiple cases at once, especially emergencies, it is not practical to have patients waiting on me to place one when I am needed in two other places and my assistants are capable. Jugular catheters are a different matter. They are not commonly placed, at least not in small animal medicine general practice and I agree in restricting their placement. I realize the drawback for large animal medicine but placing these requires extra training and skill anyway. I value LVTs greatly but I find their value a lot in their understanding and knowledge behind what they are doing (which many assistants don't have) but not as much in technical ability because this always requires repitition and practice which takes time and experience for anyone. I was poorly skilled at placing IVs myself out of tech school because I simply didn't have the field experience yet and we are still helping our one assistant who just finished school develop her technical skills. I agree that passing this amendment will not significantly change the reality within our profession, that simply is.