Fresh out of high school, Dayna Cervera, RVT walked into a small general practice with a passion for pursuing veterinary medicine — and a good deal of determination. She quickly got a job at the front desk of the hospital and began her journey, growing her responsibilities to giving vaccinations, learning anesthesia, and eventually heading up their mobile vaccine unit.
After a few years working in general practice, Dayna joined a small emergency hospital for a year, at which the technicians worked in specialty medicine. They mentioned an opportunity available at another ER/specialty hospital – a moment that changed the entire course of Dayna’s career path.
“I found that my love for animal medicine is in triage, and that I’m a first responder.”
Eventually, Dayna joined the team at ACCESS Specialty Animal Hospital in Pasadena, where she currently holds the role of Technician Trainer. She offers support, mentorship, and hands-on experience to new veterinary professionals joining the team.
Today, Dayna coordinates training for new hires and retraining for existing team members, structuring her program around each individual’s learning style.
“This is not going to be the last hospital they work for. I want to give them the skills to go on to any other specialty and know they were trained correctly and can carry it on.”
She’s also a lifelong learner herself, never resting on her laurels or getting complacent about what she’s teaching. “I may not have the answer right now, but by midnight tonight, I’ll be teaching you the answer,” she quips. “I’m only going to be a better trainer, a better technician if the staff alongside me is just as good.”
This approach is informed by her own experiences navigating compassion fatigue and balancing a busy professional and personal life.
“I have six kids – one in heaven – so that’s a lot of very different personalities. Even at the hospital, I try to take into consideration how different team members learn, feel, think.”
In many cases, the technicians coming to Dayna for training are at different points in their careers and their experience in vet med. “I try to just start from zero and approach it as if I’m learning how to do this job from them.”
She gets creative with how she meets any learning needs that arise with each new training group. In one case, she created a “crash course” for newer technicians, proactively reaching out to every specialty department lead in the hospital and asking them to speak to the group about how the ER team could respond best when their patients present to the emergency room.
“It turned out really great for the technicians because they weren’t familiar with many of the patient issues that were presenting to the ER. Like, if a dog is asleep and the neuro tech went through handling of their patient, there’s already a blood pressure. It’s not necessary to take it again.”
In another instance, technicians on the overnight shift came to Dayna to say they were struggling to get sign-off from medical leadership on their skills. There was a clear, identified gap for this group that more hands-on training could fill. And that’s exactly what Dayna did, coming in at 3:00am to support the overnight crew until their shifts ended at 7:30am.
“Overnight teams are unsung heroes, and they get forgotten. We’re 24-hour facility and everyone needs the same level of support. You have to have skills to take care of these things that you love, as well as understanding – why we can’t put a pet on fluids, or why we clean their cage every other hour and check their bedding, or why we need to make sure their catheters are patent.”
We’re inspired by the humility and big-picture insight Dayna brings to her role each and every day. Knowing her deep passion for veterinary medicine – and for vet techs in particular – we asked her what big takeaways or pieces of wisdom she would share with the community based on her own experience. In her own words:
Have you written things down? Even if it’s just an email to yourself, write down five things that are challenging to you – and then what you see as five solutions.
Have you self-advocated? A lot of times we see the challenges, we see the need in the hospital, but we don’t share them with leadership. So, I try to model that behavior with the techs I train, making leaders aware of issues that need attention.
Are you setting healthy boundaries? Listen to your own cues – are you tired, have you had a drink today? How many times have you let yourself use the restroom? Have you taken your lunch or your breaks? If you don’t take that accountability to try to be your best, you can’t give good patient care.
