ABSTRACT OF THE WEEK

Today's Veterinary Practice
Volume 13 | Issue 4 (Jul-Aug 2023)

Key Takeaways for Veterinarians from the NAVTA Demographics Survey

Today's Vet Pract. Jul-Aug 2023;13(4):10-14. 4 Refs

Kate Boatright¹

¹ University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Author Abstract

Supporting the credentialed veterinary nurses/technicians in your clinic will help them to achieve their professional goals and take a step toward profession-wide improvements in utilization, mental health, compensation, and title protection.

Companion Notes

Key takeaways for veterinarians from the NAVTA demographics survey

(NAVTA = National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America)

Results of NAVTA’s most recent demographics survey earlier this year

(last performed in ‘16, usually done every 5 years, but delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic)

- CrVTs are critical to veterinary team and patient care

(CrVTs = credentialed veterinary technicians)

- it’s important veterinarians understand the findings of the survey

- and how to best support our colleagues going forward

- compensation is improved but remains a problem

- 25% increase in computed average annual salary since the 2016 survey

- $52,000 in ‘22 compared to $41,600 in ‘16)

- this number is calculated based on the following:

- average number of hours worked per week: 37.5 hours

- average pay per hour: $26.50

- “I’m certainly seeing this [pay increase] with our graduates,” said Kathy Koar

(MSEd, CVT, director of veterinary nursing at Harcum College in Philadelphia)

- higher compensation allows graduates to start “grown-up lives with only one job”

- increase is not profession-wide, especially in more rural areas

- according to Ashli Selke, RVT, CVT, immediate past president of NAVTA

- she’s based in the Midwest and said,

“The average technician I see does not make that.”

- most survey respondents were attendees at 1 of 2 major national conferences

- Selke says it’s important to ask,

“Who are the technicians who are able to go to these conventions?”

- she hypothesizes attendees are likely to have jobs with higher pay

- also, more veterinary nurses/technicians employed in research responded

- they have the highest hourly pay and more responded this year

- 39% of respondents ranked salary as the top challenge currently

- 1 in 3 CrVTs maintains a second job, often full time

- mental health and wellness remain major concerns

- “high volume of colleagues experiencing compassion fatigue”

- considered 2^nd biggest problem for the profession in the next 5 years

- 65% of respondents reported experiencing compassion fatigue

- 70% reported professional burnout

- 1 in 3 veterinary technicians knows someone who died by suicide

(someone in the veterinary profession]

- 61% of respondents reported concern about someone dying by suicide

(someone in the veterinary profession]

- veterinary schools and veterinary technician/nursing programs are trying

- they’re openly discussing wellbeing and mental health issues

- including coping skills

- but, clearly efforts to support mental health must continue

- establishing a national credentialing standard and title protection is a priority

- the title “veterinary technician” is often used for licensed and unlicensed individuals

- title protection would limit the use of “veterinary technician” to licensed individuals

- Selke notes that compensation and title protection are closely linked:

“If there’s not title protection, we can’t differentiate ourselves from veterinary

assistants”

- currently, 31 states have no title protection for CrVTs

- 12 of those states do not define veterinary technician in their practice act

- in the ‘22 demographics survey

- 83% of respondents indicated a national title is important

- 87% felt title protection was important

- 85% prefer the term “veterinary nurse” (a dramatic increase from ‘16

- currently, CrVTs can be denoted by 1 of 4 different credentials depending on the state

- CVT, RVT, LVT, and LVMT

- staff turnover was ranked the second most challenging aspect of the job

- turnover is multifactorial and influenced by concerns around the following:

- salary and benefits

- mental health

- lack of title protection

- proper utilization

- only 40% of respondents felt they were fully utilized

- major factors that CrVTs viewed as barriers to utilization

- lack of trust or confidence in the CrVT skillset by clinicians

- training uncredentialed staff to do the same tasks as CrVTs

- not allowing CrVTs to do the tasks they are trained for

- due to perceived control issues

- Selke stressed “We want to help veterinarians”

How veterinarians can support their CrVT colleagues

- Selke and Koar suggest the following ways to support CrVTs in the clinic:

- use appropriate titles

- reserve the term “veterinary technician” for those with credentials

- know the practice act and scope of practice for your state

- let CrVTs perform at their highest level

- share business data with CrVTs when discussing compensation packages

- invite CrVTs’ opinions into practice protocol development and other decisions

- offer student debt relief or assistance as part of a benefits package

“Selke reminds veterinarians that `We went to school to try to elevate ourselves and practice with veterinarians.””

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