Roles in Veterinary Medicine
Walking into a veterinary clinic is overwhelming. If you're an introverted extrovert like me, the fact that you made the appointment and didn't cancel just because you didn't want to leave the house is a minor miracle. It is stressful enough even trying to remember what you are there for, while also answering millions of questions, usually multiple times. It takes a team of employees all working together in their roles to have an appointment run smoothly. As a veterinarian, I could not do my job without them. The goal of this blog post is to discuss: who are all of you people?
Licensed Veterinary Technician - The backbone of a veterinary clinic. While requirements vary by state, a vet tech must attend an accredited college, pass a board exam, and attend a certain amount of continuing education each year. A tech's role can cover everything in the hospital short of performing surgeries and prescribing medications. They are usually seen with scratches/bruises up and down their entire body. The technician often knows what medicines or diagnostics the veterinarian will ask for before the vet knows!
Veterinary Assistants - The muscle of the clinic. There are no requirements for this position. However, an assistant's role can vary widely by clinic. Our clinic utilizes assistants for restraining animals, performing blood draws, running lab work, and helping to care for our hospitalized patients/kennel room. In my experience, assistants tend to be fearless, charging into rooms to restrain animals or walking dogs three times their size without hesitation. If you are interested in starting a career in veterinary medicine, this is generally the place to start.
Reception Staff - The face of the clinic (I started with anatomy terms accidentally, and it's too late to turn back). The first and last people you see when coming into a clinic also have the roles that most of the rest of the staff (or at least me) would be terrified of handling. The reception staff also helps determine the priority of appointments: can it be handled over the phone, should be seen in a couple of days/weeks, or is it an emergency? They also are the last line to catch any mistakes that the rest of the staff may have made.
Veterinarians - The digestive system of the clinic(I don't know, I'm committed at this point). With years of schooling as well as CE and mentorship (and the internet), we work to process all of the information we are given to provide diagnoses and treatments for our patients without having a brain fart. Sorry, I probably pushed too hard for a poop joke, which ended up sounding corny.
I hope this helps the next time you bring your cat, dog, mini pig, ferret, or fractious husband to the vet. If you are interested in a career in veterinary medicine, watch what roles the different members of the team are playing when you come in. If you are a fan of wrangling a pug for a nail trim or want to see if the profession is for you, an assistant may be ideal. If drawing blood or monitoring anesthesia sounds fun, you might enjoy a role as a technician. If you like spending 20 years in school with an insurmountable debt to write overly sarcastic and pun-filled blogs, congratulations, you too can become a DVM.
