• A total of 16 hours of continuing education credits is required in order to maintain Colorado Veterinary Technician Certification for each two-year period. Certification periods run from July 1 to June 30 in even-numbered years (e.g., July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2008).
• New graduates or transfers in the second year of the two-year cycle (after June 30th) are required to obtain 8 hours. People testing in January of the even-numbered year are required to obtain 4 hours.
• There is no carryover of hours from one certification period to another. If there is a delinquent amount of CE from a previous certification period, those hours must be completed prior to obtaining current certification hours.
• CACVT's CE Committee has the right to approve or disallow any submitted credits.
• To submit your CE hours, please fill out and return the CE Submittal Form. No certificates are required at this time (do retain all certificates in case you are "audited").

NOTE: All CE is due on or before June 30, 2008 regardless of when you joined CACVT.

KEY: Credits = hours = CE hours = 1 physical hour
One hour of CE credit is granted for: 1 hour of lecture OR 2 hours of wet lab classes

Guidelines for Accepted CEContinuing education (CE) may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the following pre-approved courses:

Technical Category
Technical topics are topics that are medically orientated, at the technician or veterinarian level, and interactive -primarily for online classes (can you get your questions answered?). At least half of the required hours must be from the technical category, but you can have all your hours from this category if you wish.

• State Association lectures offered by CACVT, CVMA, DAVMS, and State VMA's, and any courses already approved by the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
• National Association lectures offered by associations listed in the AVMA directory, examples include NAVTA, AAHA, AALAS, AVMA, ACVIM, etc.
• Corporate Product lectures. For Example, Hill's, Heska test result classes, Intervet vaccine update, IDEXX, etc.
• Courses offered by AVMA-recognized schools.
• College Courses (animal related only) lectures that are 200 level or above. For example, animal nutrition, artificial insemination, herd health, animal anatomy, etc. Courses are granted credits equal to the number that the college gives (e.g., a 3 credit course = 3 CE credits).
• Distance Learning or Internet classes which are directed at, and applicable to, the veterinary professional level and where there is direct interaction with an instructor (through bulletin boards or chat rooms).

Supportive Category
Supportive topics are any topics that are not technical. These are not mandatory (e.g., you do not have to have supportive hours), but can account for up to half of your required CE hours (e.g., up to 8 hours of the required 16):

• Non-Veterinary Association lectures. For example, Association of Animal Control Officers (AACO), Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN), Colorado Association of Continuing Medical Laboratory Education (COCMLE), Humane Societies, etc.
• Correspondence courses and journal articles. For example Veterinary Technician, NAVTA, or Compendium journals where tests are completed and sent back to the journal. The journal will then send a certificate of CE hours obtained, which can be submitted to CACVT. Video courses or website courses where there is no interaction with an instructor will fall into this category. Documentation must be available by the group offering the CE program.
• Practice Management lectures by established management groups. For example, Veterinary Hospital Management Association, AAHA practice management, etc. that are directly applied to the veterinary field.
• Emergency-Disaster Preparedness lectures.
• Behavior lectures.
• CACVT Chapter Meetings where additional CE is not offered. Four chapter meetings = one CE credit.

Out-of-state CE.

• CACVT accepts out-of-state CE.

RACE-approved CE

• Currently CACVT accepts RACE-approved CE. Credits are calculated on a one-to-one basis (i.e., one RACE credit equals one CE credit for CACVT). RACE (Registry of Approved Continuing Education) is a CE-approval system through the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB)

No CE Credit will be given for the following:

• Attending exhibit halls or spending time monitoring a booth.
• Reading any kind of educational material unless there is a designed testing process that accompanies it (See SUPPORTIVE CATEGORY: CORRESPONDENCE COURSES AND JOURNAL ARTICLES).
• Any computer skills classes (such as Excel) or any college courses that are not directly related to veterinary medicine. We recognize that you need these for your job, but they are job development not veterinary CE.
• Speaking/lecturing engagements. This is something you have chosen to pursue. While we recognize you may learn while preparing, this is part of the process and not direct veterinary CE.
• Any training for new or upgrading of equipment.
• AAHA Practice evaluation of clinic.

If you are providing a CE class and would like CE approval by CACVT, click here for a form to fill out and send to CACVT.

Disclaimer
CACVT will provide certification status to any inquiring party. This will be limited to date joined, current status, and number of CE hours obtained. Personal information will not be given out.