Veterinary Industry Professionals Gather to Launch Surgical Specialty Technician Initiative
Veterinary industry professionals gathered at the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) symposium last fall to establish a technician surgical specialty society. Kevin Benson, CVT, presented this initiative to licensed technicians who attended the conference from across the nation. As surgical care becomes more sophisticated, the demand for highly skilled technician teams are required in order to provide the best surgical care for the patient.
In an effort to further excellence in veterinary specialty surgical care, technicians gathered to pursue this specialty initiative. Their goal was to organize a committee that will establish accreditation methods and standards for the national program.
“I believe a program for the technician surgical specialty is necessary due to the increase in sophisticated veterinary surgical care,” said Louise S. Dunn, Owner, Snowgoose Veterinary Management Consulting. “This certification will be the first to measure the technical skills of surgical technicians.”
Over the past 10 years, veterinary specialty medicine has vastly grown due to the increase of specialty hospitals that provide cutting-edge medical and surgical care. These specialty hospitals function more efficiently than before, resulting in higher surgical caseloads. In order to offer a higher quality of patient care, surgical specialists are requiring their technician team to be highly trained.
“The best way to improve the efficiency of the veterinary surgical specialist is to fully utilize the services of a trained veterinary technician,” said Dr. Dennis M. McCurnin, Professor of surgery and Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Surgeons, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University. “The trained technician can improve both quality and quantity of the services provided.”
“At Vetcision, we train our technicians to attain a high level of skills and knowledge to offer a higher quality of patient care,” said Dr. Brian T. Huss, CEO, Chief of Staff, and Diplomate American College of Veterinary Surgeons. “As a result, they have become an integral and irreplaceable part of our surgical team. Our goal is to work with boarded surgical specialist and technicians to implement a unified accreditation program that define benchmarks and training methods that will elevate the standards in surgical care.”
The course of study in this program would require a degree from an AVMA accredited veterinary technician college and a minimum of three years (or 6,000 hours) of work experience in the surgical suite. Also, a minimum of 50 logged surgical cases and 5 written case studies.
To attain the national surgical specialty technician program, seven surgical technicians will be selected to oversee the training qualifications and benchmarks for the program. This program is waiting accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association in Spring 2008.
About Vetcision
Vetcision is dedicated to bringing clients state-of-the-art care in a cost effective strategy for diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation of veterinary patients. Vetcision provides unparalleled skill and advanced technology to restore and improve the health and well being of pets in the New England region. We offer critical clinical specialties for maximum small animal care, which include surgery, internal medicine, emergency and critical care. For more information, call 781-810-1010 or go to www.vetcision.com.