I fully support this petition.

Opposing this amendment is giving newly licensed veterinarians ONLY ONE YEAR of experience doing physical exams, blood draws, and other simple, minor procedures before going out into the workforce. Does that sound like a good idea to you? Because it doesn't to me.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to give veterinary students more hands-on experience while being closely supervised by a licensed veterinarian before their fourth year, so that they become better veterinarians? Especially since this is a policy already instituted in states with top-ranked veterinary schools like University of Pennsylvania and North Carolina State University? (Reference: US News and World Report Best Grad Schools for Veterinary Medicine).

In addition, veterinary students are concentrated in one place: a veterinary school. These veterinary schools are teaching hospitals that already have their own rules and regulations to promote the welfare of the animals in their care and to promote learning of veterinary medicine. If this petition is passed, VMRCVM will institute such regulations about what procedures a first, second, and third year student can and can not perform. Veterinary schools that already have these policies do not have first year students performing major surgeries; rather, they are performing minor procedures (again: physical exams, blood draws, nothing invasive) appropriate to their year and level of learning.

The entire reason why this petition was proposed is to give veterinary students more experience appropriate to their level of learning, which would make them better veterinarians, and in turn provide a better quality of care to animals. What veterinarians really care about is better quality of care for your pets. You should too.