Every veterinary hospital requires a team of professionals to support veterinarians and provide services outside of hands-on medical care. Each member of the veterinary team is essential to providing top quality care for your pet and making your experience at the hospital as pleasant as possible.
Support Roles & Responsibilities
Whether they deal directly with pet-parents and patients, or work quietly behind the scenes, an outstanding veterinary hospital requires outstanding support staff. This team works together to make you feel comfortable from the moment you want in the door, ensure that the examination rooms are squeaky clean, and provide direct support to veterinarians during examinations and medical procedures.
Our network of veterinary hospitals across the U.S. are extremely proud of our support staff and the quality of the service they provide to patients and pet-parents each and every day. While not every practice will have a comprehensive team of support workers, here are a few of the most common professionals you will find at your local PetVet Care Center:
Receptionists
Our Veterinary Receptionists are the first people you will see when you walk through our doors. When you first arrive at our hospitals these professionals will greet you and your pet with a friendly smile, making you feel welcome. Sometimes when you arrive the reception staff will be on calls or attending to other patients but rest assured that you are important to them and they will take care of your needs as quickly as possible. Some key responsibilities of veterinary receptionists include scheduling appointments, answering phones, setting up new clients and patients, preparing and maintaining medical records, filling prescriptions, over the counter sales, mailings, computer operation, financial transactions, and front office and reception area maintenance.
Office Managers
Veterinary Office Managers are typically responsible for coordinating and overseeing all office administration procedures such as those listed above. They schedule veterinary appointments, bill pet owners, order office supplies as needed, and supervise veterinary receptionists and other office staff.
Practice Managers
Veterinary Practice Managers are responsible for overseeing staff management and client relations. They may, on occasion handle animals, however, their role primarily involves juggling a wide range of duties and responsibilities including financial reporting, accounts receivable, income reconciliation, credit, accounts payable, inventory, budgeting, and to some extent setting fees, patient medical records oversight and management, client communication, education, interaction, grief protocol, patient, staff comfort, and community involvement (such as participation in fundraising and charity events).
Veterinary Assistants
Veterinary Assistants provide support to veterinarians, as well as veterinary technicians. Depending on State regulations and the veterinary practice itself, these professionals perform many essential tasks throughout a typical day which may include: feeding, weighing, and taking the temperature of animals, giving medication or immunizations, cleaning cages, providing nursing care to animals before and after surgery, maintaining and sterilizing surgical instruments and equipment, cleaning examination and operating rooms, helping provide emergency first aid to sick or injured animals, routine laboratory tests and x-rays, feeding animals, and collecting samples such as blood, urine, or tissue for testing.
Veterinary Technicians
Veterinary Technicians play a vital role in providing veterinarians with the support and information they need to diagnose their patient's conditions. Depending on the Sate and the practice, technicians may perform the following duties within the veterinary practice: assist veterinarians, monitor vital signs, obtain blood, stool, and other samples, test blood, stool, and other samples, take x-rays, prepare animals for surgery, perform dental procedures, provide emergency first aid, restrain animals during exams, administer anesthesia, administer medications and vaccines, and treatments prescribed by the veterinarian.
Veterinary Technician Specialist
Veterinary Technician Specialists are technicians who go on to further veterinary studies within specialized fields. In our network of PetVet Care Centers you may encounter veterinary technicians specializing in any of the following fields: dentistry, anesthesia, internal medicine, emergency and critical care, animal behavior, rehabilitation, ophthalmology, surgery, or diagnostic imaging.