I feel this change will drastically impact our ability to practice veterinary medicine. I have practiced in our hospital for 21 years. We have an excellent training program for veterinary assistants, which allows them to monitor patients who are intubated. A technician or DVM is in the room at all times.  Although we strive to hire veterinary technicians, they are in short supply and high demand.  This new rule would greatly decrease the number of needed procedures we can provide, decrease the amount of pets who can be cared for, and decrease the amount of jobs we provide for our assistants.  If I thought that our assistants were not able to monitor our patients,  I would certainly change what we do. Our patient's lives are the most important aspect of veterinary medicine. If statistically you proved that an assistant is unable to monitor, I am willing to listen. Our hospital has had a very low mortality since the implementation of an assistant monitoring all of our equipment while the doctor and technician are performing their role. The reality is that veterinary medicine does not have enough licensed technicians for all of the jobs you would like them to perform. I ask you to carefully consider what I believe is a well intentioned change that will have a huge negative impact on our medicine.