Updated: 2 days ago
Original publication: Oct. 3, 2025 Updated: Oct. 19, 2026
Veterinary nursing is often described by the things vet nurses do: place catheters, administer medications, monitor anesthesia, collect samples, perform treatments. But the work is bigger than the task list.
Nursing is the judgment that connects those actions into care. It is seeing what is changing in a patient, deciding what needs attention first, carrying out and adapting care, evaluating the response, coordinating the team, and making sure the right people know what needs to happen next.
At VEG ER for Pets, that is why we treat nursing as a profession and why veterinary nurse is more than a job title.
For National Veterinary Technician Week, we've put a spotlight on our veterinary nurses, all of whom are credentialed veterinary technicians. In this Q&A with Chief Veterinary Nursing Officer Ken Yagi and the VEG Nursing Council—a group of passionate veterinary nurses and assistants who elevate the conversation and advocate for meaningful change—you’ll learn why veterinary nurses are critical to emergency care and how we’re elevating their role at VEG.
Q&A with Ken Yagi, Chief Veterinary Nursing Officer at VEG ER for Pets
Why does VEG use the title veterinary nurse?
Ken: At VEG, veterinary nurse is a job title reserved for credentialed veterinary technicians. Their CVT, LVT, LVMT, or RVT credential stays visible alongside that title because one doesn’t replace the other.
We’re committed to veterinary nurse because it reflects the professional system we’re building around nursing practice, clinical judgment, growth, and responsibility for patient care. The title has weight because of what stands behind it.
Why are veterinary nurses critical to emergency care at VEG?
Ken: In emergency medicine, minutes matter, and often, so do seconds. Our veterinary nurses are often the ones making sense of a rapidly changing situation. They assess and interpret what they’re seeing, prioritize patient needs, provide nursing care, monitor how patients respond, coordinate across the team, and communicate changes quickly. Their clinical judgment and technical capability help keep patients safe and care moving forward, even in the most intense moments.
VEG Nursing Council: Our veterinary nurses are essential to everything we do in emergency medicine. They’re calm under pressure, quick to act, and always thinking two steps ahead. They see the patient, the family, and the flow of care at the same time. That perspective helps the team anticipate problems, respond sooner, and keep care connected even when the ER is at its busiest.
Veterinary nurses bring clinical knowledge, technical capability, and nursing judgment to every case. They assess patients, recognize changes, perform procedures, coordinate and evaluate care, support families, and work side-by-side with doctors. That nursing perspective helps keep care connected while veterinarians focus on diagnosis, prescribing, prognosis, surgery, and other veterinarian-specific responsibilities.
What do most people not realize about this role at VEG?
Ken: They exercise nursing judgment, make nursing care decisions within the medical plan, coordinate complex patient care, take ownership of nursing interventions and procedures, and guide families through some of their hardest days. We want every veterinary nurse practicing to the full extent of their credential, lawful scope, and demonstrated capability, with advanced pathways available where law, training, and clinical governance support them.
VEG Nursing Council: Many people don’t realize how much ownership and trust veterinary nurses have at VEG. Nurses are deeply involved in patient care, nursing decisions, and advocacy for patients and families. Their voices are heard, and there’s real opportunity to keep growing how they contribute.
All VEG veterinary nurses are credentialed veterinary technicians who have met the education, examination, and credentialing requirements applicable to their jurisdiction. And because there is always a focus on growth here, they continue developing their knowledge and capability through programs such as Cultivate.
What would you say to someone considering becoming a vet nurse at VEG?
Ken: If you want to become the kind of nurse who can walk into a chaotic ER, see what matters, make good nursing decisions, and know your team trusts your judgment, VEG is a place where you can build that capability. You’ll be surrounded by teammates who back you up and leaders who believe in what you can become. It’s hard work but it’s meaningful, and you’ll never be bored.
VEG Nursing Council: Come see it for yourself! There are endless reasons why we would support this—the culture of learning, the freedom, the open concept . . . all of it! If you’re looking for a place where you can grow, be challenged, and truly make a difference, this is it. VEG recognizes the value of veterinary nurses and gives you the space to use your full range of skills. You’ll be surrounded by a team that supports you, trusts you, and wants to see you succeed. Shadow a VN and spend time in VEG. See what we do and how we do it—we're here to help!
What message would make VEG veterinary nurses feel most seen and appreciated?
Ken: We see how much you give. Your skill, your heart, your grit. You show up for patients, for families, and for each other, no matter how hard the day gets. Your value isn’t measured only by how much more the team can accomplish because you’re there. Nursing itself changes what patients and families experience. The care is better because of you. The experience is better because of you. You are the reason families trust us with what matters most.
VEG Nursing Council: Thank you! We see how hard you work and the way you show up for your team and patients—even on the toughest days. You make a difference, not only through your skills, but also through your compassion and your presence. You are so appreciated, not only during National Veterinary Technician Week, but at every shift!
What’s new or evolving in the way VEG is elevating the nursing role?
Ken: We’re getting much more deliberate about what professional nursing practice looks like at VEG and building the systems around it. That means defining how nurses assess and interpret patients, prioritize and plan care, provide care, monitor and evaluate response, coordinate across the team, and communicate.
We’re connecting that practice to capability development, career progression, leadership, and advanced nursing pathways. We’re also continuing the broader profession-building work around credentialing, title protection, appropriate utilization, lawful scope advancement, and professional recognition.
The goal isn’t simply to give veterinary nurses more tasks. It’s to build a profession in which nurses can develop real mastery, take meaningful responsibility for nursing care, and build lifelong careers.
VEG Nursing Council: You can feel that something is changing. There are more opportunities to grow, lead, mentor, and help shape what nursing becomes here. It’s exciting to see veterinary nurses not only developing their own careers, but helping build the future of the profession.
That is the future we are building: veterinary nurses who can explain what nursing is, practice it with mastery, take responsibility for it, teach it to others, and keep pushing the profession forward.
The title is part of that future. The profession behind it is the real work.
