A veterinary technician is the first one in and the last one out. Veterinary technicians might be the hardest working employees you see when you arrive at your next appointment to visit your veterinarian. What exactly do they do, though? To help you better understand, they are the nurse of the animal world. Here are some of the primary duties that veterinary technicians accomplish on a daily basis.
Daily Tasks Of A Vet Technician
First and foremost, veterinary technicians clean. That hospital would be a mess without staffing a sufficient amount of vet techs. They are constantly trying to keep up with the endless amount of laundry that comes from taking care of all of their patients. At the same time, they need to sterilize the surgery rooms and make sure that the exam rooms are in top shape.
After all of their cleaning duties are done, technicians then focus their time on completing multiple different tasks. They will run lab work to either determine what is the issue is with patients, or they’ll use it as preventative care to make sure that they catch something before it is too late. In between running lab work, they will visit exam rooms to see patients. In the exam room, they take the patient’s temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate. While accomplishing this task, they get a history of the patient from their owner and relay this information to the doctor. They already do so much, but there’s more.
Veterinary technicians are also the ones tasked with sedating each patient needing surgery. When preparing patients for surgery, techs must place catheters and make sure each patient is fit for surgery. When surgery begins they first intubate the patient, then, techs monitor temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, gum color, and many other things. They are in charge of making sure that anesthesia flows smoothly and that the patient wakes up with the least amount of complications.
Overall, veterinary technicians help the veterinary office to run smoothly. It is important to remember to thank your veterinary technician when you see them, as they are working this job because they love your pets!