AAVSB buys rights to national technician test

Kansas City, Mo. — The American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) now owns the Veterinary Technician National Examination (VTNE), bought last month from New York-based Professional Examination Service.

The VTNE is a uniform national examination used by roughly 37 states as a competency indicator for veterinary technicians, determining one criterion for licensure, AAVSB officials say.

For technicians, nothing about the program will change, AAVSB Executive Director Charlotte Ronan says. More than 4,000 students sat for the exam last year, she adds.

AAVSB serves the regulatory boards of veterinary medicine in the United States and Canada, providing a range of services including international graduate education equivalence certification for veterinarians. Adopted in 2000, the Program for the Assessment of Veterinary Education Equivalence (PAVE) now features the clinical skills portion of the test. The Veterinary Clinical Skills Assessment examination will be made available to students this fall, Ronan says.