Job Description Final

 Introduction

During summer and winter break, I work as a veterinary assistant at a small animal (cats and dogs) clinic in Denver, Colorado. In the future, I want to be a veterinarian, and working in a clinical setting will help me achieve this dream. I can gain hands-on experience, learn new skills, and establish relationships with doctors and veterinary technicians. 

As a veterinary assistant, there are several key responsibilities:

• animal handling

• client interactions

• running tests

• drawing blood

Animal Handling

The first thing you learn as a veterinary assistant is how to hold animals for the doctors. This is one of the most important skills, as being able to calm and position the animal is essential for patient care. Being skilled at animal handling is also necessary for safety. Some animals may be scared during appointments and try to bite the doctors and technicians. Thus, maintaining control of the animals without being too aggressive is necessary when working in an animal clinic. 

Client Interactions

Before working as a veterinary assistant, I worked in the customer service department at Macy’s. Although these jobs are different in many ways, problem-solving with customers helped prepare me for the veterinary field. Since owners are the primary caregivers for our patients, communication with them is paramount. Animals cannot describe their symptoms, so listening to the client’s observations is always important. However, interacting with clients is not always easy. Sometimes, clients have different opinions and can be quick to anger. 

We must also reassure clients when they are concerned about their pets. Once, a lady came in with her Bernese mountain dog puppy. She was worried about her puppy because he drank some of her martini. She was frantic, stressed that the alcohol would harm her new puppy. We then explained that a small amount of alcohol should not cause any harm to her pet. However, she was still concerned. We then described behaviors to look out for that might indicate her dog is drunk and needs veterinary care. She was relieved to notice that her puppy exhibited none of these symptoms and was acting perfectly normal. 

In-Clinic Tests

Running lab tests is one of the easiest ways doctors can identify what is happening inside the animals. As a veterinary assistant, part of my job is to run these tests and share the results with the doctors so they can make the best decisions for their patients. We run several different tests in the clinic, including blood, urine/fecal, and microscope analysis. 

Blood tests help determine the health of different organ systems in the body. They can be efficiently run by loading the sample and adding the correct test for each patient. For example, the doctor would likely want a more extensive test for an older dog than a puppy. More complex tests, such as fecal exams and microscope work, are done by doctors and registered veterinary technicians. One use of the microscope is to identify potentially cancerous tumors. The doctors will often take a small biopsy and look under the microscope to see if they can locate any irregular and potentially cancerous cells. Another common use of the microscope is to identify different infections so the doctor can treat the patient properly. One of the most common cases at the clinic is ear infections. Yeast is typically the cause of these infections, and the cells look like bunny prints in the snow under the microscope. Being familiar with different clinical tests and running them accurately is essential for veterinary work.  

Example of yeast from an ear infection                      Comparison of benign and malignant tumor cells

Blood Draws and Catheters

Although many people (and animals) do not like getting their blood drawn, it is a vital part of patient care. The blood carries over 1,000 proteins that reflect the complex dynamics within the body. As a veterinary assistant, learning to draw blood from animals and place catheters is crucial. 

The most common blood test we run at the clinic is the heartworm test. This test only requires three drops of blood and can identify whether the animal has heartworms. Heartworms are parasites that are spread via mosquitoes. They can be very dangerous if they are not caught and can cause cardiovascular issues. Since this disease is challenging to treat, we recommend that owners test their dogs for heartworms yearly and keep them on heartworm prevention. Since the test is common and only requires three drops of blood, it was the perfect opportunity to practice my blood drawing skills. Performing heartworm tests allowed me to practice blood draws on a variety of breeds. In my experience, corgis are the most challenging dog breed to get blood from because they have short legs, thick fur, and are often not very patient. 

Once I became fast and accurate with the heartworm tests, I started drawing for more complicated tests and eventually learned to place a catheter. Catheters are placed for surgery patients because the doctor must have direct access to the blood if something goes wrong. Catheters are also used to give the initial dose of anesthetic for surgeries and provide fluids throughout the procedure. Catheter placement is difficult because the technician must be precise, focused, and ready to adapt if the animal moves. 

Conclusion

Working as a veterinary assistant gets me closer to my goal of becoming a veterinarian and prepares me for veterinary school. Familiarity with all the jobs in the clinic is essential to becoming a good veterinarian. I am so lucky to have grown my skillset in such a supportive environment. I have already learned a lot about animals and veterinary medicine and cannot wait to keep discovering more. 

Passive Sentences: 11.1% (I could not find these sentences)

Flesch Reading Ease: 52

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 10.1