WHAT IS AN ALLIED
VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL?
The term Allied Veterinary Professional is a broad term defining non-veterinarians who work within the veterinary sector. There are actually many types of animal healthcare workers including veterinary professionals, allied animal healthcare professionals, and paraprofessionals.
What is the difference between these roles?
See Roles and Responsibilities for information on how the various roles differ in the animal healthcare team.
What is the difference between a professional and a paraprofessional?
A professional is qualified, broadly skilled, and engaged in the profession as their job. They are responsible for their own continuing education and professional registration. They have a lot of autonomy and responsibility in their job role.
A paraprofessional is trained or qualified to assist a professional, working in a supportive role, handling basic patient care needs that are delegated to them by veterinary nurses, technicians, and veterinarians. A formal qualification is not required to work in a paraprofessional role and there is no requirement to complete continuing education or professional registration (although these are highly recommended to improve effectiveness, and job satisfaction).
Veterinary nurses and technicians are professionals. Animal healthcare assistants are paraprofessionals.
In terms of consistency, and achieving the best outcomes for animal welfare, the public interest, and the veterinary industry, it is beneficial to have all of these professions under one regulatory framework so there is consistency and efficiency in developing and enforcing standards of education and practice.
Where did the term allied veterinary professional come from?
When we created the name for the AVPRC, we first started with wanting to follow naming conventions for the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, so we considered Veterinary Nursing Council of New Zealand - but that name wasn’t inclusive of the technicians, or all of the other animal healthcare practitioners in the sector. However, we soon found out a title representing everyone would make a name that was far TOO long! Imagine this: Veterinary Nursing, Veterinary Technology, and Allied Animal Healthcare Regulatory Council (yikes)
As a result, we looked to naming conventions from human healthcare. In human healthcare, doctors and nurses are professionals in their own right, and allied healthcare workers are distinctly different with a narrower scope of practice (e.g. radiography technicians, phlebotomists, anaesthesia technicians, etc). We felt combining the terms ‘professional’ and ‘allied’ into one would make it more inclusive of both sides of the sector. So, we created the term allied veterinary professional (AVP).
We always knew we were compromising as the title doesn’t technically include nurses as ‘nurses’ are not actually ‘allied’ workers and vice versa. We also considered that the term ‘veterinary’ should be limited to those who hold formal qualifications with the title. However, the title has taken hold and is now being used overseas in some places!
In summary: the AVP title is taking on a life of its own and is now used to talk about any animal healthcare worker including veterinary professionals (nurses and technicians), animal healthcare professionals (physios, rehab techs, equine dental techs), and paraprofessionals including healthcare assistants.