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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesAAHA’s podcast episode with Jessica Sewell, published October 23, 2025, links two things that rarely appear together in pet-care conversations: how a veterinary technician advances in their career, and whether the clinic they work in actually uses the training that technician already has. For pet owners, the practical point is that technicians’ skills are part of the care your pet receives, and how a clinic deploys those skills determines who does what during your visit.
What the episode covers
The episode is titled “PODCAST: Veterinary Technicians: Educational advancement, utilization, and leadership with Jessica Sewell” on AAHA’s website. AAHA lists Sewell’s credentials as MVCC, BAS, CVT, LVT, LVMT and CPhT. She is a former practice manager, served as VCA’s national director of career progression for veterinary technicians and assistants, and chairs the Georgia State Board for Veterinary Medicine.
You can listen on Spotify, on YouTube, or through AAHA’s learning management system. The episode page does not include a transcript, so this article does not attribute specific statements, timestamps or quotes to Sewell. Instead, it draws on AAHA’s published guidance on the same subject. The most recent AAHA item cited here is from March 2025, and practice-act rules change over time, so confirm current guidance with AAHA and your state veterinary board before relying on any point below.
Why technician utilization matters
AAHA’s 2023 Technician Utilization Guidelines describe credentialed veterinary technicians (CrVTs) as people whose education, skills and experience may be underused. The guidelines list potential benefits of better utilization: professional longevity, trust and collaboration, patient care, efficiency, access to services, retention and financial sustainability. AAHA presents these as the rationale for its recommendations, not as guaranteed outcomes for every clinic.
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#1 Best Overall
Two figures appear in AAHA’s material, and each carries a specific condition:
- 36% average revenue increase. AAHA’s 2023 guideline summary reports this average for practices where veterinarians rarely perform tasks that credentialed technicians can and should perform. It describes an average across those practices, not a forecast for any individual clinic.
- 40% felt fully utilized. In the 2022 Demographics Survey by the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA), 40% of credentialed technicians who responded said they felt fully utilized. AAHA reported this figure in its March 2025 article. It reflects survey respondents, not every technician.
Scope of practice comes first
Before a clinic expands what technicians do, it needs to know what they are legally allowed to do. AAHA is direct on this point: what a technician may legally perform depends on the jurisdiction and the state practice act. Its guidance rules out a universal task list that overrides local law. Practices are told to understand the relevant state scope-of-practice requirements and each team member’s abilities before making changes.
Rank #2
Kate Boatright, VMD, made the same case in an AAHA Trends article dated March 11, 2025: “Of all the tasks that happen in the clinic, only four must be exclusively performed by veterinarians: diagnose, prognose, perform surgery, and write prescriptions. The rest can—and should—be delegated to other members of the team.” The same article advises practices to consult each state’s practice act. Treat her statement as an editorial view rather than a legal rule. The article carries a disclaimer that it does not represent AAHA’s official stance or endorsement.
Where AAHA suggests clinics start
AAHA’s guideline summary says practices building a utilization plan should prioritize three areas:
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- Surgery and anesthetic procedures
- Telehealth and teletriage
AAHA advises writing detailed plans around protocols the team has agreed on, then training everyone on how those protocols work in practice. The scope of each area still depends on local rules, so a duty that a technician performs in one state may need a different arrangement elsewhere.
Practice type changes the picture
AAHA notes that emergency and specialty settings may have more stratification of roles than general practices. In practice, that means responsibility levels can differ noticeably between a referral hospital and a primary-care clinic, even when both employ credentialed technicians with similar training. Boatright’s March 2025 article makes the same point, recommending that technician responsibility levels reflect practice type, experience and training.
Rank #4
AAHA’s tools for clinics
AAHA publishes implementation resources that move from broad principles to team conversations. The table below summarizes the three most relevant items.
| Resource | Published | What it provides |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 AAHA Technician Utilization Guidelines | September 30, 2023 | Role-based workflows, utilization assessments, goal worksheets, skill-level examples, case studies and open questions for staff conversations |
| Veterinary Technician Utilization Toolkit (2024) | November 13, 2024 | Materials on healthy workplace culture, trust, title protection, client handouts, role clarity and a customizable career progression chart; downloadable |
| “From the Guidelines: 3 ways to improve technician utilization” (Kate Boatright, VMD, AAHA Trends) | March 11, 2025 | Guidance on role delegation and advancement, tied to practice type, experience, training and the state practice act |
Questions to ask your clinic
Pet owners rarely see the staffing decisions behind a visit, but a few direct questions can reveal how a clinic uses its team:
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match- Which credentials do the technicians caring for my pet hold, and what does each one allow in this state? Title and scope rules are set locally, so the job title alone does not answer this.
- Who completes the initial assessment, and who makes the diagnostic and prescribing decisions?
- If the clinic offers telehealth or teletriage calls, who handles them, and under what protocol?
- During anesthesia or surgery, who monitors my pet, and what is the technician’s role in that monitoring?
- Does the clinic have written role descriptions for technicians and a defined path for advancement?
Optional further reading for team members
For technicians who want to explore leadership more broadly, John Wiley & Sons published Leadership and Business for Veterinary Professionals by Elizabeth (Beth) Stark and Ann-Marie Montou, first published February 2, 2026 (print ISBN 9781394325337). Wiley describes it as covering leadership, communication, team dynamics, career development and business fundamentals, including technicians stepping into leadership. It is broader than the episode’s focus on utilization, and it is not an AAHA publication or an episode-endorsed text.
The Bottom Line
The episode’s core argument is that technician careers and clinic performance depend on using the training technicians already have, within the limits of each state’s practice act. For pet owners, the useful takeaway is to ask how roles are defined at your clinic rather than assuming the team is organized a particular way.
Quick Recap
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