EP02 Meet the Team - Jen Serling

Vet Tech Talk

On this episode of Vet Tech Talk, we welcome Jen Serling to the studio.

Jen is the assistant program director of the Appalachian State University veterinary technology program.

Dave Blanks:

Welcome, Jen. I'm going to give a little history on you, but I'm glad you're here.

Jen Serling:

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Dave Blanks:

I'm glad you found the place. Thanks for visiting. Jen Serling, you are a credentialed veterinary technician and you have been since 1992. Jen's specialty is large animal nursing. However, she's had quite a bit of experience encompassing all facets of veterinary medicine, and she's been a veterinary technician educator since 2007. Jen, you were also the program director for a veterinary technician school in Tucson, Arizona. And you did that for 11 years, correct?

Jen Serling:

Correct.

Dave Blanks:

All right. I told you I was going to just do your thing-

Jen Serling:

You are.

Dave Blanks:

... And then talk to, but I keep bringing you back into the conversation.

Jen Serling:

It's good.

Dave Blanks:

You're rolling with it good. Now, you've joined Appalachian State University and our program, which we will discuss today. Jen has written two veterinary technician textbooks for bluedoor Publishing on pharmacology and large animal medicine and nursing, as well as contributed to several other textbooks. In addition to teaching and writing, she's a firm believer in giving back to the community and serves on the board of directors for three animal welfare and rescue groups, as well as donating her time to several veterinary charity events throughout the year. And she is the current president for the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators, or the AVTE, and also a founding member of the Academy of Veterinary Technician Specialists in Education, AVTSE, and holds the advanced certification of veterinary technician and education specialist, VTSE. She currently resides in Tucson, right? Correct? [inaudible 00:01:44].

Jen Serling:

Yes. You got it.

Dave Blanks:

All right. In Arizona, she has a dog, she has a cat who we will learn about, and two grown human boys as well. Welcome, Jen Serling.

Jen Serling:

Thank you so much.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah. So, let's start it out by introducing the animals that are in your life.

Jen Serling:

Yes. So, my two favorite animals... Don't tell my children this, although they know it. So, I have this-

Dave Blanks:

Wait, are you saying your children are animals too?

Jen Serling:

Yeah. Well, they're all boys, boys. Yes, they are.

Dave Blanks:

Then they're wild animals.

Jen Serling:

But they accept that. But yeah, so I have a dog and a cat now. I used to have a horse, but I've definitely downsized since then. Yeah. So, my cat, his name is Marshall Meowthers and he's an alley cat that I ended up adopting. Initially, his name was called, not my cat, because he came into the school, he kept showing up in the back door and he would just walk in and make himself at home. And I would take him home on the weekends because I didn't want to leave him at the school, and I'm like, "He's not my cat. He's not my cat." And then the weekend kept expanding longer and longer, and so now, I think four years later, he's not my cat.

Dave Blanks:

Aw. That's awesome.

Jen Serling:

But he's amazing. He's just this big gray alley cat. And then my absolute favorite child is my golden retriever, named Daffy. Yeah. So, she'll be eight this summer and the kids realize she is my absolute favorite child ever.

Dave Blanks:

You can't hide it, right?

Jen Serling:

Yeah. She's dumb as a brick, but she's the best dog ever.

Dave Blanks:

Aren't Golden's supposed to be relatively intelligent?

Jen Serling:

Oh yeah, they are. Not this one. There's air in her skull.

Dave Blanks:

But she's got a good heart, right?

Jen Serling:

Oh, she's the best. She's the sweetest dog ever. I love her.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, Daffy.

Jen Serling:

Yeah. Oh, Daffy.

Dave Blanks:

Well, you're new to the program here at Appalachian State. The program's new. How long have you been on board here at App?

Jen Serling:

So, I started here at App the end of January, so not too very long. I've now kind of feel like I got my feet wet and I'm ready to go. I'm in the groove. Super excited we're starting our first cohort, classes are starting in fall of '22, so the train has left the station. We are barreling. We're ready to go.

Dave Blanks:

Well, so you've had plenty of experience in the world of veterinary medicine, technicians, technology, when did you know that this was going to be your calling?

