Because of these concerns, a study was performed with the intent to discover the opinions and knowledge that human nurses have of credentialed veterinary technicians. This applied mixed methods research study aimed to investigate the opinions of nurses on a proposed title change: if they were opposed to a pro-posed title of Registered Veterinary Nurse

(RVN), and if so, what were the reasons for the opposition. The study also aimed to assess the level of knowledge that nurses had pertaining to the education level, credentialing process that is required for veterinary technicians, and the job duties that veterinary technicians primarily per-form in the veterinary practice setting. A survey was developed by the researcher

and reviewed by colleagues to determine validity through inter-rater reliability.6 This survey was then distributed online through the social media website Facebook, invit-ing registered nurses and licensed practi-cal nurses to participate.

Three nursing group administrators were contacted on Facebook asking for

NuRSeS’ PersPeCTives of NoMeNClaTure AnD unDerStAnDing OF the rOLe OF veterinAry teChniCiAnSFrances Hyde, CVT, BAS

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The veterinary technician profession is growing at a rapid rate; it is expected to grow 30% by 2022, which is faster than average.1 Despite this growth, there is a high turnover rate in the profession.2 According to a NAVTA survey completed in 2012, one area of concern for a majority of veterinary technicians was a lack of professional recog-nition, which is troubling, and a potential cause for the high turnover rate in the profession.3 With multiple title designations that vary from state to state, there is confusion in the public about who veterinary technicians are, and what their purpose is in the veterinary community. In the past, there has been discussion of having a nationally standardized title which would help clear this confusion.4 There has also been an attempt to change the title from veterinary technician to veterinary nurse at the state level in Pennsylvania, however nurses showed up at the veterinary board hearing stating that they opposed the veterinary nurse title.5

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permission to distribute the survey to their group members. One group administrator gave permission for the survey to be dis-tributed, while the other two administrators declined. Informed consent was obtained from the nursing group administrator and the survey was posted within the group twice during the 2 week data collection period. The survey was also posted in a personal Facebook account asking social media users to share it with those who fit the sample population.

There were 93 respondents that accepted the informed consent and proceeded to the survey. Twenty-eight participants exited the survey prior to completing the survey and those surveys were considered incomplete; those that had skipped ques-tions were included in the data set due to the limited number of responses. The most commonly skipped questions were two qualitative questions requiring written responses. Of the remaining participants, 62 participants were determined to be eli-gible. Three participants were determined to be ineligible since they were not a reg-istered or licensed practical nurse. Due to the nature of social media, it is unknown how many participants saw the posted link for the survey and declined to participate. It is assumed that the lack of responses might be indicative of a lack of caring of

nurses on veterinary related topics. Of the 14 respondents who fit the criteria for the survey and exited the survey prior to the last page, 50% exited on page 3 which was the first question that asked about veterinary technicians; the question being if they opposed the proposed RVN title.

Forty-one respondents (66.13%) identi-fied that they do not have an objection to a potential title change from credentialed veterinary technician to registered veteri-nary nurse (RVN), 5 respondents (8.06%) objected to the registered veterinary nurse title, while 16 (25.81%) reported that they did not have an opinion on the subject.

Although the highest percentage of respondents chose the correct answer of associates degree with 40.35%, the majority of respondents (59.57%) chose an incorrect answer regarding the edu-cational requirement of veterinary tech-nicians. This may be indicative that nurses do not understand the educa-tional requirements required for a veteri-nary technician to work in the veterinary setting. When this data is correlated with the qualitative responses given as to why nurses object to a title change to registered veterinary nurse, nurses responded that veterinary technicians are not educated or have a subpar education

compared to RN’s or LPN’s. According to the American Veterinary Medical Associa-tion (AVMA), a veterinary technician must be a graduate of an AVMA accredited school.7 This data supports the hypothe-ses that a considerable portion of human nurses are not aware of the educational requirements of veterinary technicians.

