Veterinary Nurse and Technician Awareness Week

On Friday 13 October 2023 the veterinary community celebrated Veterinary Nurse and Technicians Appreciation Day. This year’s theme – The future is in your hands – aims to empower veterinary nurses and technicians with key messages around accountability, self-management, education and utilisation of skills, advocacy of self and profession, and goal setting.  

It’s a timely opportunity to reaffirm our calls for regulation to be extended to these key members of the veterinary team.  

“The existing frameworks only regulate veterinarians, not veterinary paraprofessionals like veterinary nurses and technicians. This is limiting the capacity of the workforce and efficiency of the veterinary team,” said AVA President, Dr Diana Barker. 

In the absence of regulation, the Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia (VNCA) established the Australian Veterinary Nurses and Technicians (AVNAT) Voluntary Registration scheme to set standards for professional practices across the veterinary nursing industry. It is in the public interest that there be regulation and associated mandatory professional registration for veterinary nurses and technicians, and for this to be restricted to those who are suitably qualified.  

As well as maintaining professional standards, the AVA believes extending regulation to these roles will improve how the veterinary team is utilised. 

“Regulation of nurses and technicians will increase the capacity and efficiency of the veterinary workforce by setting professional standards for working under the oversight of veterinarians,” Dr Barker said.     

The Australian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC) is the body that encourages standardisation and quality assurance of veterinary services to the community. It supports work to progress regulation and title protection of veterinary nurses and veterinary technicians, but there is no timeline in place for implementing a scheme across all states and territories.