Veterinary Technician Certification

By an allied health world contributing writer
Published: January 27th, 2010

Are board exams required for entry into this field?

Most states require the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE) to be passed in order to practice as a vet tech. By the end of 2010 those states that use the VTNE will only be allowed to offer the exam to graduates of an AVMA accredited veterinary technician program. This exam is owned and administered by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards but also goes through the regulatory agency of each state. Many states find a standardized test offers consistency in basic knowledge across the country. It also provides these professionals with flexibility and mobility by allowing test scores to be transferred between the states, making credentialing in another state much easier.

Some states, such as California, do not use this national exam and others, such as Florida, require an additional state test. When deciding to become credentialed, vet techs may find it useful to research the credentialing process of any state that they may be transferring to.

Learn more about veterinary technician programs.

What are the vet tech board exams like?

The vet tech board exam consists of approximately 200 multiple-choice questions and takes about four hours to complete. The Veterinary Technician Certification

exam is written by experts in the field and goes through multiple levels of evaluation before a test question is accepted. The questions are entry level but technical enough to prove the person sitting for the exam has learned the necessary knowledge through his/her degree program. Currently the exam is offered twice a year in January and June but it is being transformed into a computer-based test, which will allow it to be administered more frequently. Many states require a state administered exam. These questions vary but usually include state statues and regulations.

Are state licensures required for vet techs?

In most states once the VTNE national exam is passed, an application with fees must be submitted for a person to become licensed in that state. However, some states require additional state licensure exams. Some states require an open book test on statutes and rules that apply to what vet techs are and aren’t allowed to do in that state. Not all states require a licensure to practice.

What credentials or letters are behind a vet tech’s name?

The credentials a vet tech has depends on which state they reside in. If he/she has graduated from an accredited vet tech degree program and passed the VTNE exam, he/she will earn CVT (certified vet tech), LVT (licensed vet tech), or RVT (registered vet tech) after his/her name depending on the specific language the state uses.

Learn more about veterinary technician jobs.

Are there specialty certificates for vet techs?

Specialty certificates are available Academies recognized by the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) for various medical domains such as anesthesia, veterinary dentistry, emergency/critical care, internal medicine and behavior. Each of these specialties has their own organization or Academy with guidelines and exams. There are a number of new specialty domains currently underway. By earning a specialty certification it makes one more marketable in his/her field. Earning specialty status is an opportunity available for graduate veterinary technicians with a minimum of three years experience in the specialty area, along with meeting the other criteria established by the Academy.

Veterinary Technician Continuing Education

Some states require continuing education credits for vet techs to maintain their state credential and others do not. The amount of continuing education credits required varies from one state to the next. In Wisconsin, for instance, 15 CE credits are required every two years when the credential is renewed. Other states require 20 hours every three years or 30 hours every five years. This depends on what each state’s regulatory agency decides upon. There are a variety of ways to obtain continuing education credits such as national conferences, which occur almost every month as well as specialty conferences (internal medicine, emergency critical care, surgery, etc).

Veterinary Technician Internship

Almost every vet tech program requires some type of clinical competency whether that is in the form of an internship or clinical hours. Oftentimes internships require in the ballpark of 300-400 hours and students typically complete these between their first and second year of school. Oftentimes students are responsible for finding a vet practice that will allow them to fulfill their internship hours. Many programs require students to fulfill both a small and large animal internships. Large animals would include horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs to name a few. But every vet tech program is also limited somewhat by location. For instance, Wisconsin is known for dairy farms so access to large animals is not hard to obtain. However in another state, there may be fewer practices that work with large animals.

Learn more about how to become a veterinary technician.

What types of professional associations exist for vet techs?

The largest professional organization is the NAVTA (National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America). This association has student chapters at many veterinary technician programs and is the primary voice for veterinary technicians across the country. Most states have state veterinary technician associations that work on more local issues and represent the technicians of that state.

Veterinary Technician Assistant

Vet tech assistant certificate programs generally last six to nine months, however, oftentimes these individuals are trained on the job. The responsibilities of a vet tech assistant include:

Restraint of the animal so vet techs is able to administer anesthesia, obtain a blood sample, take an x-ray or place a catheter.
Collecting fecal or urine samples for testing.
Setting up surgery rooms before the animal or surgeon have arrived.