Respondents were given a list of 19 job duties and then asked which job duties they thought veterinary technicians primar-ily performed in the veterinary setting. The researcher chose 13 duties to be ones that veterinary technicians primarily perform, 4 that veterinary assistants primarily per-form, and 2 that are performed by a vet-erinarian. Roughly half of the respondents (49.09%) were able to identify at least 10 duties that veterinary technicians perform. Considering that the top reason respon-dents provided for not objecting to the title change was similarities of job duties between nurses and veterinary techni-cians, an inference can be made that this may not reflect the knowledge of duties specific to veterinary technicians, but rather that nurses made their selections based on human nursing job duties.

NuRSeS’ PersPeCTives of NoMeNClaTure AnD unDerStAnDing OF the rOLe OF veterinAry teChniCiAnSFrances Hyde, CVT, BAS

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This may be indicative that nurses do not understand the educational requirements required for a veterinary technician to work in the veterinary setting.

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a nursing association and object to a pro-posed title change was 7.14% (n=2), while 71.42% identified that veterinary tech-nicians are required to take a qualifying exam, and 50% identified an associates degree as the educational requirement of veterinary technicians. When compared to the 54.09% of nurses who did not belong to neither a state or national association, the percentage of respondents who object to a proposed title change was 9.09%, while 51.52% responded that veterinary technicians are required to take a qualify-ing exam, and 30% were able to correctly identify an associates degree as the edu-cational requirement of veterinary tech-nicians. From this data, it can be infered that nurses who belong to either a state and/or national nursing association may be more knowledgable about veterinary technicians and less likely to object to a potential title change.

Fifty-one respondents answered that they have pets. The percentage of nurses who object to a proposed title change and responded that they have pets was 7.84%, while those who do not have pets and objected was 9.09%. The percentage of

that there is a veterinary qualification test (VTNE) similar to the NCLEX-RN that tech-nicians must take prior to working as a credentialed veterinary technician. In com-paring this data, it could be concluded that nurses, who oppose the title of Registered Veterinary Nurse, lack knowl-edge about the VTNE qualifying exam that veterinary technicians must pass in order to be credentialed.

The percentage of nurses who object to a title change was small (8.06%). When compared with the previous data regarding nurses’ knowledge of a qualifying exam for veterinary technicians, it could be con-cluded that nurses who are informed of the requirement of a qualifying exam are less likely to object to a veterinary nurse title. It could also be concluded that the objections that were presented at the board meeting in Pennsylvania might not be representative of the nursing profession as a whole.5

The percentage of nurses who identi-fied that they belonged to a state and/or national nursing association was 45.9%. The percentage of nurses who belong to

The number of respondents who answered that technicians must take a qualifying exam was 38 (61.29%). Of those respondents who objected to a title change, 4 out of the 5 respondents answered that they were not sure if a qualifying exam was required, while the fifth one answered yes, technicians are required to take a qualifying exam. Of the respondents who answered they do not object to a title change, 73.17% answered that technicians must take a qualifying exam, while 26.83% answered they were not sure. When compared to nurses who did not have an opinion or objected to a proposed title change, the nurses who had no objection were the only group surveyed who had the majority of respondents identify a qualifying exam as a veterinary technician requirement. One respondent answered qualitatively that technicians do not have to take the NCLEX-RN so therefore did not deserve a nurse title. This would indicate that the nursing community might not realize

The researcher hypothesized that nurses would not be able to identify the educational requirements of vet-erinary technicians (H1a), would not be aware of the credentialing process of veterinary technicians (H3a), and would not be aware of job duties and responsibilities of veterinary techni-cians (H2a).

