I am in complete support of increasing the mandatory education hours for veterinary techs from 6 hours per year to 8 hours per year and here is my reasoning:

We took our healthy kitten for a routine spay

At 1130 am, her surgery ended.  No post op note written

At 2:30 pm, we were told her surgery “went well and she was waking up fine.”

An untimed notation that “Ketofen sq” “not given.”  No time was documented and no reason was documented as to why the medication was not given.

At 4:40 pm a licensed vet in Virginia wrote in her chart that Molly was “non responsive in her cage.”  That vet did nothing except to turn the lights off and leave Molly alone to die in the dark.

At 9 pm, a vet tech came in to check on Molly.  She noted Molly “responsive when stimulated” eg unresponsive.  So now, Molly is 9 + hours post-op and her neuro status has been determined twice not to be normal.  The vet tech also turned all the lights and left Molly alone in the dark to die.

We filed a complaint with the vet board:

.Against the vet who did Molly’s surgery and did not write a post-op note

Against the vet who noted Molly was “non responsive” and did nothing

Against the owner of the clinic for negligent supervision

Against the vet tech, who also failed to call the owners to notify us that Molly needed immediate care.  The vet tech also failed to call a veterinarian to ask for advice.  

Had the vet tech called us, we would have immediately gone to the clinic and took Molly to an overnight facility for emergent care and treatment.

Some of the problems with the investigation into our complaint

1. We had obtained a second opinion from an unbiased vet who said that the owners should have been notified of the change in Molly’s neuro status.  We told the investigator that she could contact the vet, but the Board said that we told the investigator that she could not contact the unbiased vet.  We only obtained the 2^nd opinion so that it was available for the investigator.  We did this prior to filing our complaint.  We very specifically told the investigator that she could contact the independent vet.
2. Neither the board nor the investigator acknowledged our complaint against the vet tech.  Assumption can only be that the investigator or the board failed to follow up on that complaint.
3. The care that Molly received was determined to be an acceptable standard of care for animals in the state of VA. 

Just maybe if this vet tech had more continuing education, she might have had the critical thinking that the vet lacked in recognizing that Molly was suffering and dying.

The above is what passes for a reasonable standard of veterinary care in VA.

I am willing to share Molly’s record with anyone who would like to review it.

I can be contacted at Mollymittens7@gmail.com

Respectfully submitted

Molly Mittens Mom

I fully support increasing the hours from 6 to 8 for licensed veterinary technicians.  Numerous on-line sources for CE exist if attending conferences is a concern due to cost or location.  

I am writing to support the petition which would increase CE for Licensed Veterinary Technicians from 6 to 8 hours.  Most LVT's already maintain more hours than are needed to maintain their license.  As an board member of the VALVT,  I am strongly convinced that as veterinary medicine is constantly changing the need for more constructive and up to date CE is imperative.  An LVT is an important part of the Veterinary Team to help all animals.

I am a LVT that is fully supportive to the increase in yearly continuing educational time. Personally, I believe it should be atleast 20 hrs. Advances in modern medicine and techniques make this an important subject and should not be taken lightly by either the educators or educatees. In human medicine, RN's in the state of Virginia need to complete 30hrs of continuing education, compared to our 6 hours. Our field does not have a high salary, but there are many opportunities to educate yourself for free both online and at scheduled free seminars. Once a person becomes licensed, it is too easy to not keep up with changes in medicine. Raise the standards of our profession!

I am licensed in both MD and VA.  MD already requires 24 hrs every three years.  Time in CE is time out of the clinic.  As vet techs only are paid when they work and salaries aren't that high, it would mean more time away from earning money that is usually needed.

I fully support raising CE credits from 6 to 8 for LVT's.

We need more CE time.  Just because we are technicians, we need to raise the bar on the education we can bring to the table to our hospitals.

As a vet tech student I see alot of new medicines and techniques becoming available in our profession. I think it is a good idea to increase CE hours so we have the oppertunity to learn more as topics such as seizure managment and oncologythat  are rapidly expanding in the field.

I am in support of the increase to raise annual CE requirement from 6 hours to 8 hours. The majority of other states require more than 6 hours (average of 7-8/year).  I strongly belive for technicians to remain up to date in this ever changing field, more hours are required to ensure the level of care the public and our patients deserve.  Since VA does not place a maximum on online CE hours allowed and so many organizations are providing free CE (VALVT, ER and specialty referral hospitals accross the state, veterinary pharmaceutical and supply companies, ect) I do not belive the increase of 2 hours would cause any additional financial concerns for technicians or their employers.

