AVMA CVTEA Essential Skills
The AVMA CVTEA Essential Skills List represents the complex role of the veterinary technician and encourages instruction in motor, critical thinking, and clinical application skills at the entry veterinary technician level. A veterinary technician student, having completed the curriculum, will have gained the prerequisite knowledge and perspective to enable him/her to carry out the following decision-making abilities.
Each essential skill is one in which the student will receive training during the veterinary technology curriculum. Essential skills recorded as psychomotor (hands-on) or didactic (knowledge-based) skills. Developing proficiency in each skill area will allow the graduate to optimize patient care.
Veterinary Technology programs must provide documentation of standard criteria for evaluating each student’s completion of every essential skill. These criteria must be consistent with standards that reflect contemporary veterinary medicine. Currently, Ogeechee Technical College uses an online skills documentation,
The Salthouse (thesalthouse.co). Each veterinary technology student will be provided account access to his/her essential skills checklist within individual courses.
Every program graduate MUST demonstrate entry-level competency for each AVMA CVTEA required skill. Course grades are linked to skill acquisition, and students will not be able to successfully complete a veterinary technology program course without satisfying the essential skill requirements associated with that course.
To demonstrate competency in each skill area, the student must possess knowledge of the theory behind the skill as well as the technical ability to perform the skill. Typically, the student is first provided with an opportunity to learn/practice the skill in a lecture or laboratory. Course instructors will make every effort to provide the student with the opportunities to learn, practice, and demonstrate the skills. Frequently students complete tasks/skills simply by successfully completing course assignments, laboratories, and written or practical examinations. Course instructors may require skills acquisition laboratory sessions outside of regularly scheduled course times if deemed necessary to ensure skills acquisition. Often, students are provided with opportunities to demonstrate competency using models and/or animals owned by faculty, staff, or local animal shelters for teaching purposes.
If a student does not obtain competency in the standard fashion, often an alternative option is developed to allow the student to demonstrate skill acquisition at a later time. If an alternate option is not available, the student may be required to repeat an examination or part of an examination or may have to work individually with his/her instructor(s) to devise a plan to demonstrate competency.
Students are expected to be active in completing the Essential Skills List. Program instructors expect each student to know the required skills associated with each course/clinical rotation in which he/she is enrolled. Students should continually review the essential skills list and seek out course instructors for opportunities to complete the skills.