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NAVTA NEWS

NCLEX-RN, while a credentialed veterinary technician must have at least an associ-ates degree and pass the VTNE.7,8,9

It was hypothesized (H4a) that >65% of nurses would not oppose a veterinary nurse title, this hypotheses, as it relates to the data was supported, with the majority of nurses (66.13%) not opposed to a vet-erinary nurse title. Furthermore, 25.81% did not have an opinion on the topic which leads the researcher to believe that there might not be as much resistance to a proposed title change as the limited review of the literature suggested. It is unknown how many nurses in Philadel-phia were present at the veterinary board hearing discussing a change of nomen-clature and therefore, the resistance to the change might be nominal compared to the entire nursing profession. H5a, H6a, and H7a expanded on H4a in that it was hypothesized that, of the respondents who opposed to a veterinary nurse title, less than 50% would identify the edu-cational requirements required of veteri-nary technicians (H5a), the credentialing process (H6a), or at least 10 job duties that veterinary technicians perform in the veterinary setting(H7a). H5a and H7a were supported by the data, though H6a was rejected since 60% of the respon-dents identified at least one component of the credentialing process. However, none of the respondents who objected to registered nurse title were able to

and that veterinary technicians deserve recognition for their achievements. An additional reason that was given by par-ticipants for their opposition to a RVN title included that a NCLEX-RN board exam is not required for veterinary technicians. Sixty percent of participants who oppose a RVN title answered that a vocational certificate was the highest education level a veterinary technican is required to obtain. The data showed that only 30% of respondents were able to identify both an associates degree and qualifying exam as requirements of credentialing.

Seven hypotheses were set forth for this study, as denoted by H1a, H2a, H3a, etc. The researcher hypothesized that nurses would not be able to identify the educa-tional requirements of veterinary techni-cians (H1a), would not be aware of the credentialing process of veterinary tech-nicians (H3a), and would not be aware of job duties and responsibilities of veterinary technicians (H2a). H1a and H2a were sup-ported based on the data since 40.35% of respondents identified educational requirements and 49.09% of respondents identified at least 10 job duties of veteri-nary technicians. The researcher rejected H3a since the majority of nurses (67.74%) were able to identify at least one compo-nent of the credentialing process. Although the percentage of nurses who were able to identify at least one component of the credentialing process is higher than the percentage set by the hypotheses, only 19 respondents (30.64%) were able to identify both components of the creden-tialing process. This raised a flag that nurses might understand some aspects of what is required to become a veterinary technician, but they might not fully grasp the requirements that are required. The requirements to become a credentialed veterinary technician are very similar to that of a registered nurse, so the results could be skewed based upon the nurses’ knowledge of their own profession as opposed to an understanding of the duties and credentialing of veterinary technicians. A registered nurse must have at least an associates degree and then pass the

nurses who identified that veterinary tech-nicians are required to take a qualifying exam and have pets was 66.67%. The per-centage of nurses who do not have pets and were able to identify a qualifying exam as a requirement of veterinary technicians was 36.36%. Of the nurses that identi-fied that they have pets, 41.3% identified an associates degree as the educational requirement of veterinary technicians while 36.36% of nurses who do not have pets responded similarly. Based on this data, it can be infered that nurses who have pets are more likely to be knowledgable than those who do not have pets. One possible cause is that nurses who have pets may have an increase in exposure to veterinary technicians when obtaining medical care for their pets.

Approximately 71% answered that there was not a difference or that they were not sure if there was a difference between veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants. In addition, over half of the respondents could not identify an asso-ciate degree as a requirement for veteri-nary technicians or identify at least 10 job duties that veterinary technicians perform. While the majority of nurses answered that veterinary technicians must take a qual-ifying exam in order to be credentialed, only 1 of the 5 respondents who objected a veterinary nurse title answered that a qualifying exam is required. That respon-dent provided qualitative answers which contradict the answer of an opposition to an RVN title. Since one of the reasons for a RVN title opposition included that veter-inary technicians do not have to take a qualifying exam like the NCLEX-RN, this is indicative that more awareness is needed about the requirements of the credentialing proces of veterinary technicians.

