Please see this from the vet's side of things, ones that are drowning and working 15-20 hours every single day.  When will that change?  When will we get a break?  And when will vet suicide end?  

This has nothing to do with devaluing licensed technicians. They are amazing and we cannot do our jobs without them, however there are simply not enough techs in VA.  So the work load automatically gets shifted to the vet.  I think we are all in this together and we need to find a way to get through our day without killing ourselves.  

While I agree that ideally licensed techs should be involved in catheters.  What are supposed to do during a global pandemic where most hospitals are severely understaffed.  

The petition is asking for the state laws for laxity, which is not anything new as most states that do have a licensing requirement (which is only a handful of states currently) do not make a distinction of what constitutes duties an assistant vs technician can perform. Until there’s a universal change in licensing rules for all of the US, I do not think its fair for a few state to have to abide by a rule that simply is not realistic to fulfill as there is not enough techs for the practicing vets (especially during a global pandemic where there are hospitals that are shut down, working in limited hours, shortages with staffing in general).  

Everybody is stretched thin and stressed out of their minds as it is, allowing the vets (and not the state) to delegate treatments and procedures is the responsible thing to do for patient care.  If we continue to rely only on licensed techs for some crucial duties like IV catheters, there will continue be treatment delays (and overworked doctors, techs and assistants if we cannot spread some responsibilities, ones that seem appropriate to do so with the right personal). If there were multiple emergencies/critical patients to be dealt with, how can the hospital handle these situations if there’s only 1 tech (or zero techs) available. Doctors have to step in these situations and act as techs (where I would argue some doctors are not good at technical skills like IV catheters), which takes the focus away from them managing the case.  So ultimately, we are actually compromising patient care if there are no solutions to the current shortage or adopting the rules of most states.