111 | Not utilising veterinary nursing skills is costing your clinic THOUSANDS. Here’s what to do about it (ft Alyssa Mages, CVT, FVTE)

Did you know that burnout among veterinary nurses and technicians costs clinics hundreds of thousands a year?

Yep - that’s right.

The impact that comes with not utilising our skills, not recognising our professional role, and not empowering veterinary nurses to give great care is much further-reaching than we think.

It’s a global issue, affecting veterinary nurses and technicians everywhere - and we have increasing evidence to show what happens when clinics REALLY utilise their nursing/technician team’s skills properly.

In today’s episode of the Medical Nursing Podcast, I’m joined by Alyssa Mages, CVT, FVTE. Alyssa and I sat down for a really important conversation - about the challenges veterinary technicians are facing in the US, and how this compares to the challenges veterinary nurses are facing in the UK.

Alyssa came to London Vet Show last year to give a talk on this topic, and as soon as I heard her, I knew we needed to have this discussion on the podcast, too.

While there are individual differences in what we can do, and what our legal titles are, the similarities in our daily roles, and the challenges that come with them, are so much bigger than our differences.

Wherever you are in the world, I know you’ll get so much value from this conversation.

Here are the most important stats we mentioned in the episode - and you’ll find all of the references below.

The real cost of underutilising veterinary nurses and technicians

According to recent studies, when vets spent more time on tasks that could be delegated to nurses/technicians, clinics made less money. And on top of that, hiring additional credentialled technicians/nurses increases practice revenue - by $80–93k per technician on average, though some studies show increases in clinic revenue by $300k+.So we know that fully utilising our skills has a direct financial benefit to our practices.But we also know it’s a significant ongoing issue. In fact, Vivian et al. (2022, The Veterinary Nurse) found that VN skill utilisation in small animal practice remains significantly below what nurses are trained and qualified to do.

So we know our clinics NEED to utilise our skills - but what happens when they don’t?

Burnout is so much more than ‘just’ working too many hours, not taking breaks, and neglecting self-care. Sure, all of that is part of it, but it can happen to anyone, regardless of the hours you’ve worked.And the reason for that is that not being empowered to provide the care you want to, being trained to do more than you’re ‘allowed’ to do in pratice, and the ongoing impact of underutilisation and lack of recognition, all significantly increase burnout risk in VNs/VTs.So much so, in fact, that we have over double the burnout risk of the general population.

According to the evidence, underutilisation is one of the strongest risk factors for burnout in VNs/VTs, alongside workload, pay, and staffing.

And, on top of this, utilising skills, feeling valued, and working with autonomy all decrease burnout risk - and improve retention.To improve this, we need to take a bigger role in advocating for ourselves, telling our clinics what we need, ensuring our clinic values align with our own, using evidence to make the case for increased skill utilisation, and working as a team to lift the people around us.

Everything gets better when we work together, and the evidence to support this is really clear.

When nurses and technicians contribute to shared decision-making, care quality increases significantly and caregiver education improves.Caregiver adherence to treatment plans also improves when nurses/technicians are involved in appointments.And on top of this, access to care improves. In fact, one study found caregivers would seek veterinary care earlier if able to access nurses/technicians in person or via telemedicine appointments.And all of this increases client satisfaction, patient care, practice workload and efficiency, and clinic revenue.

Your career is yours to shape - you’re in the driving seat. 

There’s a growing shift happening across our profession - nurses and technicians aren’t just waiting to be given permission to do more. We’re speaking up, standing taller, asking for what we want, and making change happen. And that change happens more effectively when we work together.

Did you enjoy this episode? If so, I’d love to hear what you think. Take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram (@vetinternalmedicinenursing) so I can give you a shout-out and share it with a colleague who’d find it helpful!

Thanks for learning with me this week, and I’ll see you next time!

About Alyssa

Alyssa Mages, CVT, FVTE is a Certified Veterinary Technician, a Fellow of Veterinary Technician Education, the CVO at Empowering Veterinary Teams, an international speaker, trainer, educator, advocate and all-around awesome human. She’s pushing for real change in our profession, and I’d really encourage you to check out what she shares and learn more from her. You can learn more about Alyssa, and Empowering Veterinary Teams, here.

References and Further Reading

• Boursiquot, N. et al. (2023). AAHA Technician Utilization Guidelines. AAHA.

• BVNA (2024). Maximising the RVN role under current legislation. BVNA.

• Chapman, AJ. et al. (2025). Workplace Strategies to Reduce Burnout in Veterinary Nurses and Technicians: A Delphi Study. Animals, 15(1257). 

• Janke, N. et al. (2022). Veterinary technicians contribute to shared decision-making during companion animal veterinary appointments. JAVMA, 260(15).

• Jeffery, A. & Taylor, E. (2022). Veterinary nursing in the UK: Identifying factors that influence retention. Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

• Kogan, LR. et al. (2020). Veterinary technicians and occupational burnout. Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

• Niemiec, R. et al. (2024). Veterinary and pet owner perspectives on addressing access to veterinary care. Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

• Ouedraogo, FB. et al. (2022). Nonveterinarian staff increase revenue and improve veterinarian productivity. JAVMA, 260(8).

• RCVS (2025). Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Exit Survey 2022–2024.

• Shock, DA. et al. (2020). The economic impact that registered veterinary technicians have on Ontario veterinary practices. CVJ, 61.

• Vet Med Today (2010). Contribution of veterinary technicians to veterinary business revenue, 2007. JAVMA, 236(8).

• Vivian, SR. et al. (2022). Veterinary nurse skill utilisation in small animal practice. The Veterinary Nurse, 13(6).