The top two themes identified based on respondents who objected to a title change were that the education is subpar to nurses, and the title is not deserved by veterinary technicians. The top two themes identified of those respondents who did not object to a title change were that the job duties of both professions are similar,

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Veterinary Conference. The straw poll sug-gested that there was confusion about the 3 different title designations and what the requirements were for each of those titles.

Currently, there are 13 states that still do not require veterinary technicians to be credentialed.13 It is recommended that prior to a nationally standardized title of Registered Veterinary Nurse being initiated, more effort should be made to require standardized credentialing across the nation. Without national credentialing, human nurses have a higher standpoint to resist allowing the term ‘nurse’ to become unprotected. They would not be assured that all persons who will be utilizing the term ‘nurse’ in their title have fulfilled the requirements necessary.

In the United Kingdom, the term “regis-tered nurse” is still a protected title, which can only be used by the human nursing profession.14 However, the title ‘nurse’ is not protected, which paved the way for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to have the title of Registered Animal Nurs-ing Auxiliaries be changed to Registered Veterinary Nurses.15 A big concern in the human nursing profession is that practices will refer to medical assistants as nurses.16 This is similar to veterinary assistants being referred to as technicians in the veterinary industry. By having the title of “registered nurse” protected, it could show the nursing profession that they will still be protected from those trying to use a nurse title illegally.15 The compromise of hav-ing the title “registered nurse” protected for the human nursing profession while allowing the term ‘nurse’ to be used in a veterinary title is one pathway that could be pursued by the veterinary technician profession in order to appease the nursing profession. In addition, the researcher recommends that the veterinary profes-sion seek to have the title of “registered veterinary nurse” protected to prevent those who have not fulfilled all qualifi-cations required of the title from using it indiscriminately.

Nurse title. It is the hope of the researcher that this study will help open communica-tion between the two healthcare profes-sions, as the nurses that participated in the study have been exposed to the pro-posed title change.

recommendationsThe purpose of this study was to inves-tigate nurses’ opinions of veterinary technicians utilizing the term ‘nurse’ in the veterinary technician title. The study also intended to investigate the level of knowl-edge that nurses had on the education and credentialing requirements of veterinary technicians as well as their knowledge of the job duties performed by veteri-nary technicians. The study found that the majority of nurses do not oppose a Registered Veterinary Nurse title; however, there were significant gaps in knowledge of veterinary technician education and job duties.

Due to the small sample size, and lim-ited time frame, it is recommended that another survey on a larger scale be per-formed. Having a longer data collection period may help with the low response rate. By involving nursing associations or contacting nursing professionals directly instead of through social media, it may be possible to obtain a higher response rate. The researcher believes that one limitation of the current study is that social media is generally a platform for entertainment and social interaction between friends. Poten-tial participants might not want to use their time on social media taking a survey.

It is also recommended that the veterinary technician profession raise awareness in the general public of the differences between veterinary professionals, such as veterinary assistants and veterinary technicians, and what is required for veterinary technicians to become creden-tialed. Additionally, awareness needs to be raised in the veterinary technician profes-sion as well. During the researcher’s initial investigation into this topic, the researcher performed a straw poll of veterinary tech-nicians during the 2015 North American

identify both a qualifying exam and an associate’s degree as requirements of the credentialing process. This signaled to the researcher that those who objected might base their objections on not having enough knowledge about the require-ments required to be a credentialed veteri-nary technician.

Summary and ConclusionsThe data analysis for this convergent par-allel mixed methods study answered the 5 research questions and 7 hypotheses set forth for the study. The data analysis revealed that 66.13% of respondents do not oppose a proposed title change, while 8.06% do oppose a title change. Although the majority of respondents do not oppose the title or do not have an opinion on the matter, results show a lack of knowledge regarding the education, credentialing, and job duties of veterinary technicians, regardless of their opinions of a RVN title.

