Pet owners want the best for their beloved pets. Veterinary technologist and technicians are skilled professions who help veterinarians. This article reviews their basic duties, education, working conditions, and salary with future growth.
Duties of Veterinary Technologists and Technicians
A veterinary technologist and technician performs his/her duties under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian. For example, a common duty involves performing laboratory tests such a blood counts and urinalysis. This is an important duty to help a veterinarian establish a medical diagnosis or rule out a specific diagnosis such as pet heart disease.
Some additional duties performed by veterinarian technologists and technicians include obtaining pets case histories, preparing tissue samples, and developing xrays and radiographs to look for possible broken bones or abnormal tissue growths.
Occasionally, a veterinary technologist and technician may vaccinate a newly admitted pet against potential deadly diseases.
Education and Training
An entry-level veterinary technologist and technician position can be obtained with a 2-year associate degree from an American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)-accredited community college program. Upon graduation, a student may reister and take the credentialing exam. However, some veterinary technologist and technician programs may lead to a four-year baccalaureate degree.
Some colleges provide distance learning programs to provide veterinian assistant students with greater flexibility and students can fulfill clinical training with a sponsored licensed veterinarian in their town.
Most states require veterinarian candidates to pass the core coursework before they can obtain a license to practice. This examination is called the Veterinarian Technician National Examination (VTNE).
Work Environment and Salary
Most veterinarian technologists and technicians obtain employment in private practice with a licensed veterinarian because of their veterinarian technician skills. However, career opportunities can be found in other fields. For instance, biomedical research duties may include helping research animals and entering clinical/medical data for medical research personnel to ensure adequate pet care.
For greater responsibility and additional income, a veterinarian technologist and technician may want to specialize such as a veterinarian dental technician. For example, this specialized technician would assist a licensed veterinarian by checking the pre-op xrays for a dog's teeth and provide the surgical equipment to the veterinarian if he/she has to perform any tooth restoration or tooth extraction.
Veterinarian technician skills are in high demand and salaries can range from $30,000 per year for an entry-level technician to $60,000 or more based on specialty and geographic location.
http://www.avdt.us/