As an LVT I feel 6 credits a year are inadequate to keep up with the latest and greatest innovations in our field.  Adding 2 more credits annually will help ensure that all LVTs in this state are staying current in the various aspects of veterinary medicine.  Our field encompasses such a variety of topics for multiple species and I feel 6 credits annually is insufficient to keep anyone up to date enough to continue to provide excellent health care to all of our patients.  

Thank you,

Anne Lynch, LVT

Licensed Technicians bring so much to their practices and the lives of the animals they care for on a daily basis.  CE only helps techinicians stay at the top of their game with the most up to date knowledge.  Increasing the required CE hours will give technicians more opportunities to expand their knowledge - directly affecting the quality of patient care they can provide.  It's a no brainer!

In favor of more CE hours for Vet Techs.

I fully support the increase of CE hours from 6 to 8 hours.  I feel that in our field we should strive to learn as much knowledge and information as we can to better benefit our patients and our clients.  There are so many ways to receive CE that there should be no reason we can not add 2 more hours.  There are numerous conferences, online CE, dinner meetings etc that there should be no shortage in opportunities for additional CE! 

I am in favor of the increase of CE hours from 6 to 8. I believe that the knowledge our profesionals have the better treatment our animals will recieve.

As a Student Veterinary Technician, I support the increase in the CE hours to 6-8. I think it will benefit all students and experienced LVT's. It's always beneficial to increase the knowlege to LVT's, students, and staff to improve the practice.

I support the increase of CE hours for our LVTs. I feel that the more education our technicians recieve the better equipt they are to care for and treat our patients. I see no reason that it would be any more difficult to recieve 8 hours verses 6 hours per year.

I agree that we should have an increase to the CE required for LVTs. Due to the fact that we are in the medical field and knowledge is constantly changing, we as LVTs should prepare and learn as much as possible.

I support increasing ce requirements for LVTs.  With an ever changing field there is too much information to learn with the current requirements.  Increasing the requirement will encourage more LVTs to attend larger conferences which I find invaluable to my career. 

I am 100% in favor for increasing current LVT's CE credit hours from 6 per year to 8 per year. The veterinary industry is constantly evolving and I feel that all LVT's need to continue to learn to keep up with the industry.

I feel that most technicians already receive over the 6 hour requirement.  If an LVT goes to an all day conference they have usually surpassed the 6 hour requirement set forth by the BVM.  Most employers I have worked for have given me a CE allowance for the year to use as I see fit or at least given me the day off to get all my CE requirements.  I don't see this as a benefit but a requirement from veterinary practices to ensure their LVT's are well educated to perform their jobs effectively.

I believe that if technicians that have been in the field for a long time (like myself) need more hours to keep up with the newest technological advances in veterinary medicine.  On the other hand, I feel that veterinary technician students and new graduates need all the CE they can get to become the best technicians they can be.  KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! 

The only way for us to excel in our careers, provide excellent patient care, and client education would be to increase the CE requirement from 6 hours to 8 hours.  

Thank you for reviewing this important matter.

I support the amendment to increase the CE requirements for our VA LVTs. This can only benefit our veterinary field. By expanding the CE requirements it will give our LVTS an opportunity to broaden their knowledge. This is be benifial in many ways. Thank you for considering this change. 

In staying with other states across the country and other professions within our state, I feel we need to increase our CE time to 8 hours vs the current 6 already in place.  I feel there will be no added hardship with either time off or monies spent due to the amount of online CE and also free CE hosted by companies and organizations.

I am completely for this increase!  Education is key for professional growth and to allow this career to become one of "success".  This career is definately one of what you make of it and educating ourselves is going to help with that.  There are numerous FREE CE credits from vendors such as Zoetis, Elanco, Idexx, there is Free CE from multiple places.  If you are accredited in multiple states, I am pretty sure the same CE will count in both states.

The LVT annual CEvhours should be increased to at minimum 8 hours. Technologies and new discoveries are rapidly changing in this field and LVT need to stay updated to all the changes to help be a part of a team that can provide the best care to animals they serve. Increasing the amount of CE each year is a step in the right direction. 

LVTs have elected to pursue a career in a profession where information is continually changing and being added.  In order to stay current in their field, continuing education is crucial.  The added hours spent updating LVT's knowledge base and skills will benefit all levels of the veterinary profession, from maintaining patient care at a higher level to keeping technicians excited about their profession.  I support the requirement to increase the CE hours.

