According to the 2019 Virginia Healthcare Workforce report there were 2738 veterinarians practicing in some vet related position in Virginia.  Of those 2738, only 2672 were practicing as veterinarians seeing patients.  Likewise in 2019 there were 1397 licensed veterinary technicians employed in veterinary related jobs, 1369 of them, working as a licensed veterinary technician in a clinical setting.  This leaves 0.51 LVTs per DVM.  This is an unsustainable ratio, and leads substandard patient care.  

Having a trained, veterinary assistant place an IV catheter is a preferable option to a patient not getting a catheter, or having to wait for their IV catheter due to the shortage of Licensed Technicians.  Licensed technicians should be utilized to do more advanced patient care, and we should be advocating for a nurse practitioner type position for licensed technicians.  

Licensed techs are the backbone, and the lifeblood of almost every veterinary hospital, but there are not enough of them.  We are facing huge numbers of techs leaving the field, and leaving clinical settings.  This is because they are not being utilized, and treated like the educated professionals that they are.  Veterinary Assistants that have undergone proper training are more than capable of placing IV catheters, freeing the veterinarian and technician to work on patient care.