Jen Serling:

So, it's funny, I started off thinking that I wanted to go to vet school. When you talk to the guidance counselor in high school, they're like, "Oh, you like animals. You like medicine. You like science. Well, you should be a veterinarian." During that time, when I was doing my undergrad, you had to do a certain amount of hours working in a veterinary clinic before you could apply to veterinary school. And I worked as a veterinary assistant at that point, and I'm like, "Wow, you know what? I don't need to go to vet school. This is really what I want to do. This is veterinary nursing and this is cool."

And no one had ever talked to me at that point. That was the late 80s, which is dating me now. But I thought, "Wow, this is a great profession to get into that really nobody talks about." They're like, "Okay, well, if you want to go into veterinary medicine, your only option is to be a veterinarian," and that's not true. There's many other professions in the veterinary healthcare team that kind of play into that. So, I ended up deciding to become a credentialed veterinary technician. And I worked my butt off in the clinics and took my board exams in 1992 and passed my state and my national examinations.

Dave Blanks:

Nice. So, is that a bar type thing? I mean, how much are you studying for this...? Look, full disclosure, the world of veterinary technology and medicine is a new one to me, so I'm learning maybe right along with our listeners. Our listeners are probably better informed than I am. So, can you tell me about that process just as an aside here for a second?

Jen Serling:

Yeah. So, it's kind of interesting. So, back then, and like I said, I was from Arizona, Arizona and certain states at that time, as well, had a grandfather clause. And that instead of going to a vet tech program, like what App State is doing, you could work, it was almost 5,000 hours in a veterinary clinic and study for your exams. And then you could go ahead and sit for the exams as long as you had a certain number of hours. So, that was my initial track. I basically did on the job training and then took my board exams and became credentialed that way. Later on in 2016, I actually went back to tech school. After I had my bachelor's and all that, I actually then went back to tech school because I needed that veterinary technology degree to advance in my career in veterinary education.

Dave Blanks:

Even though you've been doing it for-

Jen Serling:

Even though I've been doing it from umpteen years.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, that's hilarious.

Jen Serling:

What's even funnier, this is so bad, I use one of my books in my reports I had to do for the online school, so I cited my myself.

Dave Blanks:

Wow. That's hilarious.

Jen Serling:

Yeah, it was kind of funny. But what's beautiful about it... There's a very big push now in the veterinary technology profession to really credentialize our standards and push pro education, which I'm 110% for. And what the beauty of kind of my backstory is, is I've done it both ways. I did it without the education and I've done it with the education. And I look back at what I did and learning on the job, I would never want to do that again. And there's something to be said for knowing the "why" behind it and not just... I can teach a monkey to run anesthesia, but to understand why the animal is responding to drugs and gases in a certain way, you can't learn that on the job. You have to get the book smarts behind it.

Dave Blanks:

Understood. Well, that's an interesting perspective that not everybody has. We heard about some of your background as it pertains to veterinary medicine, so how has that journey led you to Appalachian State?

Jen Serling:

So, it was interesting. Like I said, I've been working in the field for a long time and I had gotten my bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and I was recently getting divorced and I'm like, "I love veterinary medicine, but I just don't know feasibility-wise," I had two young kids and I'm like, "You know what, on a whim, let's apply for a job at a veterinary assistant program as a teacher." The hours were good and the pay was good and I'm like, "This makes much more sense as a single mom, so let's do that." So, I went in, and again, I tell this story to my students, because this is how you don't go to apply for jobs. It was summer in Arizona and I was wearing shorts because I was thinking I'm just going to pick up an application, fill it out and be done with it, but actually they chased me down in the parking lot and said, "Can you come in for an interview now?" And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm not dressed for this."

They're like, "It's okay. It's fine." So, they interviewed me that day and hired me the next day to teach their vet assistant program.

Dave Blanks:

Holy Moly.

Jen Serling:

Yeah. And that was back in 2007 and I did that for three years. And then at the school they started a vet tech program and then they promoted me to the director. So, I started that vet tech program, but I fell in love with it. I never imagined if you had told me 20 years ago that this is what I would be doing, I would've laughed. And I'm like, "No, I don't know how to teach. I don't know what I'm doing." And absolutely this is my calling. This is what I'm meant to do. I love working with the students. I love the animals as well, but there's something about being able to give the students this leg up and show them what this incredible profession entails and just the love of science and medicine and nursing. It's amazing.

