Virginia Association of Licensed Veterinary Technicians

Learn more about the 2026 Fall Conference lectures and labs!
This page will be continuously updated as we receive additional session descriptions from the speakers.

	Shock & Awww...Stabilization of the Small Animal Emergency Patient: Description Coming Soon!
	Block that Pain! Pain Management for the Dental Patient: Pain management is more than the latest popular terminology. It is an important part of veterinary dentistry. Many procedures performed on animals are painful, and it is our duty as technicians to ensure our patients are as comfortable as possible. Administering local nerve blocks before many dental procedures or oral surgery is an effective way to provide preemptive analgesia. This can often be incorporated into a multimodal pain-control plan.
	Seatbelts, Everyone! A Field Trip Through the Equine Stomach: Hop aboard for a "field trip" through the equine stomach as we follow the gastroscopy journey from start to finish. We'll cover how to prepare clients and patients for the procedure, share practical tips and tricks for successful scoping, and explore what we see along the way, from normal anatomy to common gastric lesions. Through real case examples and before-and-after images, we'll discover how gastroscopy guides diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. Packed with practical advice and plenty of visuals, this session is designed to help veterinary technicians feel more confident assisting with equine gastroscopy.
	Rabies Sample Collection Lab: Description Coming Soon!
	Bandaging Lab: Description Coming Soon!

	Gut Instinct: The LVT's Role in GI Emergencies: Advanced Nursing Care of the Small Animal GI Emergency Patient - GI emergencies can deteriorate rapidly, making skilled veterinary nursing essential to successful patient outcomes. This advanced session explores the LVT's role in the assessment, stabilization, monitoring, and ongoing management of small animal patients with critical gastrointestinal disease. Using common emergencies including acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome (AHDS), pancreatitis, gastroenteritis, gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), parvovirus, and more. Participants will learn practical nursing strategies to recognize patient deterioration, anticipate complications, prioritize interventions, and provide high-level supportive care. From initial triage through hospitalization and recovery, this session will provide practical, evidence-based tools and nursing considerations that LVTs can take directly back to their emergency or specialty practice.
	Wounds, Wounds, Wounds: Description Coming Soon!
	Hay, that Looks like an Emergency! A Vet Tech's Guide to Equine Emergencies: Horses seem to have a knack for getting themselves into all sorts of problematic situations. This session is an overview on how to be prepared for emergencies when they occur and an overview of the most common equine emergencies that we see in practice. You'll learn how to assess and triage emergency situations, understand when immediate veterinary care is needed, and be better prepared to act quickly and confidently to help our equine patients.
	Nerve Block Lab, Session 1: Pain management is more than the latest popular terminology. It is an important part of veterinary dentistry. Many procedures performed on animals are painful, and it is our duty as technicians to ensure our patients are as comfortable as possible. Administering local nerve blocks before many dental procedures or oral surgery is an effective way to provide preemptive analgesia. This can often be incorporated into a multimodal pain-control plan.
	AFAST Ultrasound Lab, Session 1: This wetlab goes over the basic AFAST & includes imaging of the five big organs, including common pathology.

	Sepsis: When Defense Becomes Destruction: Pathophysiology, Recognition & Advanced Nursing Care - This session will explore the pathophysiology of sepsis and connect these physiologic changes to the clinical signs observed in the clinic. Participants will learn practical strategies for early recognition, patient assessment, perfusion monitoring, fluid therapy, antimicrobial support, vasopressor therapy, lactate monitoring, nutritional support, and identification of progressive organ dysfunction. Designed for veterinary technicians and nurses working with critically ill patients, this session will provide practical, evidenced-based tools to recognize sepsis sooner, anticipate patient deterioration, and deliver advanced nursing care throughout hospitalization.
	When Bandages Go Wrong: Description Coming Soon!
	Nerve Block Lab, Session 2: Pain management is more than the latest popular terminology. It is an important part of veterinary dentistry. Many procedures performed on animals are painful, and it is our duty as technicians to ensure our patients are as comfortable as possible. Administering local nerve blocks before many dental procedures or oral surgery is an effective way to provide preemptive analgesia.This can often be incorporated into a multimodeal pain-control plan.
	AFAST Ultrasound Lab, Session 2: This wetlab goes over the basic AFAST & includes imaging of the five big organs, including common pathology.

