Quote Originally Posted by Sparklecoon
As a registered nurse I think of it in terms of my job. Those nice girls at a doctors office are NOT nurses (for the most part), at best their medical assistants with some training. They know there basic skills (though many don't take blood pressures correctly IMO) but they don't know why they do the things they do. There is theory and research behind everything in the medical field, things you learn with a formal education. Just because you can perform the manual task doesn't mean you understand why your doing it or what your looking for. Would I want them doing much more than drawing blood from me? No.

I assume if a VT performs a spay (completely negligent and illegal on the vets part) they know the procedure but do they know all the rules of sterile technique (trust me there is quite a few) and the intricasies of anesthesia?
If a VT perscribes meds do they know about interactions with other meds, labs that need to be monitored, even how the drugs themselves work? I highly doubt it. These are things veterinarians go to school for 7+ years to learn not something on the job training is going to impart.

If I were going to a vet the allowed a tech to perscribe or perform surgeries I'd be finding a new vet and writing a letter to their state board.
Yup, I agree with you 100%, both with the nurses and about the VTs hehe

I know that most clinics that hire unlicensed VTs won't let the VTs perform routine operations, but it's still unsettling to me to think that my dog could be that person's "practice dummy". I won't want someone to practice on my children medically, and I sure as heck wouldn't want someone practicing on my dog who already "claims" to be a VT. I don't care if it's something as small as a vaccine or blood draw or something big like an operation. I don't want them touching my dog period, and if I ever found out my vet employed unlicensed VTs, I would be out the door and finding a new vet pronto.

It's nothing personally against the individuals themselves, but moreso the vet for not taking all precautions in ensuring my pet's safety and health.