A licsensed veteritnarian can call oneself a specialist only if one has passed recognized USA board certification in that fieds of expertise.

In favor of the proposed changes relating to use of the term “specialist.” 

Too many vets out there are telling clients they are a specialist when they have not gone thru the training and schooling and the general public believes them without realizing there is a HUGE difference. 

excellent idea as this will prevent misunderstanding by the public when someone decides they are a "specialist". This will protect the public. 

I just wanted to remind the board that there are 11 academies that recognize Veterinary Technician Specialists. The wording of the new definition should not prevent the Technician Specialists from identifying themselves as "Technician Specialists."  A definition could also include a restriction preventing technicians without the proper credentials from identifying themselves as Technician Specialists.

Definition of specialist should be:

""Specialist" means a veterinarian who has been awarded board certificatoin status by a specialty organization recognized by the American Board of Veterinary Specialties of the American Veterinary Medical Association, or any other organization approved by the board and been awarded certification status."

This ensures that those that complete [majority of] criteria though do not pass all examinations, complete a publication, etc are unable to identify as specialist til such time, board certification is awarded by the college itself.

~Danielle T. Russ

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The proposed wording seems to leave out that one is required to pass the national exam before they can call themselves a specialist.

Danielle is correct in pointing out that not just the training but the certification is also important. There are many veterinarians that have gone through internship and residency training (especially with all of the private practice programs, corporate and otherwise, out there today) that have never completely fulfilled their requirements and actually become board certified. Many of these non-board certified, residency trained individuals practice in multispecialty hospitals (especially in corporate and private specialty hospitals) where they are treated as "specialists" and clients are never made aware of their lack of credentials. This brings up another point altogether, and subsequently another term that should be defined in the regulatory statutes. The term "board certified" is a term that can also lead to confusion either by virtue of ommission or when used alone to describe a doctor's qualifications. For example, clients may inquire about a doctors credentials prior to agreeing to have surgical services provided. The question may be phrased "Are you board certified?", and subsequently, can be answered in the affirmative by a doctor that is either a diplomate of the ACVS or a diplomate of the ACVP. However, the client may never know that these two doctors are not equally qualified to provide the surgical services in question. The term may also be omitted during the initiation of a referral. For example, a general practice veterinarian wanting to refer a client to another general practice veterinarian for surgery may say "I'm referring you to a surgeon". The client may not even think to inquire about said veterinarians credentials/qualifications, assuming that their veterinarian is referring them to a board certified surgeon.          

I think this limitation is overly restrictive.  The term "Board Certified" already exists. 

I completely agree that the term "specialist" needs to be defined, but I disagree with the proposed wording that states:  ["Specialist" means a veterinarian who has completed the requirements to become a diplomate of a specialty organization recognized by the American Board of Veterinary Specialties of the American Veterinary Medical Association, or any other organization approved by the board.].  Per comments made by Jeff Stallings and Danielle Russ, the definition should state that the specialist is board-certified as a diplomate of a specialty organization.  There are a number of residency-trained, but not board-certified individuals ("Practice limited to internal medicine" is an example) practicing at specialty private and corporate practices.  Animal owners are charged the same fees by these practices for the services of the non-board-certified "specialists" as the board-certified specialists, and are unaware of the distinction.

I am mostly in agreement.  Item three should not be unprofessional behaviour as there are different levels of training.  Molly Mittens Mom stated that there is no definitiof board eligeble.  The specialtie groups do have a definition for this.  You must have completed all requirements to sit for the board exam and have a letter from the board thay you are approved to take the exam.  If you do not pass you are no board eligeble until you have gone through the process of getting approval to test again.  These terms help distinguish from a person who recently grauduated and someone who has put in significant effort to gain experience in a specialty field.  Board certification is wonderful but the other terms do show greater competency than just a GP with little experince in a focused area.  I think it is more to protect the board certified vets vs the public.

I'm sure we should have boarded individuals only referred to as specialist. I think there are some very experienced vetes that can be referred to as special in certain areas of vet medicine

There is a distinct difference between "Residency Trained", "Board Eligible" and "Board Certified".  Only persons who have achieved the latter are recognized as "Specialists" by the AVMA American Board of Veterinary Specialties.  Virginia law should mirror the definition of the term to match verbage stated by the AVMA: "A veterinary specialist is a veterinarian who has completed additional training in a specific area of veterinary medicine and has passed an examination that evaluates their knowledge and skills in that specialty area:"

This distinction is certainly developed for protection of the public.  Owners ultimately decide the level of expertise/experince they expect from their practitioner.  It is in their best interest to avoid being mislead by nebulous terminology.  

I am in favor of recognizing the increasing number of Specialist LVTs by providing a definition in the State Regulations

Respectfully,

 

 

I fully support limiting the term specialist where board certification is available.  As a holistic veterinarian, however, the problem becomes the lack of ability to obtain a recognized certification.  I, thankfully, do not have specially in my facility's name, but what I do is to specialize in alternative care.  Where does this leave those of us practicing acupuncture and the like?  

Use of the term "specialist" is defined by the American Veterinary Medical Association.   Section III. e. and f. under The Principles with Supporting Annotations" of the Principals of Veterinary Medical Ethics of the AVMA state:  "Veterinarians should use only the title of the professional degree that was awarded by the school of veterinary medicine where the degree was earned. All veterinarians may use the courtesy titles Doctor or Veterinarian.  It is unethical for veterinarians to identify themselves as members of an AVMA-recognized specialty organization if such certification has not been awarded and maintained. Only those veterinarians who have been certified by an AVMA-recognized veterinary specialty organization should refer to themselves as specialists."

I am not aware of any veterinarian using this title except those defined above and those in corporate owned veterinary hospitals, many of which are not board certified.  I believe the title is a marketing tool used by these corporations to distinguish their veterinarians as "special" compared to other veterinarians, whether their "specialists" are board certified or not. Currently, the public has difficulty understanding the difference between a veterinarian and a board certified veterinarian.  A third title used in the Commonwealth of Virginia creates more confusion and the majority of clients will not appreciate the difference between a "specialist" and a board certified veterinarian.  A veterinarian's biography on a clinic's website is the appropriate place explaining any advanced training or special interests in a particular field of medicine a veterinarian may have.

Who in the Commonwealth of Virginia determines whether a veterinarian may use the term "specialist" and what rules, procedures and examinations are currently in place to ensure the title is used appropriately? Board certified human physicians rarely use extra letters behind their names identifying them as a diplomat and usually place only "MD" after their names.  The use of the title "specialist" other than an AVMA board certified veterinarian is unethical and an extraneous title which means nothing.?

 

 

 

https://www.avma.org/professionaldevelopment/education/specialties/pages/default.aspx https://www.avma.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/Education/Specialties/Documents/ABVS%20FAQs.pdf http://veterinaryspecialtycare.com/faq.php https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/AVMA-Guidelines-on-the-Identification-of-Board-Certified-Veterinarians.aspx Please have a list of boards used to certify these specialists available to the general public example American College of Zoological Medicine American College of Veterinary Pathologists American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine American College of Veterinary Ophthalmology American College of Veterinary Radiology American College of Veterinary Surgeons