Purdue Veterinary Medicine is excited to announce that two more veterinary nurses in the Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital have completed the grueling year-long application process to sit for the Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) exams this year. Emergency and Critical Care Technologist Hanna Yagel, RVT, will take the exam to become a certified specialist in emergency and critical care (ECC) in September. Small Animal Surgery Technologist Supervisor Eric Zamora-Moran, MBA, RVT, VTS (Anesthesia and Analgesia) will take the VTS exam to certify as a surgery specialist in October. They join Small Animal Surgery/Neurology Technician Brittany Laflen, RVT, who just took the VTS exam for neurology earlier this month, and was featured in a Vet Gazette story published April 5.
Eric, who earned his VTS designation in anesthesia and analgesia in 2014, is on track to become Purdue Veterinary Medicine’s first double-boarded Veterinary Technician Specialist. Hanna would become the hospital’s fifth veterinary nurse with a specialty designation in ECC and Brittany would be the first to be credentialed in neurology.
The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) developed the Committee on Veterinary Technician Specialties in 1994, which led to formation of academies for 16 specialties. Each academy sets requirements for a registered veterinary technician to earn its specialist designation. Purdue Veterinary Medicine currently has 15 Veterinary Technician Specialists from nine different academies, which is much greater than the group of five or so that is typical at other veterinary teaching hospitals.
“We are proud of Purdue Veterinary Medicine’s veterinary nurses, as they constantly strive for excellence,” said PVM Distance Learning Instructional Technologist Courtney Waxman, CVT, RVT, VTS (ECC). “Whether through earning these specialty designations, or performing roles like speaking at national conferences, the veterinary nurses at our College are making vital contributions to the veterinary medical profession and enhancing our College’s reputation nationally.”