Schaumburg, Illinois — During its spring meeting April 12-13, the AVMA Board of Directors voted to develop a plan to improve veterinary technician use while recognizing the importance of financial and career sustainability, effective task delegation, and the wellbeing of both the veterinary technician and the practice.
The task force was approved after the AVMA House of Delegates (HOD) discussed technician utilization and ways to enhance it during its January meeting. It was clear during the discussion that the value of veterinary technicians is unquestioned and that efforts need to be made across the profession to increase technician use. This consensus among House members led them to recommend that the AVMA Board convene a task force to design a plan to improve veterinary technician utilization and that a progress report be shared with the HOD within a year.
The AVMA-National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) Leadership Committee and the AVMA Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities proposed the formation of the task force. The task force will provide ideas on actions to be taken to promote enhancing the utilization of veterinary technicians as part of the veterinary health care team.
The task force, which will consist of 10 voting members representing veterinary technicians, technician educators, veterinarians, and veterinary hospital managers, plans to provide a report to the AVMA Board by Dec. 31, 2019, in time to distribute it to the House of Delegates prior to its 2020 winter meeting. The task force will complete its work upon submitting the report, unless otherwise directed by the AVMA Board.
The AVMA provides association management and other support services to NAVTA. Erin Spencer, newly elected president of NAVTA and a certified veterinary technician, says the relationship should yield positive results, as she noted in her address after assuming her leadership role with NAVTA: “AVMA and NAVTA both recognize that veterinarians and veterinary technicians are partners on the veterinary team. AVMA has increasingly moved to include NAVTA in their conversations and allowed NAVTA to provide input during conversations pertinent to veterinary technicians. We look forward to continuing to have a voice in AVMA discussions and working with the AVMA on the future of veterinary medicine.”