Veterinary Technician Job Description Sample, Duties, and Responsibilities

Veterinary Technician Job Description Sample, Duties, and Responsibilities

What Does a Veterinary Technician Do?

A veterinary technician is a professional whose role is to provide assistance to veterinarians in making diagnosis and administering treatment to pets in a clinic, just the way nurses assist doctors in the hospital.

The veterinary technician job description entails helping veterinarians in attending to animal ailments, sicknesses, and other discomforts to give them a healthy lifestyle.

They also play the role of lab technicians, which involves carrying out medical tests on animal blood, urine and stool to ascertain the true nature of their health in order to make proper diagnoses.

While these animals are pets, they can sometimes be dangerous, most especially to unfamiliar faces, thus, the technician skillfully handles them with utmost care in order not to provoke an attack, and takes preventive measures.

He/she interacts freely with pet owners who come to the clinic in order to win their trust for their pet safety so they could maintain long time patronage of the clinic and recommend them to other clients.

As a means to win client confidence, the technician has to convince them that he/she is an expert in the field by educating them on the need and benefits of advanced veterinary care.

He/she will endeavor to coach and direct them on how to properly cater to their pets and address any worries or concerns they may have about the pets.

Veterinary technicians exhibit high emotional intelligence in dealing with clients whose pets are being hospitalized.

While it is their role to inform clients of the true condition of their pets, they need to communicate the message in a comforting manner if it’s bad news in order not to further upset the client and complicate the already bad situation.

As experts, they bring to the table their knowledge in veterinary care in areas such as physical examinations, radiology, patient assessment, dentistry, catheter placement, anesthesia monitoring and patient recovery, among others.

Veterinary Technician Job Description Sample

Shown below is a sample job description for the post of veterinary technician. It highlights key duties, tasks, and responsibilities that majorly make up the daily activities of most people who work in that position.

• Interact closely with pet owners to determine the cause of their visit and find out health history of pets
• Collect pet’s blood, urine and stool samples for testing in the laboratory
• Carryout out laboratory tests like urinalysis, feline leukemia, blood counts etc.
• Collect and develop x-rays of pets
• Keep records of client information and billing, and record pet’s health condition such as temperature, body weight etc.
• Sterilize all instruments and equipments for surgery to prevent contamination of bacterial infection
• Prepare animals for surgery and administer anesthesia to them
• Assist in restraining animals during checkup, testing and treatments
• Ensure that pets are kept clean at all times by bathing them, checking their teeth, trimming their nails, removing sutures etc.
• Administer treatment to pets, label drugs to be taken by pets at home and instruct pet owners on how to administer the drugs

Veterinary Technician Resume Preparation

In preparing a resume to be used in applying to a vacant veterinary technician job, the job description example given below has the necessary information that can be used in making the work history section of the resume.

Requirements – Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Expected of Veterinary Technicians

Technicians who work in a veterinary setting are usually required to possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed on the job:

• Have a certified degree in animal care
• Ability to pay attention to detail
• Must be compassionate about animals
• Good communication skills
• Good temperament