NVTW 2022

It is National Veterinary Technician Week 2022 and this year's theme is Veterinary technician's Resilience is the heart of veterinary medicine. I love this week at it gives recognition to how licensed, certified, and registered technicians work hard throughout the year.

With that being said I know that we have a larger community of staff members that contribute to the care of patients, but this time of the year it is important for the general public to understand what it means to be a CVT LVT or RVT.

To LEGALLY practice as a C,L, or R VT you must complete an approved AVAMA accredited program and pass the national exam, before applying for licensure in your state/jurisdiction. The publicuar understand that we are educated professional with a vast amount of knowledge and experience. This gap in public knowledge is the problem. They have no idea what it truly means to be a technician.

So I am going to bring up some thoughts on this theme..... When I initially heard the term Resilience, I cringed slightly. My first thought was .. resilience hmmmm this is not the word that gives a positive spin. So the nerd in me looked it up.....

The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.

Seeing this meaning I wonder if this was the overreaching goal of the theme? To highlight difficulties and the need to recover and come back to who we are?

Was the point of the theme to let technicians know that it is understood that we are dealing with challenges that make our jobs difficult?

From where I am standing, rhis theme begs the questiona..... What are we recovering from? What are these difficulties? Why does this field ask for us to be "bent out of shape" and considers our ability to spring back quickly the great part of this issue? What does it take to build this toughness and the ability to spring back into shape? Where is the focus on addressing the need for technicians to be resilient?

ANY THOUGHTS ON this year's theme??

We are all strong in more ways than one. We have a new physically strong (ability to lift 50+lbs), mentally tough ( having to Macguyver more things that you can count), emotionally tough (losing that one patient, listening to that distraught client, or pushing through a stressful day). But this resilience comes out of necessity not the heart.

From our hearts is the love of what we do, the patients we are for, the knowledge we gain and continue to grow throughout our careers, the love and support we have for each other, and the unmeasurable commitment that push us every single day. From our hearts flow passion, drive, determination, the need to not only care for our patients but the owners that will continue to take care of them when they go home. From our hearts flow our love for imparting knowledge and understanding to the public. Let them know that we are the pleblemoist, anesthetist, lab technicians, nursing care specialist, inventory specialist, client care technicians, the person that places that IV catheter, performs the blood pressure measurement, and advocates for their family members.

As we go through this week, let's focus on what we all do as licensed , certified, and registered technicians.

Share with us pictures of you in action. Let's us peel back the veil that has hidden our skills to those that lack the understanding of what we do. Show them what and who we are when we are in the zone!

Share with us your thoughts, and shoutouts to your fellow technician. Happy National Veterinary Technician Week!

VetTechCEZone