Continuing education is an essential part of this profession, and is the only way to keep techniques and methods current and on the cutting edge of veterinary medicine.  Without CE, we quickly become antiquated and out of touch, especially in today's fast paced, ever changing environment.  Increasing the number of hours will enable LVTs to broaden their knowledge base and perhaps take an opportunity to expand into areas which were previously unattainable due to time constraints or restrictions.  

I support the CE increase from 6 to 8 hours

I support the proposed increase in continuing education credit hours.

I agree that we should increase the hours to 8. Virginia usually holds itself to higher standards and education so we should have the lowest standards for our technician CE requirements.

I just commented but forgot to fill out affiliations. I agree w the higher requirement.

I support increasing technicians CE to 8 points yearly.

I am in favor of increasing the number of required CE's for LVT's, Virginia should be in line with oither states for a minimum average of 8 CE's required each year to stay up to date on best practices.

Vet techs are to vets as nurses are to doctors.  As each is offered new techniques and procedures, it only stands to reason that EACH needs to be continually educated throughout their careers.

I approve the increased hours of continued education for Licensed Veterinary Technicians from 6 hours to 8 hours per year. 

The way this petition was presented to us, was that the petition to increase CE hours was done solely on the basis that other states have their technicians acquire more hours, therefore, so should VA.  To change a requirement, based on the principal that "another state does it, so we should to", does not seem to be a quality/medical/educational benefit.  Are 2 additional hours/year really going to make a difference?  The technicians who go to CE and want to get extra hours and push themselves to learn more, will certainly do so willingly and on their own.  

I'm in favor of increasing our CE hours.  Our field is ever changing and there are lots of ways to get CE.  We should want to achieve to be the best in our profession.

I am in favor of increasing the CE requirement for LVTs from 6 to 8 hours yearly.  I would be in favor of a further increase to 10 hours yearly.

I work only on the weekends as a LVT and Manager of my own clinic location and in order to attend CE conferences I have to take time off from work.  As a manager this puts strain on my clinic location.  If the hours were to increase that would mean more time I would need off from my supervisory position in order to fulfill the requirement.  Not to mention, more money that I don't get reimbursed from my employer.  I feel we get enough updated information with 6 credit hours a year to keep LVT's up to date.

At this time, I am OPPOSED because I can find no documentation describing why the board is proposing this change. Is justification not required when a proposed change is submitted? Has the board seen an increase in substandard practices among licensed technicians which warrents a revision? Is there a formula that is used to determine the appropriate hours of annual CE based on level of education, responsibility or degree?  If there is, are Virginia's current requirements deficient? These are questions I would like to have answered.  While, I don't believe any licensed professional would argue that less education is better. I do believe that most professional (and paraprofessional) licensees achieve well beyond the minimal annual educational credits required by the board without being required to do so. I cannot in good conscious support a revision based on a mere "more is better" mentality. If the board could please elaborate on why this change has been proposed I, and I suspect others, could make a more informed decision on its validity. Thank you.

From a regulatory view point, increasing the CE requirement from 6 to 8 hours will bring Virginia into line with similar requirements in other states.  From a practical standpoint, it hardly seems like a day of CE is excessive or too much to ask for or expect of licensed professionals.

I feel that increasing the CE requirement for LVTs would help boost the professional image of technicians to the public and within the profession. Most professions (such as doctors, teachers, nurses) require many more hours for recertification, and as medicine changes so frequently, it is vital for technicians to be up to date on the latest information. This would also be a very minimal cost increase for technicians/practice owners as so much free CE is available online and throughout our community. 

I fully support the petition to increase the LVT CE requirement to 8 hours.  Our profession demands that we keep up with the latest technology, drugs, equipment, legal, and practice management advances, and LVTs are a critical part of our hospital teams. The increased hours should not be a burden with the availability of both conference and online CE opportunities.

In the ever changing face of medicine it is important to have high standards of ourselves and our associates.  Veterinary Technicians are a vital aspect of the medical team and it is imperiative to increase their continuing education requirement.  The wide availability of continuing education should not proclude anyone from meeting their requirement.

I feel that 6 hours of CE is sufficient to show that we are willing as LVTs to increase our knowledge in a few areas and that we are committed to continuing education. Two more hours will not increase our abilities by any appreciable amount. When we truly want to increase our skills and knowledge, we have to look for ways to learn on our own, by reading and by asking someone with a skill that we want to learn for help.

The Board I think would serve the profession better by encouraging LVTs to work for certification in specific areas of interest, such as dental or emergency technician.

Thank you,

Laura Graham

I am opposed to the increase.