By Kate Boatright, VMD
Utilizing CVTs to Improve Efficiency
As a doctor, when was the last time you drew blood on a patient? Placed an IV catheter? Restrained a patient for radiographs? If these are things you’re doing on a regular basis, you may not be fully leveraging your support staff. With the high caseloads experienced in practices, maximizing efficiency can improve patient outcomes, reduce staff stress, and increase staff satisfaction, retention, and practice revenue.
What Can Your Technicians Do? The easier question to answer is what they can’t do. Based on the Pennsylvania Veterinary Regulations, credentialed veterinary technicians, also known as veterinary nurses, and veterinary assistants are only prohibited from doing five things: perform surgery, diagnose, prognose, prescribe, and attest to health status.1 What tasks they can do in the clinic depends on the level of veterinary supervision provided. The PA Regulations define three levels of supervision: indirect, direct, and immediate. Only credentialed veterinary technicians—which I will refer to as CVTs or veterinary nurses for the purpose of this article—can operate under indirect supervision. This means the veterinarian does not have to be on site but has given written or oral instructions for a case they are managing. This can include administering vaccinations and injectable medication, placing IV catheters, performing diagnostic imaging, and applying bandages. Both CVTs and assistants can operate under direct supervision. Direct supervision means the veterinarian “is on the premises and quickly available to assist.”2 Some duties performed by unlicensed veterinary assistants must be performed under immediate supervision, which requires the veterinarian to be in both visible and audible range. CVTs are never required to
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operate under immediate supervision. The administration of anesthesia, establishing an airway, and performing basic and advanced life support can be done under direct supervision by CVTs but require immediate supervision for noncredentialed staff. Both can perform dental prophylaxis under direct supervision.
How CVTs Can Improve Efficiency in Practice CVTs are a vastly underutilized resource in veterinary clinics. These highly trained professionals are required to complete a 2- to 4-year AVMA-accredited program, pass a national licensing examination, and maintain their license through continuing education. Individuals who pursue this education want to apply their skills and knowledge. Here are some ways that CVTs can be utilized in practice:
• Perform patient diagnostics, including all sample collection for urine and blood specimens.
• Place intravenous catheters for hospitalized patients, surgery, and euthanasia.
• Perform in-hospital treatments and administer medications, including after-hours care or when the veterinarian is not in the clinic, provided there are clear written instructions.
• Induce, monitor, and recover patients from anesthesia. • Place bandages on postoperative patients or perform bandage changes for ongoing care with veterinarian assessing healing progress.
• Schedule technician appointments for nail trims, ear
cleaning, anal gland expression, suture removal, vaccination