	Heart Work is Hard Work: This is a general cardiology overiew. It covers common cardiac diseases, diagnostics, and technician application.
	Advanced Dental Procedures: Options to Extractions: Oral disease is among the most prevalent conditions in dogs and cats. 80% of adult dogs and 70% of adult cats have some form of oral disease. Unfortunately, that leads to the extraction of teeth that may have been saved. It is vital to offer the client the option of treatment via referral to a veterinary dental specialist. Owners want what is in their pets' best interests but may not be aware of alternative treatment options. Remember to never judge what your clients will be willing to do for their pets.
	Emergent Large Animal Diseases & Lab Testing: Description Coming Soon!
	ECC Skills Lab, Session 1: Take your emergency & critical care skills to the next level with this hands-on wet lab designed to build confidence with procedures commonly encountered in the small animal emergency setting. Taught by Rachel Cepelak and Rachel Scott, both Veterinary Technician Specialists in Emergency & Critical Care (VTS-ECC), this interactive lab combines their years of clincial experience and advanced training in university and specialty hospital environments with practical instruction you can immediately bring back to your home clinic. Participants will work through essential emergency procedures in a supportive, skill-focused environment, emphasizing technique, patient safety, troubleshooting, and practical tips from experienced ECC nurses. Skills Covered: Male Cat Urinary Unblocking - Develop hands-on proficiency with catheter placement & techniques for managing feline urethral obstruction Central Venous Catheter Placement - Learn practical techniques for central line placement, including patient preparation, catheter placement, and troubleshooting common challenges. Femal Urinary Catheter Placement - Build confidence with female urinary catheterization using practical techniques designed to improve efficiency and patient comfort. This wet lab is designed for veterinary technicians and nurses who want to strengthen their procedural skills, gain confidences with challenging emergency patients, and return to their practice ready to put these techniques into action. Come ready to get hands-on, ask questions, and level up your ECC skills set!
	Avian Hematology Pre-Lab Lecture: In this pre-workshop lecture, attendees will recieve an introduction to the fundamentals of avian hematology. Topics will include proper sample collection and processing techniques, basic hematologic analysis, manual cell counting methods, and complete blood count (CBC) procedures for avian patients. Participants will also learn to recognize normal and abnormal cell morphology, identify common blood parasites, and detect other hematologic abnormalities encountered in avian species.

	The End-Tidal Truth...No Cap...nography, Part I: Take an exciting dive into veterinary capnography beginning with atmospheric gases & progressing through alveolar anatomy, ventilation, & respiration before exploring capnography, what it is, how it works, & why it is such a valuable monitoring tool. We will review capnography waveforms, discuss what they can tell us about our patients, & learn how to troubleshoot when things don't look quite right.
	Controlled Substances: What do Technicians Need to Know!: Whether you are ordering and monitoring controlled substances in your practice or administering them, it is essential to understand the relevant rules and regulations. This knowledge will not only benefit you and your practice but also protect you from potential problems. Understanding controlled substance regulations can empower technicians with the knowledge to evaluate and improve controlled substance handling in practice. Technicians should take an active role in creating and implementing effective controlled-substance protocols and be vigilant in enforcing them within their practice.
	Small Ruminant Parasite Control: Some of the most common small ruminant appointments and emergencies are due to heavy internal parasite burden. This will cover herd management, tell tale symptons, treatment protocols, and ensuring the client is also part of the team. You know how to read fecals and discern an egg from an artifact, this session will add more tools your small ruminant parasite management toolbox.
	ECC Skills Lab, Session 2: Take your emergency & critical care skills to the next level with this hands-on wet lab designed to build confidence with procedures commonly encountered in the small animal emergency setting. Taught by Rachel Cepelak and Rachel Scott, both Veterinary Technician Specialists in Emergency & Critical Care (VTS-ECC), this interactive lab combines their years of clincial experience and advanced training in university and specialty hospital environments with practical instruction you can immediately bring back to your home clinic. Participants will work through essential emergency procedures in a supportive, skill-focused environment, emphasizing technique, patient safety, troubleshooting, and practical tips from experienced ECC nurses. Skills Covered: Male Cat Urinary Unblocking - Develop hands-on proficiency with catheter placement & techniques for managing feline urethral obstruction Central Venous Catheter Placement - Learn practical techniques for central line placement, including patient preparation, catheter placement, and troubleshooting common challenges. Femal Urinary Catheter Placement - Build confidence with female urinary catheterization using practical techniques designed to improve efficiency and patient comfort. This wet lab is designed for veterinary technicians and nurses who want to strengthen their procedural skills, gain confidences with challenging emergency patients, and return to their practice ready to put these techniques into action. Come ready to get hands-on, ask questions, and level up your ECC skills set!
	Avian Hematology Lab, Part I: This first lab will be focused primarily on the procedures associated with performing manual cell counts utilizing a hemocytometer. Participants will get to practice utilizing the hemocytometer with avian blood samples collected from WVC patients.

