What You Need to Know About Veterinary Technician Degrees
Veterinary technician degree programs provide students with the formal training they need to perform a variety of clinical and technical tasks in animal shelters, clinics, research labs, veterinarian’s offices and zoos. This important job requires accreditation and formal training to ensure that the individual has what it takes to meet the many technical demands of the veterinary technician profession. During a vet tech degree program, students become veterinary professionals.
There are many technical skills that students acquire during the completion of accredited veterinary technician degree programs, such as the following:
– Hematology
– Microbiology
– Radiology procedures
– Serology
– Skin scrapings
– Urinalysis
– Venipuncture
Vet Tech Training Standards
In order to perform all those tasks, vet tech professionals must have proper training, and they must be certified. Training consists of a minimum of a two-year associate’s degree, although many vet techs actually have four-year bachelor’s degrees these days. In order to ensure that this education is consistent with the requirements for the job, most employers require veterinary technician degrees that are accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association. After getting a degree, graduates must also pass a credentialing examination administered by their state authorities.
Schooling isn’t necessary after graduation for a licensed veterinary technician. However, vet techs often enroll in advanced courses to enhance their job opportunities or simply for the sake of furthering their education and staying sharp on the job.
The Future of the Profession
Although the field of veterinary technology is still pretty new, it has become a mainstay of the modern job market, because people in our society think of their animals as members of their families. Pets need the same kind of medical care as people do. This is why there is a sharp projected increase in the number of career opportunities for vet techs in the United States. The modern veterinary office cannot run without qualified technicians to help out, and vet offices are here to stay.
Veterinarians need assistance with applying splints or other protective devices, cleaning animals’ teeth, determining causes of illness or injury, dressing wounds, performing physical examinations, recording temperatures and taking animals’ pulse and respiration. Vet techs also provide administrative support with tasks such as maintaining treatment records and conducting inventories of all pharmaceuticals, equipment and supplies. They even help with surgery by providing anesthetics and surgical equipment/instruments and generally monitoring the equipment and supporting the veterinarian.
