Happy Vet Tech Week, Caffeinators! What does that mean anymore? We delve into a couple of recent nuggets of content we've come across and have a discussion about those, and what we'd like to see. What does Vet Tech Week look like for you? Does your hospital celebrate Vet Tech Week and the days and weeks set aside for the other vital members of our teams, such as CSR's, assistants, bossed, etc? Or is it largely a staff appreciation week? How do you feel about all of it? We'd love to hear from you...
Oct 19, 2023•45 min•Ep. 150
Caffeinators, it's mid-October and that means it's an Anniversary here at the Vet Tech Cafe. We're celebrating our 4th complete year-can you believe it? We thought we'd be lucky if we put out 10 episodes, but here we are still going strong because of YOU and all of our amazing guests. It also means we get to chat with Liz Hughston again! This episode is extra special, because we recorded it LIVE with her at IVECCS in Denver last month! You'll hear some different sounds as we were literally in a ...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 148
Caffeinators, we are in the era of corporatization in veterinary medicine. Maybe you've already experienced working in a hospital that was bought by a corporation, maybe you're going through that process now, or maybe you haven't but chances are you probably will at some point. That is the focus of this episode. Tia Gregorio recently joined us at the Vet Tech Cafe to talk about corporate merging from the support staff side. Tia is a CVT and hospital manager, but also holds an MBA and a doctorate...
Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 147
Caffeinators, you've heard us before say some of our favorite episodes are when listeners reach out to us with an idea and it turns it to an episode, often because it's something we hadn't thought of before or someone doing something awesome that we didn't know! That last part sums up this episode. Paige Allen, MS, RVT, wrote to us about some of the cool stuff she's doing IN RETIREMENT and we had to talk to her about that! Yes, she RETIRED as a veterinary technician from Purdue University and pa...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 145
Our latest Vet Tech Taproom episode where we recap IVECCS 2023. Did you attend? Did you see us and say hi? Tell us what you loved about IVECCS 2023!
Sep 16, 2023•29 min•Ep. 146
Caffeinators, this is a big one. Remember recently when we shared the Op-Ed Stephen Cital wrote about the position of the AVMA and their unwillingness to expand the scope of practice for veterinary technicians? Do you remember when we shared his recent post about his new business venture-Remedy Veterinary Specialists that he's starting with Dr. Carrie Jurney? Well, good news! They both came by the Vet Tech Cafe recently to talk about all of this. There's some really great info in here about the ...
Sep 04, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 144
Caffeinators, have you ever peaked over the clinic fence and wondered what is out there in the great beyond? If you've been listening in, you know we've done several episodes about being a veterinary technician outside of the clinical setting, but staying under the veterinary medicine umbrella-and this is another one of those episodes! We recently met Kate Howard, LVT at the Vet Tech Cafe and talked about her path through vet med, mental health struggles, and how those led her down a different p...
Aug 21, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 142
Welcome to another episode of the Vet Tech Taproom. More discussion on the mid level practitioner and catching up on our most recent episodes. Let us know what you think about the mid level practitioner idea. Could it be useful in the future? Are we ready for this now?
Aug 14, 2023•35 min•Ep. 143
Caffeinators, you are in for a TREAT. Recently, one of our favorite people came by the Vet Tech Cafe for some tea and conversation. Or, should we say collaboration? Listen to the episode and you'll see what I mean, but when Kelly Foltz talks, you best listen. Kelly is credentialed in FOUR states, a VTS(ECC), and currently the Mid-Atlantic Regional Nursing Partner for Blue Pearl, providing support to their hospitals in that region. This was a wide ranging discussion about her work on the AVMA tas...
Aug 07, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 141
Caffeinators, get your tea and biscuits ready because we're going across the pond for this episode! We recently sat down with Jack Pye, RVN, Cert VNECC, to discuss life as an RVN in the UK! Spoiler alert, as with many of our international series episodes, it's not unlike life as veterinary technician in the US! We talk about title protection, paths to licensure, legislation, specialization, the veterinarian-RVN relationship, and so much MORE! Jack now spends much of his time in Ultrasonography a...
