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    Becoming A Veterinary Assistant
    Becoming A Veterinary Assistant
    Becoming A Veterinary Assistant
    Ebook112 pages2 hours

    Becoming A Veterinary Assistant

    By Ingrid Houde

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    About this ebook

    Since 1996, Certified Veterinary Assistant Ingrid Houde has followed her passion and worked in the field of animal care. After a steep initial learning curve, and later watching employees come and go from clinics because they were not prepared for the reality of the job, she has created an essential resource for those looking to succeed and excel in the field of veterinary assistance.
    This book clearly outlines how to find the right clinic for you, what to expect while working in a clinic, as well as key client communication tips and real life scenarios.
    A must read for everyone interested in starting a rewarding career as a veterinary assistant.
    As Ingrid says, "This is the book I wish I'd had when I first started out so many years ago!"

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIngrid Houde
    Release dateDec 17, 2013
    ISBN9780993660504
    Becoming A Veterinary Assistant
    Author

    Ingrid Houde

    I have been a Certified Veterinary Assistant, working in the positions of receptionist, assistant manager and manager, for the past seventeen years.I'm currently taking a break to raise my newborn daughter, but the vet world is always on my mind, so I decided to write about my experiences in the hopes of helping the next generation of Veterinary Assistants.

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      Book preview

      Becoming A Veterinary Assistant - Ingrid Houde

      Becoming a Veterinary Assistant

      Ingrid Houde

      Smashwords Edition 1

      Copyright 2013 Ingrid Houde

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table Of Contents

      My Experience As A Veterinary Assistant

      Why Are You Here?

      Education Is Valuable

      Where Do You Really Want To Work?

      Apply For That Job!

      The Interview

      Time To Work!

      Working Well With Others

      Clinic Humor

      The Most Important Thing You Need To Know

      Keys To Effective Communication

      Handling Euthanasia

      When To Stay and When To Go

      Good Days

      My Experience As A Veterinary Assistant

      It probably comes as no surprise that I had always wanted to work with animals, and I decided when I was fourteen years old that I wanted to get into veterinary medicine, aspiring back then to be a veterinarian. The first thing anyone will say when they walk into the veterinary world is that they love animals and I am no different. I have had pets all my life, from hamsters from the age of six, to begging and pleading my parents to let me get my first dog at the age of thirteen. I would rescue field mice, and if a bird hit our living room window and died, I would make my father bury it in the backyard with full ceremony out of respect of an animal’s life lost. I have boundless empathy and compassion for any creature unable to speak for itself, and always wanted to parlay that passion into a career.

      After going to university for a few years, working toward a Bachelor of Science degree as my first step closer to applying for vet school, life took me in a different direction, away from school and my hometown. I'll spare you the details about boyfriends and money struggles, but basically it was at that point that I unfortunately had to abandon my dream of becoming a doctor for animals. I considered going to school to be an Animal Health Technologist, but the new city I moved to did not have a college I could attend to do so.

      I was unemployed, broke, and with an Associate of Science Degree, living off of a very small savings account, I had to come up with a new plan for my life. I knew I didn't want to settle for any old nine to five job, but didn't have any specialized training for anything. I held on tight to my dream of working in a veterinary clinic, but had no idea how I would achieve it. I had approached clinics in the past, offering my limited services for a volunteer position, just to get my foot in the door, but any paid opportunities were reserved for those that had an education and previous experience. Then one day, looking through the classified ads in the newspaper one day, still looking for something to pay the bills, I was encouraged when I found an ad for a Veterinary Assistant course in my area. I felt this was a way to quickly gain the knowledge I needed to enter the field and start a career, even if it was at an entry level position. I just knew I was going to devote my life to animal care and this was the perfect first step to making my dream a reality.

      Armed with my previous university education and a love and passion for animals and science, I wholeheartedly threw myself into the course. I devoured the information, studied hard, and started volunteering at my local humane society so that I had some hands on experience that would look good on a resume. I graduated at the top of my class six months later as a Certified Veterinary Assistant. I was so proud of myself, and quickly gained momentum, getting hired for the summer on the second day of my practicum at the first clinic I had ever worked at, then getting hired at another clinic a couple of months later when my time at the first job ended. I had youth and enthusiasm and was ready to work. My vision was of going to work every day, loving the animals and helping their owners to take the very best care of them that they could. I figured the people who walked through the doors were people who loved their pets and would (and could) do anything that was needed, that they would be open to any and all suggestions, that I would work with like-minded staff and would love every minute of my job.

      I quickly realized that although my dream was to work directly with the animals, I was not trained as an Animal Health Technologist, the people who are trained in a nursing capacity and spend all their time dealing directly with the animals during their treatment. During my schooling we had learned about medical terminology, diseases and treatments, procedures and hands-on animal restraint, but I had wondered why we had to learn so much about customer service, thinking that reception would only be a small part of my job. I came to find that the highest demand in the field at the time was not for the techs, and not even for doctors, but for well-trained receptionists.

      Never did I aspire to be a receptionist, but that is where I found myself, and I really needed and wanted the job being offered to me. So with the help of the staff at that clinic, some trial and error, a few tears, and a lot of hard work, I put my mind to becoming the best receptionist/assistant I could be, hoping that my boss would see my potential and let me work side by side with the technologists - and the animals - more.

      I was twenty years old, working in a clinic with four doctors and a staff of about thirty technicians and receptionists - quite a large group for a private practice. The receptionists there took me in and taught me a lot about dealing with clients, and the manager was always making sure I had time working in the back treatment area (the back) so that I could keep up my skills. I polished my diplomacy skills, as well as my critical thinking and conflict resolution skills, and I became a multitasking queen! There were times we were so busy, it would have been easy to turn and bump into someone, but those of us who had worked together for a while just seemed to know where each other were, and we were a well-oiled machine. I was able to balance working in reception with helping the techs and doctors in the back, by holding for X-rays, and restraining for blood draws and IV catheters, as well as holding for basic procedures like cleaning wounds and nail trims, among others. There were many days I went home smelly and hairy, with scratches on my hands and arms, but I was also very happy.

      After a few years at that clinic, one of the receptionists moved away, and then I quit a short time later after a bad car accident left me unable to work. I decided to move back to my hometown and, I realized that my former co-worker had married a veterinarian and they had purchased a practice there. I kept in contact with her, and every time we spoke, she asked me when I was going to come work for her. Back in our days working together we often fantasized about what it would be like if we could run our own clinic, and what we would do differently, so the idea of working with her and making that dream come true was very appealing to me. When I was ready to work again, it just took one phone call, and she welcomed me onto her staff. I was very fortunate that she valued my skills from when we worked together and was willing to hire me on the spot.

      I continued to hone my receptionist skills, working long hours and taking on every task given to me: reception, assistant, surgery assistant, kennel worker, inventory, and later bookkeeper and payroll administrator. I was young, and just willing to do anything that was needed, so it wasn’t until the vet thought that everyone should have their own business cards that he finally gave me the title of Assistant Manager. The title was great but the pay was not. I was making an average wage for someone new to the field, but at that point I'd already had five years of well-earned experience, and should have been making more. It was probably another six months before I got up the courage to ask for a raise, which I received. I was given another raise about a year later, and that would be the last one I would receive in my five and a half years working there.

      My then-boyfriend and I decided we had both gone as far in our careers as we were going to go in the city we were living in, and decided it was time to move on. With his new job in a larger city in place, I applied to clinics over the internet, and was hired, sight unseen, over

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