In this episode, we interview Ed Carlson, CVT, VTS (Nutrition).  Ed is the Director of Technician Learning and Development for Ethos Veterinary Health which spans over 25 hospitals throughout the nation. He is the President Elect for NAVTA and serves on multiple NAVTA committees including the Veterinary Nurse Initiative workgroup.  He was also the NAVTA Veterinary Technician of the year in 2019

Along with getting a look into Ed's career path, we had a great discussion about the Veterinary Nurse Initiative that has lately been a very debated topic.  We also discussed the AVMA's Veterinary Technician Utilization Task Force which Ed is a part of.  

We hope you enjoy this final episode of 2019!

Links:

To learn more about the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America, go to: https://www.navta.net/

To learn more about the Veterinary Nurse Initiative, go to: http://veterinarynurse.org/

To learn more about the AVMA Veterianry Technician Task force, go to: https://www.avma.org/blog/board-update-avma-establishes-veterinary-technician-task-force

On this episode of the Vet Tech Cafe, Dave and Jeff interview David Liss.  David has an incredibly rich and diverse background in the field of veterinary technology. David holds an Associate’s Degree in Veterinary Technology, a Bachelor’s in Sociology, and a Master’s in Biomedical Science.  He is double boarded in emergency/critical care and small animal internal medicine. He has a diverse background in emergency and critical care nursing in addition to being a certified veterinary practice manager (CVPM) and professional in human resources (PHR). David currently is the director of operations for Amerivet in Los Angeles, and runs his own consulting business: Veterinary Training and Consulting, Inc.

We had a great discussion about the abstracts that were announced recently looking at burnout and medical errors.  David now being on the management side had some great ideas and thoughts on how we can improve these things.  His experience as both a technician and as a hospital manager gives him a unique perspective on how veterinary teams interact and grow together.  We also talked about veterinary technician education and how we can advance our profession.  Hope you enjoy this episode!  

Link to Abstracts: https://rdcu.be/bXsWj The abstracts we discussed are on pages 7 and 8 

Link to Masters Program:  https://online.missouri.edu/degreeprograms/veterinary-medicine/biomedical-sciences/masters/

Link to David's Website:  https://www.davidlissrvt.com/

In this episode, we interviewed Liz Hughston MEd., RVT, CVT, LVT, VTS (SAIM, ECC), Certified Veterinary Cannabis Counselor.  Liz is involved in many amazing projects in the veterinary field but we wanted to focus on her involvement in the Not One More Vet Support Staff movement.  Crisis prevention and suicide prevention is something that fits into our podcast mission of discussing issues that greatly impact veterinary technicians. We felt it was important to have this discussion now to start tackling the tough issues.  We’ve also included some contact information that Liz provided for getting in touch with these organizations that can help with these issues. 

• 4 Eyes Save Lives:  https://drandyroark.com/what-do-we-do-about-suicide/

• *must message proof of employment in a veterinary clinic/hospital (or a copy of a current veterinary technician license) to https://www.facebook.com/NOMVSSMembership

In this episode, Dave will interview Jeff.  This will be our second and final "warm up" episode where we interview each other.  We're getting better at editing, interviewing all while trying to give our listeners an idea of where we come from and why we're making this podcast for you.  We'll hear about Jeff's path from Veterinary Assistant all the way up to being a VTS in Emergency and Critical Care.  Jeff will talk about how he got into speaking at conferences, who inspires him as a technician, and his take on the direction our field is headed.  Grab yourself a coffee, sit back, and enjoy your stay at the Vet Tech Cafe!

In our first couple episodes, we'll be interviewing each other to give our audience an idea of who we are and what we're trying to do, all while trying to figure out the technical side of starting a podcast, to be frank.  In this episode, I will interview Dave about his career path, where he's at now and how he got there, and get his thoughts on a number of different topics.  We hope this will give you a feel of what we're going to be doing as we go along.  So come in, sit down, have a cup of coffee, and enjoy your stay at the Vet Tech Cafe!

Vet Tech Cafe will be a podcast centered around Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. We strive to discuss current issues that Veterinary Technicians and Nurses face every day. We want to give our colleagues a voice, and a medium to enter into these discussions. We hope to be a resource for continued growth and education in our listeners.