Jul 24, 2023•57 min•Ep. 140
Caffeinators, hold on to your socks because this episode is going to knock them off! If you read veterinary publications with articles on workplace culture, you've probably read something written by Josh Vaisman. We were fortunate enough to have him come by the Vet Tech Cafe recently and, wow, was this an awesome conversation! Josh started out in veterinary medicine as a veterinary assistant, has been a practice manager and practice owner(!), and then went back to school and got his Master's Deg...
Jul 10, 2023•58 min•Ep. 139
Caffeinators, welcome back to the Vet Tech Taproom! For Episode 32, we look back at our June episodes, preview our July episodes, and also tease a couple collaborations and cool projects we're working on with other podcasts, and for the Vet Tech Cafe for Vet Tech Week! We discuss some cool CE opportunities both of us are participating in, as well as some fun new things coming to the Vet Tech Cafe store! And, as always, Jeff promotes Tree House Brewing Company. We hope you have a happy and safe 4...
Jul 03, 2023•30 min•Ep. 138
Caffeinators, buckle your seatbelts for this one. We saw in a NAVTA newsletter a few months back a blurb about the formation of the Malaysian Association of Veterinary Nurses and Assistants, or MAVNA, and I knew right away we needed to talk to them. I emailed them and Su Via wrote back and this episode was born. She is a veterinary technician student through Purdue University's distance learning program and attends from her home country of Malaysia. She talks extensively about the role of the ve...
Jun 26, 2023•59 min•Ep. 136
Caffeinators, you know we love talking about veterinary technician education. We've looked at it from many different angles, and today there's another one. Jenn DeForge is a CVT in Massachusetts and reached out to us a while back and we finally were able to have her come by to discuss what she does in education. Get this-she teaches HIGH SCHOOL students! She works for a polytechnic school in Massachusetts teaching high school students in a program that upon graduation, they can become certified ...
Jun 12, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 135
Welcome back to another Vet Tech Taproom. We wrap up our Mental Health Month series and discuss the tragic events at Shively Animal Hospital in Kentucky. Grab yourself a beverage and listen in!
Jun 05, 2023•33 min•Ep. 134
Welcome back to #mentalhealthawarenessmonth Caffeinators! We're back for our second episode looking at bullying in veterinary medicine. You may remember way back to 2020 when we had Emily Ione-Kinney on to talk about bullying in vet med. She introduced us then to some terms we hadn't heard before such as lateral and vertical violence and some ways bullying occurs you might not think of. This discussion is a continuation of that one and goes a good bit further. We all discuss things we've done in...
May 29, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 133
Welcome to #mentalhealthawarenessmonth, Caffeinators. If you've been following along for any amount of time, you know this is a special month for us. We dedicate all of our May episodes each year to mental health in veterinary medicine, and often to a particular theme. This year, that theme is bullying. We'll have episodes with two guests and discuss bullying in our field in great depth. For this episode, we welcomed back Heather Carter. We spoke with her last summer about organizational turnove...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 132
Caffeinators, let's get weird. Let's talk money. We all want it. We all need it. What do we do with it? We can all attest to the fact that this is low-earning profession. That makes many of us work additional jobs, leave the field altogether, etc. Considering all of that, what do you think of your financial well-being? We ask because that's the discussion for this episode. This is one of our few, non-veterinary technician guest episodes, but with a discussion we hope you'll benefit from. Tom See...
May 01, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 131
Caffeinators, welcome back to the Vet Tech Taproom! This episode we're doing something special! You may have heard us say that we're inviting our Patreons to participate in our Taproom episodes, and this is the FIRST such episode of that! Liza Rudolph came by to hang out with us and offer her insight on some of the topics we discussed! It's a unique opportunity to have less scripted and more off the cuff, organic discussion! We cover a lot of ground in this one-come join us!