Although the sample size is small and cannot be generalized to the whole pop-ulation of nurses, the research questions and hypotheses led the researcher to believe there is a need for awareness and education of the nursing community in the requirements of credentialed veterinary technicians. Hopefully, this awareness will prevent further road blocks to having a title change from veterinary technician to vet-erinary nurse as the two professions have similar requirements and job duties.1,7,10,11

The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) recently announced that they have initiated the process of having a nationally standard-ized title of Registered Veterinary Nurse.12 This announcement supports the impor-tance of this study, as more information about the potential hurdles facing this movement will be necessary to achieving the goal of including the term ‘nurse’ in the veterinary professional title. By having more insight into the opinions of nurses and how knowledgeable they are about veterinary technicians, there is potential to help the veterinary technician profession move forward with a Registered Veterinary

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12. nAvtA. (2015, October 11). veterinary techni-cians in Action. retrieved from nAvtA: http://www.navta.net/?page=vet_techs_in_Action

13. regulated and non-regulated Jurisdictions (States/Provinces). (2014, December). retrieved from American Association of veterinary State Boards: http://www.aavsb.org/vtne/

14. nursing Standard. (2010, October). ‘nurse’ title unlikely to be protected. nursing Stan-dard, 25(7). retrieved from http://eds.b.eb-scohost.com.dax.lib.unf.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=720df008-a131-4f4c-89c8-e948f22e395e%40sessionmgr112&vid=0&hid=111

15. Orpet, h., & Welsh, P. (2011). handbook of veterinary nursing. Chichester, West Sussex, united Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

16. Fuller, W. (2013). the war on nursing continues: “Dr. title Bill” is an insult to nurses. Cedar Falls: Arthur L. Davis Publishing Agency, inc. retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfview-er?sid=69300005-1d45-4665-84fe-fc719f486d-0c%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4211

6. Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. e. (2013). Practical research and Planning and Design (10th ed.). upper Saddle river, nJ: Pearson education.

7. AvMA. (2015). Model veterinary Practice Act-Jan-uary 2013. retrieved from American veterinary Med-ical Association: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Model-veterinary-Practice-Act.aspx

8. uS Department of Labor. (2015, March 25). Occupational employment and Wages, May 2014: registered nurses. retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291141.htm

9. uS Department of Labor. (2015, March 25). Occupational employment and Wages: veterinary technicians and technologists. retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292056.htm#%281%29

10. uS Department of Labor. (2014, January 8). Occu-pational Outlook handbook: healthcare Occupations. retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/home.htm

11. uS Department of Labor. (2014, January 8). Occupational Outlook handbook: registered nurses, how to become one. retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/regis-tered-nurses.htm#tab-4

ReFeReNceS1. uS Department of Labor. (2014, January 8). Occu-pational Outlook handbook: veterinary technologists and technicians. retrieved from u.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veteri-nary-technologists-and-technicians.htm#tab-1

2. DvM 360. (2008, August 1). the truth about the veterinary technician shortage. retrieved from DvM 360: technician Cen-ter: http://veterinaryteam.dvm360.com/truth-about-veterinary-technician-shortage

3. Osborne, M. (2009). nAvtA leader hopes to uphold standards, partnerships. Journal of the Ameri-can veterinary Medical Association, 235(1), 13. retrieved from http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2460/javma.235.1.10

4. Osborne, M. (2009). Survey shows veterinary tech-nicians grapple with new, old challenges. Journal of the American veterinary Medical Association, 235(1), 14. retrieved from http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2460/javma.235.1.10

5. Advanstar Communications, inc. (2007). examining the role of veterinary technicians. DvM newsmag-azine, 38. retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=gALe%7CA168508583&v=2.1&u=linc-clin_spjc&it=r&p=AOne&sw=w&asid=32284747fb37f210dd1dd7dacb3d327b

It is recommended that prior to a nationally standardized title

of Registered Veterinary Nurse being initiated, more effort should be made to require standardized credentialing across the nation. Without

national credentialing, human nurses have a higher standpoint

to resist allowing the term ‘nurse’ to become unprotected.

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