	The End-Tidal Truth...No Cap...nography, Part II: Take an exciting dive into veterinary capnography beginning with atmospheric gases & progressing through alveolar anatomy, ventilation, & respiration before exploring capnography, what it is, how it works, & why it is such a valuable monitoring tool. We will review capnography waveforms, discuss what they can tell us about our patients, & learn how to troubleshoot when things don't look quite right.
	Canine Rehabiliation: It's Not Just Exercise: When you hear the words "canine rehabilitation" you may immediately think about a dog performing a series of exercies, however, it's more than that. Rehabilitation is an all-encompassing, multi-modal approach to regain strength and mobility, decrease pain and inflammation, improve overall well-being and quality of life for a variety of conditions, while providing education and guidance to pet owners on how to best support their pets within the home. As a general overview to what rehabilitation is, we will discuss many of the modalities frequently offered in a rehabilitative setting.
	The Pet Pig Farm Call: Pet pigs are an interesting bridge between large animal and companion animal medicine. This session will discuss handling, the annual wellness visit, giving medication, and client education. You will be better prepared and know what to expect when interacting with these intelligent and opinionated "mini" pigs.
	ECC Skills Lab, Session 3: Take your emergency & critical care skills to the next level with this hands-on wet lab designed to build confidence with procedures commonly encountered in the small animal emergency setting. Taught by Rachel Cepelak and Rachel Scott, both Veterinary Technician Specialists in Emergency & Critical Care (VTS-ECC), this interactive lab combines their years of clincial experience and advanced training in university and specialty hospital environments with practical instruction you can immediately bring back to your home clinic. Participants will work through essential emergency procedures in a supportive, skill-focused environment, emphasizing technique, patient safety, troubleshooting, and practical tips from experienced ECC nurses. Skills Covered: Male Cat Urinary Unblocking - Develop hands-on proficiency with catheter placement & techniques for managing feline urethral obstruction Central Venous Catheter Placement - Learn practical techniques for central line placement, including patient preparation, catheter placement, and troubleshooting common challenges. Femal Urinary Catheter Placement - Build confidence with female urinary catheterization using practical techniques designed to improve efficiency and patient comfort. This wet lab is designed for veterinary technicians and nurses who want to strengthen their procedural skills, gain confidences with challenging emergency patients, and return to their practice ready to put these techniques into action. Come ready to get hands-on, ask questions, and level up your ECC skills set!
	Avian Hematology Lab, Part II: In the second lab session, participants will be able to review pre-stained avain blood films to practice cell identification, review morphology differences across avain species, and gain confidence in identifying both normal and abnormal findings.

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Fax: 804-346-2655

Mailing Address:
3801 Westerre Parkway
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Henrico, VA 23233