Apr 24, 2023•32 min•Ep. 130
Caffeinators, if your morning cup of coffee doesn't open your eyes, this episode surely will! Alyssa Mages, BS, CVT, recently came by the Vet Tech Cafe and knocked our socks off. We covered so much ground in this episode, but at the same time, every little thing we discussed could've been its own hour of discussion. She's a founder of Empowering Veterinary Teams, and that was where the bulk of the discussion lies-what that looks like, what they do, how it started... you know we love to talk abou...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 129
Caffeinators, it's not often we have a guest that is not a credentialed veterinary technician. But when those opportunities present themselves, we make sure it's a discussion we think you'll benefit from, and this is certainly one of those. Anthony Pierlioni is a manager of a multi-specialty hospital in Connecticut. His background isn't in veterinary medicine-it's in social work. We've have a couple episodes in the past where we've discussed the benefits of having a social worker on staff in vet...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 127
Caffeinators, hello from Arizona! Well, we're actually back home now, but we recorded this during our "business trip" to Arizona this past week. We recap some of the fun stuff we did, some of the really cool stuff we're working on, and preview some of our upcoming episodes. As always, the Taproom episodes are raw and uncut, like you're right there with us! We hope you enjoy! Links: https://www.patreon.com/vettechcafe https://www.vettechcafe.com/...
Mar 27, 2023•25 min•Ep. 128
Caffeinators, have we got a discussion for you! You may remember when we interviewed Dr. Andy Roark, his suggestion for a future guest was Melissa Entrekin, and she was gracious enough to join us at the Vet Tech Cafe for some wonderful discussion about our profession. This is a wide-ranging episode, from state association work to vet tech education to life in this field overall. There's a lot to unpack in this one, and we could've easily continued this discussion for hours-which only means we'll...
Mar 20, 2023•57 min•Ep. 126
Caffeinators, did you hear who won NAVTA's 2022 Veterinary Technician of the Year Award? If not, look no further! It's Rochellie Cortés-Martínez, MBA, LVTg from Puerto Rico and she recently came by the Vet Tech Cafe to talk about the honor and life as a veterinary technician in Puerto Rico! This was a fascinating discussion in which we learned about the evolution of the profession there. She talked about how when she went through school not long ago, she attended the only veterinary technician p...
Feb 20, 2023•49 min•Ep. 124
In this latest episode of the Vet Tech Taproom, we discuss the prospect of retirement. How many of us have even thought about retiring? How do we stay relevant and useful in this field as we get older. On that same note, we also discuss education and the needs of teachers (especially rookie teachers). We would love to hear your thoughts on both of these topics. Let us know what you think!
Feb 06, 2023•44 min•Ep. 123
Caffeinators, as you well know, we love to talk to credentialed technicians that are out there blazing their own path. For this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Brian Goleman, RVT, owner and creator of Brian's Bandages! Brian is a surgery tech who came to realize there are not a lot of great resources or instructional videos for bandaging, and when opportunity knocked to create, Brian's Bandages was born! Links below will take you to his YouTube channel and social pages. He also team...
Jan 23, 2023•55 min•Ep. 122
Welcome to the Taproom Caffeinators! This episode we discuss the personal affect that CPR has on us as technicians, the recent news from the AVMA regarding the mid level practitioners and the Vet Anesthesia Nerds Favorite things list for 2023. Chime in on these topics! How do you manage the mental part of running a code?
Jan 16, 2023•39 min•Ep. 121
Happy New Year, Caffeinators! We hope you had a great holiday season and a safe New Year! We are starting off 2023 with an awesome episode. We've said before some of our favorite episodes are those that are brought to our attention by a listener-episode topics we would've never thought of, let alone know who to talk to about it. That's what this episode is, and it's about disability and accessibility. Sandra Tucker reached out to us to suggest an episode discussing disability in our field and th...
Jan 09, 2023•56 min•Ep. 120
Caffeinators, Merry Christmas and a very happy holiday season! As this episode is coming out on Christmas Day, we wanted to give you a special gift. We invited Stephen Cital and Liz Hughston back to the show for a bit of a roundtable discussion! But not to the Vet Tech Cafe, no. Not this time. This time, for the first time EVER, we had guests in the Vet Tech Taproom! What does that mean? Even more unedited and more uncut, and the video of this discussion will also be uploaded to our YouTube Chan...
Dec 26, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 119
Come on in for another Taproom Episode! We talk about the recent issues with NAVTA, the mid-level practitioner debate, and what it means for newer/younger techs in this field. Let us know what you think about all this! We LOVE hearing from you!
Dec 13, 2022•37 min•Ep. 118
