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Objectives:To investigate veterinary technician burnout and associations with frequency of selfreported medical error, resilience, and depression and job-related risk factors.Design: Cross-sectional observational study using an anonymous survey conducted between Setting: Four referral teaching hospitals in the United States and Canada.Subjects: A total of 344 veterinary technicians were invited to participate. Response rate was 95%. Overall 256 surveys were ultimately analyzed.Interventions: Burnout, depression, and resilience were measured using validated instruments.Respondents reported perceptions of workload, working environment, and medical error frequency. Associations between burnout and factors related to physical work environment, workload and schedule, compensation package, interpersonal relationships, intellectual enrichment, and exposure to ethical conflicts were analyzed. Measurements and MainResults: Burnout, characterized by high emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low sense of personal accomplishment was common, and was positively associated with perceived medical errors, desire to change career, and depression. Burnout levels on all 3 burnout subscales were higher in this population than previously reported for a contemporaneous group of trauma nurses working with human patients (P < 0.05). Burnout was negatively associated with resilience. Respondents' feelings of fear or anxiety around supervisor communications,

Background: Biologic variation of biochemical analytes, both within individuals and between individuals, determines whether population-based reference intervals (RIs) are appropriate when interpreting if a particular change is clinically relevant for a specific individual. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the biologic variation of symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) in clinically healthy cats. Methods: A prospective, observational study was performed in which 10 clinically healthy, client-owned cats were sampled for serum biochemical analyses once weekly for 6 weeks. Serum samples were frozen, and then single batches were analyzed for SDMA, using both liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS), and an enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT), and creatinine by modified Jaffe method. Restricted maximum likelihood estimations were used to determine the coefficients of variation (CVs) describing variation within each cat, between cats, and the analytical variation. These CVs were used to determine the indices of individuality and reference change values (RCVs). Results: SDMA had an intermediate index of individuality that could be evaluated by both RCV and population-based RIs. In contrast, creatinine had a high index of individuality best evaluated with RCVs. Serum SDMA concentrations evaluated with either the reference standard, LC-MS, or the clinically used EMIT yielded similar results. Conclusions: Clinicians should consider biologic variation when selecting the best method for interpreting changes in biochemical analytes. Specifically, establishing each cat's baseline serum creatinine and SDMA concentrations during health, and applying RCVs to subsequent measurements could improve the recognition of meaningful biologic changes.