Dave Blanks:

Did you have a teacher that inspired you while you were going through your educational process after you'd already done all the OTJ stuff? Right? All the on the job. Not really?

Jen Serling:

Not really, no.

Dave Blanks:

This is such an unusual story. You just on a whim, on a Lark.

Jen Serling:

Yeah.

Dave Blanks:

How good was it for your ego when you were walking out and then they hunted you down and were like, "Come back, please"?

Jen Serling:

It felt good because I had been just a stay at home mom for a while and then I'm like, "Oh wait."

Dave Blanks:

Oh, well, hello.

Jen Serling:

So, it was kind of good for the ego.

Dave Blanks:

I'm sure.

Jen Serling:

I had worked with externs before from this particular program, so it wasn't like I was completely going through the yellow pages and going through the Yellow Pages and going "eeny, meeny, miny, moe."So, I'd worked with them before, and so I knew the school existed. And I'm like, "Well, I've worked with them at the clinic, so why not?" Yeah. So, it was fate. Yeah.

Dave Blanks:

So, tell us about the program here at Appalachian State. I guess, how did you come here to App? Did we say that already? We didn't say that yet.

Jen Serling:

No. So, I had left the job as program director. I was like, "You know what? I'd hit 50 and it was time to start kind of looking for a new career." And the pros of the pandemic led a lot of us to kind of discover virtual education and distance education and working from home in our pajama pants. All the pluses from that.

Dave Blanks:

Hey, I'm sorry you had to wear real clothes today. I apologize.

Jen Serling:

And I'm wearing makeup today too. I mean, I went all out today.

Dave Blanks:

You look great.

Jen Serling:

Thank you. Yeah. But it was really neat and I'm like, "You know what? I think it's time for something. I've kind of reached the pinnacle of where I was at, at that position." And so, I had been talking to Dr. Corrigan, Virginia previously, talking to her about starting a program and that kind of stuff. And she had mentioned that they were going to be hiring for the assistant director. And it was kind of funny, the day that I had left the old position was the day that the job posting for App State posted.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, it's fate.

Jen Serling:

Yeah, it was. And I'm like, "I'm on it." I applied for the job and went through a very rigorous interview process and I knew I wanted it. I wanted it so bad. And everything that I was reading and from talking to Virginia, I just fell in love with it. I fell in love with the university. I fell in love with the four year bachelor's degree program. And again, it was just something that I knew I had to do. Yeah.

Dave Blanks:

So, you mentioned the four year bachelor's, so that is different than the previous educational requirement?

Jen Serling:

It is. So, normally to sit for board exams for both the national and some states have their own state exams as well, everybody has to take the Veterinary Technician National Examination, or the VTNE. In order to take those examinations, you have to be a graduate from an AVMA accredited program. Those programs are only two year programs. There are some four year bachelor's degree programs out there, but they're bachelor completion programs and they're not regulated by the AVMA. AVMA just wants us to make sure that we have these core two year standards. And if you want to get a bachelor's on top of it, that's great, but they're not honing in on that. They focus on the two year program.

So, what's unique about the one here is that we're actually going to be the first full four year bachelor's program, meaning that not only are we going to have the core standards that the AVMA requires, but then we are also going to build upon that. So, it's amazing. And that's what's really fun about it. Not only are you learning the AVMA standards, which has dog and cat and exotics and large animal and all that cool stuff, but we're also then once you get beyond that, you can learn practice management, you can learn about public health, you can learn about dentistry as a specialty. So, we're teaching you the core standard material and then beyond that. So, it's really going to allow for our graduates to be really strong in this profession, and really allow them to advocate for themselves and know their own self worth and be out there and just kick butt.

Dave Blanks:

Definitely. Yeah. A more well-rounded individual. So, you told us about the program. Is there more you like to expand on on the program? I know it's fully online. It's a hundred percent online.

Jen Serling:

So, we're going to be hiring some amazing faculty. We're going to be hiring what's called VTSs, or veterinary technician specialists. We're going to be teaching our upper level courses. So, like I mentioned, dentistry, radiology, anesthesiology, they're going to be delivered by people that that's their profession, that's what they do and they are experts at that. But what's also interesting about it is, yes, while the program itself is a hundred percent online, because we are going to be AVMA accredited because we want the grads to go out there and take their board exams, there is also courses that they do have to take in clinics. So, there are hands-on components to the program that they will be doing, whether they live in Boone or whether they live in Tucson, Arizona, or Potomac, Maryland, wherever, they're going to be able to do those hands-on skills wherever they're living.

