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Feb 20, 2024
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Professionalism, Ethics, and Laws
Read this assignment. Then, read from the section titled "Professionalism" to the end of Chapter 1 of your
textbook.
Professionalism
As a veterinary technician, you’ll be bound by a code of ethics
. A code of ethics is an essential characteristic of a profession, and serves three main functions:
1.
Communicating the ideals of the profession to the public and to the members of the profession
2.
Guiding the ethical conduct of the profession
3.
Providing standards of acceptable conduct that allow the profession to implement disciplinary procedures against those who fall below the standards
The veterinary technician code of ethics was established by the National Association of Veterinary Technicians of America (NAVTA). It instructs veterinary technicians on their responsibility to care for animals, relieve animal suffering, commit to lifelong learning, promote public health, collaborate with other veterinary professionals, protect client confidentiality, take accountability for individual actions, and uphold laws and regulations. In addition to acting ethically, veterinary technicians are expected to uphold themselves in a professional manner, both in and outside the workplace. While at work, you’ll be expected to dress professionally, work well with your clients and coworkers, and maintain a positive attitude.
While professional dress may vary depending on location (one practice may prohibit tattoos or dyed hair, while another may not), it’s important always to consider safety. Long hair should be pulled back (to prevent contamination of surgical fields), jewelry should be removed (to prevent injury if a pet should become caught on it), and nails should be kept short (to aid hand washing and decrease the risk of transferring infection). Outside of the workplace, you’re encouraged to join professional organizations, promote the profession to the
public, attend local and national conferences, maintain licenses, and support laws created to strengthen veterinary technology.
Your profession should influence your life both inside and outside of work. As a veterinary technician, it’s important that you’re clear and professional in both your oral and written communication. Communication with pet owners and coworkers is a vital part of the veterinary technician’s role. Written records are a part of the patient’s legal documentation, and may be subpoenaed in court. It’s important to have clear, written records and emails. If you struggle with oral or written communications, you may want to seek additional opportunities for improving in this area. 1
Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Professional Organizations: What’s Their Role?
NAVTA represents the veterinary technology profession in the United States. This organization is responsible for strengthening the veterinary technology profession, advocating for enhanced awareness of the profession,
supporting members of the organization, and working for the sustainability of the organization. Veterinary technicians may choose to become involved in a number of other veterinary organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). Each of these organizations plays an important role in veterinary medicine. There are four main tasks of any professional organization:
1.
Representation
2.
Promotion
3.
Communication
4.
Impacting the future of the profession
Representation
The most important task of any organization is to provide proper representation. Those in a leadership position within an organization must understand that what they say and do is a reflection of the entire profession they’re representing. It’s important that individuals in such roles be professional and respectful at all times. It’s key for state associations and the national association to work closely with other veterinary technician groups and veterinary associations. NAVTA works closely with veterinary technician specialty groups, such as AAHA, AVMA, and other groups.
Promotion
Professions need positive promotion that includes describing the field and the benefits of working in that specific field. Whether you’re a student or a credentialed veterinary technician, you can help promote your profession. You can provide literature on how to become a veterinary technician, offer to speak at a veterinary
technician program career course, or offer to write an article for your state association newsletter or the NAVTA newsletter. You can also speak to students in grade and high schools on career days.
Communication
Communication is critical for an organization to survive. Effective communication must take place among its members, the executive board and members, and members and other organizations. Newsletters, committees, conference calls, and having members serve on other organizations’ boards are effective means of communication.
Impacting the Future of the Profession
The future of any profession is determined by its constituents. New goals are based on suggestions and ideas proposed by all members. This is an integral part of growth and change.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Professional Organizations
Professional organizations can offer a number of benefits to veterinary technicians.
Networking Opportunities
Veterinary technicians work primarily in small groups, and networking opportunities may not be easy to come by. Belonging to a professional association can provide ample opportunities to develop these important relationships. Volunteering on a committee, joining a discussion in an online forum, or running for an office will allow you to establish ongoing relationships with others within your profession.
Continuing Education
Participating in continuing education is one way that professional associations can offer their members the opportunity to update their knowledge and learn new skills. Workshops, conferences, journal publications, webinars, and online courses are avenues to expand your knowledge of the profession.
