VETTECH U 2024 / HOUSTON, TX
• Technicians – Fully utilized technicians are more satisfied with their jobs, less likely to engage in toxic behaviors, and more likely to stay in their positions and in the field. • Veterinarians – If a technician is not fully utilized, the veterinarians aren’t likely utilized appropriately either. When both positions are appropriately utilized (per the State Veterinary Practice Act), you will have veterinarians who are able to see more patients who really need them, focus extra time on medical records and other tasks that likely keep them past the official end of their day, have a better work-life balance, and contribute to a more positive practice culture. • Practice owners – Practice owners will see two big benefits, including increased revenue and a happier team. This is not anecdotal, there is data to back it up. An AVMA Economic Study found that the typical veterinary practice’s gross income increased by $93,311 for each additional credentialed veterinarian technician per veterinarian in the practice. 2 This study, like a study by the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association3 (OVMA), Canada’s largest veterinary association, showed a positive relationship between gross practice revenue and the number of credentialed veterinary technicians. • Patient – Patients will benefit from a better quality of medicine and care. They can be seen more quickly and have a dedicated professional monitoring them. • Client – Utilizing vets to see the patients that really need them and putting the technician tasks back on those who should be doing them will open the vet’s schedule up so they can see more patients. Fully utilized technicians should also be seeing “technician appointments” for those things that do not require a veterinarian to be directly involved. This means it will be easier for clients to get their animals in to be seen. • Practice manager – What practice manager would not benefit from fewer client complaints, a practice owner making more money, vets who have a better work-life balance, techs who are happy and staying put, and an all-around better culture? CALL TO ACTION It is essential that technicians advocate for themselves when it comes to better utilization, but many don’t know where to start. This process needs to start with a conversation with practice leadership. It is imperative to consider two things going into this
conversation: staying positive and assuming the best intentions. The lack of utilization is not usually anything personal. It is truly a lack of understanding of what a technician has been trained to do and what they legally can do. The lack of understanding means the conversation needs to start with education. One of the biggest tools available to any technician having this conversation is the State Veterinary Practice Act, especially if it defines a scope of practice for veterinary technicians; unfortunately, as mentioned before, very few of them do. That is where the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) has stepped in to help. They have put together Model Regulations - Scope of Practice for Veterinary Technicians and Technologists. This document can be used in states that do not have a scope of practice of their own in place. Technicians can also use their technician program course catalog, course syllabi, and course outlines to show leadership what it is that they were trained to do. The other tool that we have at our fingertips is the AAHA 2023 AAHA Technician Utilization Guidelines. The new guidelines offer practical steps that will result in positive changes using the following user-friendly tools: • Goal worksheets • Workflows • Clinical examples • Utilization assessment tools • Examples of veterinary technician leveling and professional growth models • Case studies • Questions to structure conversations The next step is to determine the practice’s current utilization. This is normally very eye-opening for practice leadership because if asked to estimate how they are doing, they often overestimate their true utilization. Again, this goes back to a lack of understanding of what a technician can do. The best way to do this is to list all the medical tasks done in the practice allowed by the state for a technician to perform. Then, go through and mark who performs them. Use this to calculate a percentage.
SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2024 | PROCEEDINGS | VETGIRLONTHERUN.COM
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