Vet tech to RN

I was a vet assistant. Going to school to become a vet tech. I had wanted to be a vet when I was little so thought it would have been a cool job for me to start. I worked at Banfield for some time but found all the hard work for low pay was not worth it, so I decided human nursing and I'm glad I did.

One of my classmates was a vet tech. It helped her with learning IVs and some of the other skills.

Thanks that's where I'm at I've been doing this for 3 years and feel I work to hard for this little money. I work in a shelter currently so I think my biggest plus is my coping skills

Hi, I was a vet tech for 7 years before nursing school. It definitely was helpful. So much is the same in way of illnesses. I worked at specialty vet hospitals and moved around from er/ICU, surgery, internal medicine and many of the same meds are used. You will just find you don't get to do as much as you do as a tech...won't get to place central lines, intubate, epidurals, etc. But having the background in animals doing those things has made the transition easier. I also found working with animals we had stronger PPE protocols than they have with people at the hospital. Lol, and with animals we were wearing much of the PPE to protect other animals often more so than ourselves depending on illness. That stumps me, especially with seeing the ebola issues now. Your background will def help. I graduate in the spring. I do have bad habits and have to really rememeber to be more careful with needles, poop, etc. Also some different ways of doing things. It has been awkward for me getting used to working with people patients too and communication. I know two other vet techs I worked with now nurses and found it beneficial.

I also have found some people in school stress about not getting enough experience with blood draws, iv cath placements and urinary cath placements or other tasks and I don't get worried about it. One reason being past experience with all the animal pokes, but I also remember when I was fresh out of vet tech school I had the book knowledge but it was that first year or so that those skills really developed and I know it will be the same in nursing. Your assessment skills will be ahead as well.

Thank you guys! What exactly made you want to do the switch? I'm feeling like I need more to live off of and also I feel like I can do so much more and that's why I want to make the switch.

I made the switch because I could not make enough to retire! There are also more opportunities. I really needed more financial autonomy.

Any vet techs who became human nurses on here now that could chat to me? Thank you!