As someone who spent the time and effort to go to tech school I am often comflicted when I see the line between tech and assistant blurred.  This is one of those occasions.  I read all of the comments and completely understand the problem, with the shortage of techs.  I do agree assistants can be trained to do basic anesthetic monitoring though I wish it did not have to be this way.  Would you prefer I liscnsed nurse monitor you if you had surgery or just a nurse assistant?  But again I understand the shortage resulting in an unfortunate situation.  So I agree we should allow only trusted assistants with this task however I would never allow an assistant to induce anesthesia or intubate an animal.  Here in Virginia beach we are in the process of developing a tech program locally, I know it won't help in the rural areas much.  Hopefully as the profession grows I hope we can find more ways to keep people in the profession longer through better pay, more education opportunities and overall better job satisfaction.