VTS (ECC): Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians

NAVTA's description of the academy is pointed: AVECCT certifies technicians to assure the profession and the public that they possess the knowledge and experience to work effectively in well-equipped and well-staffed emergency or critical care facilities.

The academy's own constitution frames the discipline as the nursing care and management of the emergent and critically ill veterinary patient.

Both matter for the application, because the material you submit is judged against that setting: the case log must document cases that meet the Academy's definition of emergency and critical care, and the exam is written to evaluate knowledge in the field.

AVECCT's application page sets the floor at a minimum of 8000 hours working in ECC over the past 5 years, raised from the previous 6000-hour requirement after the academy's membership voted the change through.

Two planning points follow.

First, the window is a look-back: the hours have to fall inside the past 5 years, so old shifts do not rescue a thin recent history.

Second, the hours and your license have to line up — applicants must provide licenses for all licensed years during the work-experience period, with no breaks in licensure.

A licensing gap inside the window is therefore as much of a problem as missing hours, and the CE requirement draws on the same 5-year period.

Start with Part A, the pre-application: it opens November 1 and is due March 31, and it carries the work history and hours, license history, continuing education, and 2 letters of reference.

Only applicants who pass the pre-application phase go on to Part B, due October 31, which adds the hands-on evidence: a skills list of 26 core skills (all required) and 16 advanced skills (8 of the 16 completed), a case log of 50 acceptable cases that meet the Academy's definition of emergency and critical care, and four case reports of no more than five pages each, double spaced.

The CE bar is 50 CEU over the past 5 years.

Part A is a document check you can prepare in advance; Part B is the case-heavy half, and the two halves need different lead times.

Passing Part B leads to the certifying exam, which the academy describes as a comprehensive 200-question multiple-choice test with no practical portion at this time.

The phrase at this time is worth noticing — the format is the academy's current one, not a permanent promise, so confirm the format when you apply.

Once certified, the credential is kept through recertification: the academy's constitution requires completion of sixty (60) continuing education units/points per five-year period.

The exam is a single event; the recertification cycle is a 5-year habit, so keep a running CE record from the day you certify.

Read the numbers above as a snapshot taken on September 23, 2026, because AVECCT's requirements are mid-transition.

The application page states that the academy's membership voted through requirement changes that go into effect for the upcoming application cycle, and that applicants already preparing Part B of a current application, due October 31, 2026, are not affected since their Part A was accepted; anyone who has to submit a fresh Part A will be required to comply with the changes.

The raised experience and CE figures come from that application page, while the case-log, case-report and recertification figures are carried in the academy's constitution and bylaws — an older document.

Before you plan an application year around any figure here, confirm it against AVECCT's current application packet.