Exclusive Online Resources
Most professional organizations have a members-only section on their website that provides access to exclusive content, such as best practices, job postings, webcasts, podcasts, message boards, and listservs.
Leadership Opportunities
Building your leadership skills by serving on a board, chairing a committee, or leading a research group within the organization can be very beneficial to your career. In addition, these opportunities can help increase your confidence and improve your oral and written communication skills.
Discounts
In some cases, professional associations offer their members discounted registration for monthly events, annual conferences, and other workshops. Many have relationships with companies both within the veterinary profession and outside of it that give members discounts on products and services; for example, insurance, fuel, retail stores, and membership in other similar associations. You can join an organization while enrolled in school or after graduation. Fees are typically greatly reduced for students while still in school. Most
organizations provide the same benefits to their student members as they do to their regular members.
Career Building
Serving as an officer is very impressive on a résumé. It’s a reflection of your willingness to step up to the plate and serve. It can also be beneficial for moving into a management role within your practice because it shows leadership experience.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Professional Ethics
As a veterinary technician, you’ll be faced with countless ethical dilemmas. Although these situations may seem straightforward on the surface, you’ll often find yourself torn between competing obligations to your employer, your clients, and your patients. In many of these situations, it can be difficult to determine the best or “right” course of action. A client may deny authorization of a procedure that the veterinary team feels is necessary for the patient. Doing what’s best for the patient may mean not doing what the client requests.
Veterinary professionals face concerns with euthanasia, animal rights, animal welfare, and economic factors that affect patients’ treatment. Issues are usually resolved by policy decisions set forth by the practice or the veterinarian. A technician who doesn’t agree with these policies may speak with the veterinarian to get them changed. Otherwise, the technician may choose not to participate in the case in question or find employment elsewhere. Commonly encountered ethical dilemmas in companion animal practice may include the following:
An elderly client brings in a cat for declawing surgery because the client is on blood thinners and is receiving wounds when her cat jumps on and off her lap. Your ethical obligations towards the cat may push you to steer the client away from a declaw surgery, while your obligations towards the client require you to keep her safe from injury from her pet.
A client brings in a dog with a treatable condition that they can’t afford to treat, requesting euthanasia.
Your sense of obligation to the dog may push you to steer the client away from euthanasia, in the hopes that treatment can be offered at a reduced cost. Your obligations toward your employer will likely mean that you’re not in a position to offer discounted care.
A client requests to have a dog euthanized because it has bitten their child. Your initial reaction might be disgust that they would consider this, based on your moral obligation to the pet. However, it’s important to also consider your obligations to the dog’s owner, and to the public (including anyone who may interact with this dog in the future) when deciding how to react to this particular situation.
Sometimes a veterinarian must make decisions based on the welfare of the clinic as a business. Should reasonable fees be charged for surgeries and treatments for animals that need them even though some owners can’t afford them? Should high-priced options be mentioned to a client who can’t pay for them, or should the success of the practice be the priority? For the business to remain operational, clients must be charged for services, and payment must be received.
Other ethical dilemmas may include writing prescriptions or dispensing them without a client/doctor relationship. The veterinarian should know the animal for which the medicine is being prescribed, and should have enough information about the animal to know if there might be problems. This is becoming more of an issue with online pharmacies. Abuse is another ethical problem. Before abuse is reported, it may need to be proven. It’s often difficult to get all the facts concerning a possible abuse situation from just one visit to the clinic.
There’s no way to avoid ethical dilemmas in veterinary medicine, and they’ll frequently arise over the course of your career. In these situations, it’s often helpful to be aware of your legal responsibilities, the NAVTA code of ethics, and any other available guidelines that may help you arrive at an ethically responsible decision.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Profession-Based Laws and Regulations
There are a number of legal considerations that must be taken into account by veterinary technicians. These can be broken down into two broad categories, laws and regulations.
