What does it take to become a Veterinary Technician???

Veterinary Technicians come from various backgrounds and are involved in many aspects of medicine and other professions. Our training is very unique although similar to a Registered Nurse, not quite the same. The profession of Vet Techs vary by state and each one is so different on requirements, credentials, training, and the procedures/responsibilities. Also similar to an RN, Veterinary Technicians can complete a two year program or a four year bachelor program. After completion of the program (depending upon the state), a national board exam is take which is usually a written exam covering soo many species and every aspect of medicine from Radiology, Anesthesia, Parasites, Preventative medicine, Surgery, Exotic animals, Laws and Regulations, Pharmaceuticals, Procedures and the list goes on. After passing the board exam or required test for the state a license is issued and the Technician is considered Licensed, Registered, or Certified depending once again on the state they practice in.

What does the schooling involve? I personally did the two year program and would say the process is pretty tough. We have to learn several species and sooo much just in two years after many practical exams, written tests, verbal etc we then have to take the national exam (in VA) that created much anxiety for me and all of my classmates. In the middle of the program we also have to complete an externship at a hospital where we get more hands on training in the "real world." I remember spending a lot of time studying of course but also time in the barn, in the kennels, out on the farms in the area, in labs, lecture halls and classmates apartments studying all the time. The four year programs are similar but a little more spread out and may have training in depth of certain areas than areas. Most technologist are employed in teaching, or advanced laboratories.

Opportunities for Vet Techs... Just like Veterinarians, many opportunities exist due to our unique training and  skills. Of course the most common is a hospital but we also exist in research, reference labs, teaching, government agencies (local and federal), food inspection, corporate sales, pharmaceuticals, shelters, zoos, and wildlife facilities.

At the end of the day, we are all here for one reason and that is to aid animals and society by alleviating pain, suffering and promote public health.

The technology age, what information is reputable

Bloggers... It has been so long and I apologize for the delay in posts. I am hoping to catch things back up and share more interesting stories as they happen. I have not been working in the ER weekly as I had been however, I am relief there and will be sharing stories from the past and present as they occur.

I wanted to share a great reputable website that owners and professionals of the vet community can gain reliable information from. This website is monitored by Veterinarians that are actively involved in these topics on a daily basis and bring you the latest information to help your pets and your understand of gold standard care. Google is a great search engine but I would suggest going to veterinary partner first and reading blogs, information and articles posted about conditions you may be interested in learning more about.

www.veterinarypartner.com

Update on me personally, I have since leaving the ER full time joined a hospital working primarily anesthesia and advanced imaging. The decision had been difficult due to my love for emergency medicine and being at the bed side of patients that are very sick and doing my best to help them make a speedy recovery to go home to their loved ones. I still work at the ER on a as needed basis when people are on vacation and such and miss it a lot. I also have joined a world wide information based community where I monitor anesthesia and other related boards regarding topics and helping Veterinary professionals share ideas on procedures and up to date medicine. I have been writing articles as well to post to national magazines sharing my knowledge and experience with everyone in Veterinary Medicine which has been educational fun and challenging. Aside from the educational aspect of things I have been working at the Zoo on occasion and staying involved in many other ways as time allows. I hope to write more very soon to share with you all. Please comment and let me know of topics you want to hear and if you find anything interesting. I appreciate your attention. Cheers for now!!!

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate

The holidays are here. In the ER tonight we have had lots of phone calls and patients coming in from consuming large doses of chocolate. Chocolate is very yummy for us and for animals but why is it toxic to them and not us? .

Well lets start with what chocolate actually is first; This lovely treat is derived from Theobroma cacao which are roasted seeds of theobromine/caffeine. Theobromine is a large portion of chocolate and luckily human digestive systems are able to break this substance down much more efficiently than dogs.  Half life is the duration of action from a drug or substance in which half of its affects subside. In other words if a human takes drug A, after 2 hours this drug will be "half" digested and excreted therefore the affects will have subsided. The half life of chocolate in a human is about 7 hours, in a dog this doubles plus to 17 hours. This means a dog will remain affected from the theobromine for this time and could have symptoms such as increased heart rate, vomiting, diarrhea, increased body temperature, rigidity, seizures, and advanced such as cardiac failure, and coma. Baking chocolate is the most toxic because it contains more caffeine and theobromine than milk chocolate and semi-sweet.

The holidays are great times to share with family friends but the Vet isn't usually a planned way to spend Christmas. As much as we would love to see your pets, we also want them healthy, happy and that includes being with their owners on holidays.  Keep chocolate away from your animals and have a safe and happy holiday. Merry Christmas bloggers.

Emotional Bond

Even as professionals, we too emotionally become bonded to our patients...Unfortunately in emergency medicine we often are faced with critical patients who don't realize we are there or are very very sick and have a poor outcome. Often times our patients also may stay a day or two for "simple" diarrhea or vomiting and those are the happy outcomes. 

As technicians we spend a lot of quality time with our patients and sometimes cannot help but become attached. We are involved in the every aspect of care with the patient and spend a lot of time perhaps just sitting down next to them and petting them on the head to keep them comfortable or administering medications, or "bedside" monitoring vital signs. Our jobs are to provide quality care and with that comes emotions to each and every one we care for on a daily basis. 

Recently we had a patient that was a middle aged lab and was blind, a very very sweet dog and spent a great deal of time in the hospital. The patient came in already blind and had both eyes removed previously from primary glaucoma but fortunately dogs adjust well to being blind. Often times they rely on other senses such as auditory and olfactory to adapt to their environments. This patient was very sick and had been through a lot at the Primary Veterinarian before coming to us. She had an exploratory (a surgical procedure for exploring the abdomen for various reasons) and was very depressed and not feeling well. She had a long stay in the hospital but fortunately went home feeling much better than when she arrived. Her technician was quite attached to her and loved this dog just in a few hours of her first night having her as a patient. Come to find out dad had a video on youtube of the patient with her at home which was very touching. We never get to see the patients in the happy days and it was great to see this one in her own home happy and healthy. 

Nights with patients like this keep us motivated to come back another day even through all the sad stories we could all tell in our experiences, we do love our jobs. We would love to see all of our patients make it home and continue on a happy and healthy life just like this one in particular. 

Thanks for reading, sorry I havent been posting recently. I am going to try and keep up at least once a week or so on just random topics or things that happen in our positions as a Veterinary Technician.  

First Post, Introduction

Hi bloggers,
I recently have become more interested in blogs and have been keeping up with ER Veterinarians up here and I thought I would start one for technicians or aspiring ones. I'm a Licensed Veterinary Technician in Virginia. I currently work at a referral emergency and specialty practice as well as at a zoo very part time. I have years of experience behind me in infectious disease research, academia, private practice as well as zoo and other. I love emergency and feed on the adrenaline that accompanies it. Currently the emergency practice only sees small animals such as Dogs and Cats. We see many great cases from infectious disease to hit by cars, gun shot wounds, and all in the middle. From the most critical patients to the easily managed, they are all special and require a deal of care and commitment from a team. I will likely post about interesting cases, decisions faced as a technician, some of my duties, my challenges faced on a daily basis, and answer any questions aspiring technicians or others may have regarding our field of vet medicine. Enjoy!