And if they're already working in a clinic and that clinic meets the qualifications, they can then do some of those skills in the clinics as well. We're also looking to potentially offer what we're going to call fast track labs, where we can also bring students in from all over the country or regionally, and be able to do hands-on skills on horses and cattle and goats and some of the exotics that are a little bit harder for people to procure, to do their lab skills. We're going to try to find sources regionally, so that we can also help achieve those skills as well. Because there's over 200 skills, particularly hands-on skills that the students have to accomplish as well.

Dave Blanks:

Right. Okay. So yeah, it's a hundred percent online, but there's an in person, hands-on component.

Jen Serling:

There is, yes.

Dave Blanks:

It's just that the student can do that where they are.

Jen Serling:

Exactly. Yes.

Dave Blanks:

Right. So, we are going to pull students.. It won't just be the high country of Western North Carolina, we can pull students from wherever they are.

Jen Serling:

World domination. Let's get them from everywhere.

Dave Blanks:

A hundred percent. All right. I love the attitude. I will take a side note here and say, goodness gracious at the acronyms in this. I mean there are enough acronyms in higher education as it is. And now we have all these veterinary acronyms, which are AVMA, VTNE, VTS. There's quite the learning curve for me, but I'm going to figure it out.

Jen Serling:

We'll get you there.

Dave Blanks:

Thank you.

Jen Serling:

Yeah. We're going to work with you.

Dave Blanks:

You are so patient. I mean, I guess you have to be.

Jen Serling:

It's fun. This is what we love to talk about. And all of us here in the department, we're so excited and we love kind of spreading the gospel about this. And all of us will pretty much talk to anybody and try to educate on this profession because it's pretty incredible. And I don't think enough people realize that this is an option.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah, even now. They didn't realize that when you were looking for your calling. Even now, they still might not. So, can you tell me kind of the overarching goal for the program? Can you speak to that?

Jen Serling:

So, one of the things is, and the pandemic has definitely brought it to a national kind of forefront, is that we are in a workforce crisis with both veterinarians and veterinary technicians. So, we are experiencing a shortage. If you look on indeed or any of the job searching sites, I mean you can pull up hundreds of listings for veterinary technicians. They're desperately needed right now. And it's the same thing with veterinarians as well. But what we're focusing on in regards to here is the average kind of lifespan of a veterinary technician is anywhere between about five to seven years, so they don't tend to stick in the field very long. And there's kind of a plethora of reasons for that, but what we want to do is, is we want to focus on how are we going to educate these students? How are we going to give them the tools to go out there to make a good living, to be able to make this a profession and make this their lifelong career and become lifelong learners?

So, that's kind of what we're focusing on in regards to the students and giving them all the tools. And by providing them that advance, that bachelor's degree versus the associate's degree, they're going to be that much more prepared because they're not limiting themselves. And this is what I always try to tell my students is you don't have to be limited to just a small animal general practice. And I think a lot of people kind of get pigeonholed into that thinking, but there's so much more out there. I mean, look at me, I didn't realize that I would become a teacher and now I ran a program, and now I'm working at this major university. I've written textbooks. I mean, there's so much more out there that they can do. They can go into pharmaceuticals.

The USDA is hiring right now for veterinary technicians. You can work in research. I have a former grad that works at Colorado State, working with monkeys and helping with surgeries on primate. I mean, so there's so much more out there if you look at kind of the scope of veterinary technology in general, and that's what this bachelor's degree is going to prepare them for, to go out there and really just become leaders in the community and leaders in the profession.

Dave Blanks:

Taking the average of didn't you say five years?

Jen Serling:

Five to seven years, mm-hmm.

Dave Blanks:

Five to seven to be in their lifetime profession. That's a tall order. And you said there are a variety of reasons why they leave. And I know that giving them the tools that they need to deal with some of the more powerful or emotional moments is also part of the program as well.

Jen Serling:

Yes.

Dave Blanks:

Self care. Can you talk to me lastly, so we're going to wrap up with this. We're kind of getting down to the core of why you care about this, the human-animal bond. So, do you have a story where you had a close connection with an animal, you had a bond with an animal? And what did that mean to you?