Laws and Statutes
In each state, there’s a practice act
that governs the practice of veterinary medicine and veterinary technology. This practice act is approved by the state house of representatives, state senators, and the governor. The practice act exists to protect veterinary clients, veterinary patients, and the general public. Box 1.6 in Chapter 1 of the textbook contains the text of the NAVTA’s Model Practice Act for Veterinary Technicians. This provides a general framework of the type of information that’s found in many state practice acts. It’s important to remember that you must check your state practice act carefully before beginning your career as a veterinary technician, as your state may have significant differences from the NAVTA Model Practice Act.
Rules and Regulations
In addition to the state practice act, there are rules and regulations that are written by each state’s veterinary medical board. While violating these rules won’t typically result in criminal penalties, violating rules and regulations will result in sanctions by the veterinary board. These may include the suspension or loss of your veterinary technician license, fines, or other disciplinary actions.
Licensing
In order to practice as a licensed, certified, or registered veterinary technician, you’ll first need to be licensed, certified, or registered by the state board of the state in which you intend to work. This process typically involves character reference verification, criminal background checks, and verification of education and licensing examination scores. Once you’ve received your license, you’ll need to maintain your license by renewing it on a regular basis, which involves submitting a renewal application and a renewal fee. Most states also require verification that you’ve completed a specific amount of continuing education (CE) in the field of veterinary technology. Continuing education requirements vary by state; North Carolina, for example, currently requires veterinary technicians to complete 12 hours of CE every two years, while New York requires
24 hours of CE every three years. Some CE may be learned via distance learning and online programs, but attendance at local or national conferences is also typically required or recommended.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Disciplinary Actions
Veterinary technicians may be disciplined for violating any of the rules laid out in the state practice act or rules
and regulations. These violations may fall into a number of different categories.
Technical violations
include practicing with a lapsed license, failure to obtain enough CE, and being disciplined by another state. These are primarily administrative violations, where no animal is placed at
risk.
Substantive violations
are associated with misconduct in professional practice. Examples include malpractice, unprofessional conduct, fraud, misrepresentation, working while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, practicing beyond the scope of one’s license, animal abuse/neglect, and other similar violations.
One area that often arises when discussing rules and regulations is the level of supervision that a technician is receiving from a veterinarian. In different states, differing levels of supervision may be required for a given technician action. In general, there are three levels of supervision that are discussed:
1.
Immediate supervision
: A licensed veterinarian is able to see and hear the technician.
2.
Direct supervision
: A licensed veterinarian is on the premises and readily available.
3.
Indirect supervision
: A licensed veterinarian isn’t on the premises, but is within direct communication of the veterinary technician and able to provide support in that manner.
It's important to be clear on the level of supervision required for specific actions in your particular state. For example, can you place an intravenous catheter under indirect, direct, or only immediate supervision? Can you perform a dental cleaning under direct supervision, or is immediate supervision required? These questions
all vary by state and will require research before you begin practicing in a given state. If a veterinary technician
is found to violate any rules, regulations, or laws, they’ll be held responsible for doing so, and will receive disciplinary action from the board or from the government. The supervising veterinarian may also be held responsible and receive disciplinary action.
Additional Laws Governing Veterinary Practice
Veterinary technicians are subject to a number of other laws in addition to their state practice act and veterinary board rules and regulations. These laws include local labor laws governing work hours, mandatory breaks, employer-employee relations, and other factors.
OSHA Guidelines
All employers are required to abide by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
of 1970. OSHA provides for safe and healthful working conditions for all employees. In the veterinary facility, a right-to-know station will hold a manual or binder that contains important safety information, including a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for every chemical product used by the practice.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Controlled Substances
The term “controlled substances” refers to drugs or chemicals whose possession or use is regulated by the government. Drugs are categorized as controlled substances based on their risk of addiction. Controlled substances must be closely monitored, and a controlled substance inventory must be maintained in logbooks that are to be possessed by every veterinary practice.
Anticruelty Laws
Each individual state has its own laws preventing animal cruelty. Though there are many similarities among states (for example, all states prohibit dogfighting and cockfighting), significant differences may also exist among states. Therefore, it’s important to be familiar with the anticruelty laws in the specific state in which you’re practicing veterinary technology. In cases in which animal cruelty or abuse is suspected, the veterinary professional usually feels obligated to report such cases for investigation. In some cases, what’s perceived as cruel or abusive by the veterinary professional is legal.
