Caring with an emotional cost

Dion Small, BSc, LVT, the LVT/assistant director for internal medicine, cardiology, primary care service, medical-surgical unit, and the clinic at Schwarzman Animal Medical Center in New York, New York, addresses one of the biggest challenges for veterinary technicians in a dvm360 interview. In this video, Small discusses how veterinary technicians can become overwhelmed with the “emotional cost” of caring for patients with conditions that are not expected to improve. Technicians are also managing the mental and emotional well-being of clients with pets facing euthanasia, Small said.

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The following is a transcript of the video:

Question: What are challenges that veterinary technicians often face on the job?

Dion Small, BSc, LVT: I think for a lot of people,—because we're so invested in in patient care—it's really hard managing a patient that is really, really ill, especially if you know that sometimes pet parents aren't mentally prepared, emotionally prepared, for euthanasia. And so they want to hold on as long as they can. The technicians have to be the ones nursing the patients and stuff like that—which they do a phenomenal job at—but it's also for some people at an emotional cost. So I think that is one of the biggest challenges: we're so caring about the patients.

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