A vet tech as a nurse ?

[Trekfan]

I went to a doctors apt and I was told to give my info to the nurse .

My "nurse" walks in I found out she was not a nurse but a former ?? The hole thing was just odd .

[blueharlequin]

Hi,

I am a former Veterinary Assistant (on the job training) of 10 years. I am currently in nursing school and I can say that my exposure to medications/terminology has helped quite a bit so far. I never claimed to be a 'nurse' in the vet world although if people asked I would say my job was "kind of like a doggy nurse'. In the doctors office where I work I would NEVER presume to tell people that I was a nurse. It really annoys me when someone does that! I have heard of vet techs letting people think that they are the Veterinarian. Why can't people just be who/what they are? I miss the animals... Relysh

I'm another "former vet tech" to add to the list, though not for anywhere near as long. I have to agree with past vet tech experience helping out in nursing school. But I also never would have claimed to have been a "nurse." I never heard any of my coworkers claiming that, either. Everyone just said "vet tech" or "pet nurse." I think people in the veterinary industry (at least in my experience) understand it's different from human medicine and don't want to step on any toes/cross any lines. It also doesn't offer any benefit, as veterinary medicine is a completely different field of work than human medicine (in my mind...I've always thought of veterinary medicine as completely separate from human medicine, even though there are undeniable similarities).

But someone else mentioned a degree is required...not entirely true. Many places are headed this way, but I don't think there are enough grads yet to saturate the field with licensed vet techs. And some places (primarily Banfield, the corporate veterinary chain located inside PetSmarts) prefer to hire people with no training. They want to train them in order to indoctrinate employees into the Banfield philosophy easier. *shrugs* That's not at every Banfield, but a lot of them.

Oh, and people would often mistake me for the veterinarian. I never pretended and I ALWAYS corrected them, but it happened a lot. I blame my height, though...I'm 6'1" and I think stature makes people think you have a higher job title. Just a theory, though.

[avaldes]

I'm also interested in the name and info of that school,of nurse in puerto rico online and clinical practices 3 months thanks !!

[Nurse Leigh]

Kinda glad to see this old thread pop up! I've actually considered going back to school (again!) to pursue a degree as a vet tech. Might be a little crazy, but sometimes I think I might like to work both a hospital job and a vet tech job to feel a little more evened out. And hey, I've never been one who wanted to marry an MD, but a DVM? He'd likely love animals and would come in handy with my own pets!

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

To the OP,Don't you know that in public consciousness a "Nurse" includes anyone able to obtain a blood pressure, to wiping a butt, right on up to the "nurse" that monitors an IABP on a fresh heart? And as to the Veterinary medicine...it's incredibly complex. Vet school is a b*tch.My hats off to vets!

[OCNRN63, RN]

I've worked with a lot of vet techs and vets and most of them dread the human med pet parents because a looooot of them try to medicate the animal themselves or try to tell the vet what /they/ think the pet needs and get mad and defensive when the veterinarian tries to explain no, that's not the case. A pet is not a miniature human. And despite the fact you're an RN, a cat and a human are vastly vastly vastly different. I've unfortunately seen a couple cases and heard of more where an animal died because a human med person thought that they knew better than the vet. :/

IMHO anyways.

Not a very pleasant response to someone who lost a pet. There are some bad vet techs just as there are some bad nurses.

[OCNRN63, RN]

our naja kitty squatted and gave me a bloody sample on the floor, and having seen this before i took her to our vet and reported she had a uti. he stuck her for a urine sample and gave her an antibiotic. next day he called to say the urine c&s came back clean, and we shrugged and went back to life. alas, naja almost went on to die, as she had a rare side effect to this very common antibiotic and almost infarcted her bowel. after a stat cat scan (really) she had emergent surgery that night by a guy that reminded me of a pedi surgeon-- great huge guy with immense hands and a heart of gold. "oh, i love calicos!" he said. "i'll take good care of her." but he didn't know if she'd live.

we went to visit her in the icu the next afternoon. she had a staple line from her pubis to xiphoid, drains, and a little kitty picc line in a shaved foreleg for blood draws, ivs and pain meds so she didn't have to get stuck all the time. she was wrapped in a pedi-sized bair hugger and in an oxygen cage. do not ask what all this cost us.

and those nurses were great-- i watched them check her spo2, take vs, give her iv pain med before moving her, turn her from side to side, check her urine specific gravity, and pet her and croon to her all the time. i don't know what they had to learn in school, but whatever it was, they knew exactly what they were doing and looked like they'd be perfectly at home in any picu i've ever seen. so yes, in the vet context, they're nurses.

i bless that surgeon but i also bless the nurses, and told them so, nurse to nurse, how much i appreciated their skills. i was able to talk shop so well with them that they assessed me as being able to manage home care a day sooner than usual for this sort of thing; i took her home with the big collar, a few meds, a schedule to give them, a med sheet to chart them, and dressing supplies. she was in step-down (confined to our bedroom) for three weeks. i took out her staples at 8 days; i saw she wasn't paying any attention at all to her staple line if i let her have the collar off to eat, so after a few trials of observation i let her keep it off. good patient, adherent to treatment plan.

she's fine now, two years later, catching rabbits and cuddling with us whenever she wants, very communicative and a pushy cat. we're glad to have her.

yeah...i don't think i would have had the guts to take staples out of either of my kitties. family members...no problem. furbabies? not a chance.

[AllisonLeighLVT]

Thank you😍😺

We have 2 or 4 year degrees and must pass a board exam for licensure. I currently hold the job title ICU nurse and am an LVT (licensed vet tech)

we so rarely get the respect we deserve from human med professionals 🐾