The laws of this country classify animals as the personal property of an individual. By law, pet owners are required to provide food and water for their pets. However, they aren’t usually required to provide routine medical care. They may be required to confine their animals to their own property. However, they aren’t required to provide social interaction with their pets. Situations where an animal is confined to a garage or yard, with little interaction with its owners, may be emotional for some veterinary staff members.
Animal Welfare Act
In the United States, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA)
has minimum standards of treatment and care that must be provided for most warm-blooded animals used in research. Species that aren’t covered under the AWA include mice, rats, and birds. Inspectors of animal care from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conduct random, unannounced inspections of all regulated facilities. If problems are found, the facility is given a specific time frame in which to correct the issues. In addition, USDA-registered facilities are required to have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Its primary role is to help enforce compliance with the AWA. An IACUC helps ensure that standards are followed in the areas of animal housing, feeding, handling, veterinary care, and review of animal-use protocols.
All AVMA-accredited veterinary technology programs in the United States are required to have an IACUC if the
school owns or uses regulated species of animals. Veterinary professionals working in research and food animal production must have an understanding of the role of the animals in their care. These animals are performing a vital service to mankind. Working with research, food animals, and animals used in the entertainment industry can be emotionally difficult, and must be taken into consideration before entering this aspect of veterinary technology.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Horse Protection Act
The Horse Protection Act, established in 1970, prohibits the use of soring in horses participating in shows, sales, exhibitions, and auctions. Soring is a procedure often used with Tennessee Walking Horses, which involves using a number of painful interventions to prompt a horse to lift its feet high when walking. Technicians may be exposed to soring if working in an equine practice.
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act is designed to product endangered plant and animal life by controlling potential threats to the survival of these species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are responsible for enforcing the Endangered Species Act.
After completing your reading assignments, complete the chapter activities in your
Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses
workbook for Chapter 1. Please don't complete the case studies in the workbook at this time. You can check your answers with the answer key provided.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Key Points
Veterinary technicians are expected to act with professionalism, both while at work and in their personal time.
The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) is the leading veterinary technology professional organization, providing a number of legal and ethical guidelines for veterinary technicians.
Although the NAVTA guidelines provide a helpful framework, it’s essential that veterinary technicians understand their local practice act, rules, and regulations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.
Why should veterinary technicians avoid having long fingernails and dangling jewelry?
Long fingernails make it more difficult to wash your hands thoroughly, increasing the chance of spreading infection between patients. Dangling jewelry could become caught in an animal’s claws, leading to injury.
2.
Name two actions that a veterinary technician can take outside of work to demonstrate professionalism.
Join professional organizations. Educate others about the profession. Attend local or national conferences. Support legislation that strengthens veterinary technology. Maintain state licensing.
3.
What does NAVTA stand for?
National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America
4.
What’s the difference between laws and statues, and rules and regulations?
Laws and statutes are established by the government, and may be subject to criminal prosecution. Rules and regulations are established by the veterinary board and are subject to sanctions, such as suspension/loss of license, fines, or probation.
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Introduction to Veterinary Technology: Its Laws and Ethics
1.2 Identify professionalism, professional ethics, and laws and regulations related to veterinary technology.
Technical Violation
A violation of the practice act that is not associated with harm to an animal, such as practicing on a lapsed license
Substantive Violation
A violation of the practice act that is associated with harm to an animal, such as malpractice
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Government department charged with ensuring safe work environments for American workers
Controlled Substance
A drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession, or use is regulated by the government.
Endangered Species Act
Law that aims to prevent the extinction of imperiled plant or animal life
Horse Protection Act
Law that prevents soring in horses participating in shows, sales, exhibitions, or auctions
Animal Welfare Act
Law that establishes minimum standards of care for warm-blooded animals used for research, sale, or exhibition
Malpractice
Also referred to as negligence and is the deviation from or failure to conform to acceptable standards of practice
Medical Records
A legal document owned by the veterinary practice or supervising institution that must include all care and relevant observation regarding a patient
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