Transcript Veterinary Health Care Team Members

Introduction
 Veterinary practice can be a highly structured
environment that provides an excellent career for all
team members.
 Goal is to provide superb medical care to patients and
outstanding customer service to clients.
 Workplace should be friendly, efficient and safe.
 All team members should take a part of responsibility
of care and must take initiative to provide the best
care, whatever the position is within the clinic.
Veterinary Team
 Veterinarian
 Responsible for providing guidelines of medical care
 Assistants and technicians
 Responsible for following guidelines to provide excellent
care.
In Hospital Patients
 Receive care from all team members
and all team members are
responsible for ensuring patient
safety and comfort.
 Patients may never be left in feces
and urine
 Must always have access to water
and food when allowed
 Be hospitalized in a warm,
comfortable environment
Outpatients
 Include those that visit for
exams, lab work, or other
services.
 Responsibility of team to
provide services to clients
and ensure that client
receives the necessary
services in a timely manner.
 Medications, client
instructions, and handouts
should be supplied to the
client when needed.
Other considerations
 Internet
 More and more clients find information on internet.
 Should be encouraged to seed out practice with
questions to supplement any information found on the
internet.
 Excellent customer service
 Clients have expectations for prompt call backs with
results, etc.
 Veterinary clinics are ranked higher than physicians in
value that people place on them
Keys of Considerations
 Open communication
 Know that each role is important
 Roles and duties should be outlined in employee
manual.
 Each team member should know place in hierarchy.
Students
 Can function as observers or hold paid positions.
 Include veterinary students, technician students, high
school, students, etc.
Groomers
 May or may not be present in the clinic. Have unique
technical skills and must be cautious due to many
hazards that are present.
 Sometimes are a key link to noticing abnormalities on
grooming cases.
Kennel Assistants
 Critical to health care team.
 Should become familiar with cleaning protocols as well
as any hazards.
 Should be trained to detect emergency situations
 Must be able to interpret charts for correct feeding
protocols, etc.
Veterinary Assistants
 Help technicians and veterinarians
 Should excel at physical restraint, laboratory skills,
patient care, and client relations.
 Should have patience.
Veterinary Technicians
 Critical to health care team
 Graduate from a 2 year veterinary technology program
approved by the AVMA and must pass the VTNE and
any state licensing examinations.
 Allowed to perform certain duties not allowed by a
non-licensed individual.
 Generally assigned a patient by the veterinarian and
follows protocols set forth by practice.
 Critical for client communication and patient care.
Veterinary Technologists
 Graduate of a 4 year bachelor of science program in
veterinary technology by the AVMA.
Veterinary Technician Specialties
 May focus on particular area of patient care.
 Require specialized training in the area and take
another exam in that area of specialty.
 Internal Medicine
 Emergency and Critical Care
 Dentistry
 Surgery and Anesthesia
 Equine
 Behavior
Receptionists
 “Face” of the veterinary practice
 Greet clients, detail and clarify invoices and receive
money.
Office Managers
 Responsible for overseeing the staff and running of the
office.
Veterinarians
 Only members allowed to diagnose, prescribe and
perform surgery on patients.
 Must be graduate of accredited school of veterinary
medicine.
 Must be licensed in state where they work and pass
both state and national examinations.
Practice Managers
 May or may not be present in clinic.
 Helps to keep entire team working together .
 May review records for completeness, implementation
of new business strategies.
 Educational requirements vary.
Hospital Administrators
 May be veterinarian, technician, or a business
manager.
 Usually has complete authority over the operation of
the business and practice.
 Responsible for setting budgets, paying bills, creating
organizational structure, and planning events.
Programs to Enhance Staff
Education
 Programs are available online and at community
colleges across the U.S.
 VSPN offers a lot of online resources.
 Animal Care Training videos
 Local specialty and emergency centers sometimes
provide continuing education
 Manufacturer and distributors also provide training
 Extent of training or continuing education varies from
state to state