Jen Serling:

So, very early on in my career, I worked at a general practice in a certain area of Tucson.

Dave Blanks:

You were born in Tucson?

Jen Serling:

No, I'm actually a DC girl.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, are you really?

Jen Serling:

Yeah, I'm an East Coast girl. That's a whole nother story why ended up on the...

Dave Blanks:

That'll be the next.

Jen Serling:

My dad had aspirations of being John Wayne and moved us out to the desert.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, man.

Jen Serling:

Yeah. So, I was working in Tucson. Tucson is relatively close to the Mexico border, so we did a lot of work with Border Patrol, and we were working with the Border Patrol dogs. We had a Border Patrol dog come in and it had Valley fever, which is a really nasty fungal infection that's very common in the Southwest. So, we were doing x-rays and the dog ended up being hospitalized. But I very vividly remember, it was really interesting, we were taking x-rays, and again, this is an old x-ray machine, but it would click when you would go to take the x-ray. Well, the dog, when he heard the click thought it was a gun cocking, and so flipped out. So, we had to bring in the handler and we had to put him in the lead shield and everything.

And so, the handler had to come in and had to help us get the x-rays, so that the dog was calm, and the dog understood German commands because it's a Border Patrol dog. But anyways, watching the interaction between the handler and the dog was just phenomenal, the bond that the two of them had. And then gradually the dog was hospitalized. We had that dog three weeks. He unfortunately did end up passing, but I got to spend a lot of time with that dog, so we did develop a bond and he finally realized, "Okay, she's not-

Dave Blanks:

She's trying to help me.

Jen Serling:

... She's trying to help me. And it was one of the first patients that I've lost that really kind of affected me, that it really hurt. I mean, we always hurt no matter what patient died, but there's certain ones that mean a lot to you. And that was one of the ones where I couldn't save it, and I really bonded with it. And seeing the handler with the dog and how devastated he was. It's always a moment in medicine that's always stuck with me.

Dave Blanks:

Somber. Somber story.

Jen Serling:

Yes. Sorry.

Dave Blanks:

No, that's all right.

Jen Serling:

Let's lift it back up.

Dave Blanks:

How can we find out more information about this program? I know we have a pretty great website about it.

Jen Serling:

We do.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah. Is it vettech.appstate.edu?

Jen Serling:

It is. And if you go on there, there's a bunch of links that you can click. If you want to look at either myself or Virginia or Mary Beth's bios, and get ahold of us, you can find out how to reach us on those as well. But also we have our course outlines, so the students can see what classes we're going to be offering. So, I encourage anyone to go check it out. All of us are open if anyone has any questions and would like to set up a Zoom. Even though I'm in Arizona, I'm always happy to talk to somebody.

Dave Blanks:

Nice. I can tell you're easy to talk to. Jen, it's been very informative having you in. I've thoroughly enjoyed talking to you. Thank you so much for being here today. I think we covered a lot. There's more to find out, and hopefully we'll get to talk again.

Jen Serling:

I'd love that.

Dave Blanks:

Maybe I'll just... I don't know, I could Zoom with you because we could totally do that even though you're in Tucson.

Jen Serling:

Yeah.

Dave Blanks:

How's Boone?

Jen Serling:

This is my new home away from home. Right? So, I'm hoping to be out here, we're thinking probably four to five times a year, and I absolutely love it.

Dave Blanks:

Very cool. Nice. Well, we're glad to have you. And if you want to find out more information about Jen or reach out to her, again, you can go to the vettech.appstate.edu website or hunt her down on LinkedIn-

Jen Serling:

Heck yeah.

Dave Blanks:

... She's on there as well. Jen, thanks so much.

Jen Serling:

Thank you.

Dave Blanks:

If you love animals, a degree in veterinary technology may be just what you need in your life, put that love for animals to work for you. No matter your busy schedule, you'll learn to capably assist veterinarians and prepare for certification exams to take advantage of a flourishing job market and ensure that pets get the care they need. You can find out more by going online to the vet tech website, that's vettech.appstate.edu. Vet Tech Talk is at production of university communications here at Appalachian State. Check out more of our podcasts by going online to podcasts.appstate.edu. I'm Dave Blanks. Thanks so much for listening to Vet Tech Talk and have a great day.