The Savvy VetTech

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Lori Hehn

Lori Hehn is a practicing veterinarian and a contributor and content manager with XPrep Learning Solutions. She has a drive for continual learning and enjoys interacting with veterinary and vet tech students. She also writes veterinary learning books for children.
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Recent Posts

Vet Techs: How to Write a Cover Letter

by Lori Hehn - Nov 30, 2018 10:24:51 AM

HowToWriteaCoverLetter

We have recently been reviewing lots of resumes at our clinic. Many resumes come with no cover letter. I like a cover letter because it tells a little more about the person that is applying and what they are looking for, rather than just the list of qualifications on the resume.

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in New Job, Resume 1 Comment

7 Tips for New Vet Techs in Practice

by Lori Hehn - Nov 23, 2018 8:00:00 AM

7-Tips-for-New-Vet-Techs-in-Practice

Nervous about starting your first job as a vet tech? You will do great! Here are a few tips to help you make a smooth transition into your new position.

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in New Job 3 Comments

How to Calculate a Dose of Injectable Medication

by Lori Hehn - Nov 8, 2018 7:01:00 PM

The VTNE will have several questions for which you will need to perform calculations. We will be having several blog posts on how to do different types of calculations. It is good review for in-clinic use as well as studying for the VTNE. Here is a quick review of how to calculate a dose of injectable medication. We want you to know how to calculate pet drug dosage.

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in Calculations 27 Comments

Remembering Where to Place ECG Leads on Animals

by Lori Hehn - Oct 28, 2018 7:02:44 PM

Remembering-Where-to-Place-ECG-Leads

ECG leads (or electrocardiographic leads) record the electrical potential at the different points on the body. Where the leads are placed determines a specific pattern we are looking for on our recording.

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in EKG Leads 5 Comments

Water Intoxication in Dogs?

by Lori Hehn - Oct 15, 2018 8:02:03 AM

Water-Intoxication-in-Dogs

I recently read a heartbreaking story about a dog at the lake that was playing with his family, chasing balls and sticks into the water and retrieving them over and over until he became extremely tired.

But he wasn't just worn out. He had ingested enough fresh water to cause his sodium levels to drop, known as hyponatremia. The main risk with acute hyponatremia like this is brain swelling. 

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in Water Intoxication 0 Comments

10 Funny Sounding Veterinary Medical Terms and Definitions: Do You Know These?

by Lori Hehn - Oct 5, 2018 10:19:32 AM
10-Funny-Sounding-Veterinary-Medical-Terms-and-Definitions--Do-You-Know-These
 
In no particular order, the veterinary technicians at my hospital and I came up with a list of vocabulary words to review.
 
We were thinking about funny or strange sounding words that we use in this profession, and here are a few we came up with! My favorite is #9. 
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in Terms & Definitions 0 Comments

Intubation Tips and Instructions for Vet Techs

by Lori Hehn - Sep 29, 2018 9:32:42 PM

Intubation-Tips-and-Instructions-for-Vet-Techs

Intubating dogs and cats is not only an important task and something we do almost every day, but it is critical that it is performed correctly. Here is a step-by-step description regarding intubation. 

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in Intubation 6 Comments

Lyme Disease Epidemic and Prevention

by Lori Hehn - Sep 21, 2018 3:00:45 PM

Lyme-Disease-Epidemic-and-Prevention1 

There is an epidemic of Lyme disease in our country, and it continues to get worse. It is on the rise in humans, which means it is also on the rise in our pet patients.

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in Lyme Disease 0 Comments

How To Treat Grape Ingestion & Toxicity

by Lori Hehn - Sep 14, 2018 7:23:25 AM

How-To-Treat-Grape-Ingestion-&-Toxicity

We all know that grapes and raisins can be toxic to dogs. But why? How should we treat grape ingestion in order to prevent toxicity, and what should we do if toxicity occurs?

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in Grape Toxicity 0 Comments

National Preparedness Month #NatlPrep: Don't Forget the Pets

by Lori Hehn - Sep 10, 2018 8:35:47 AM

National-Preparedness-Month-#NatlPrep--Don't-Forget-the-Pets

There have been many recent natural disasters around the globe. Wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes. People may be prepared for the disasters that are more common in their region, but disasters can affect all of us in more ways than you think.

Even if you aren't directly impacted, a disaster somewhere else in the nation could affect gas and transportation, supply of water, food, and mail delivery. The things were are used to having every day may not always be readily available when disaster strikes. #NatlPrep

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in National Preparedness 0 Comments

When Should Ventricular Premature Complexes (VPCs) Be Treated?

by Lori Hehn - Aug 27, 2018 10:41:03 AM

vpc

Veterinary technicians are often tasked with close monitoring of patients post-operatively, and during anesthesia. It is important to monitor for Ventricular Premature Complexes so that you may notify the doctor (especially after and during procedures such as GDV and splenectomy where they are commonly seen).

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5 Thank You Notes to Vet Nurses from the Heart of a Vet

by Lori Hehn - Aug 17, 2018 7:21:34 AM

THANK-YOU-Notes-to-Vet-Nurses-from-the-Heart-of-a-Vet

Veterinarians have many, many thoughts throughout the day that they should make time to share with their veterinary nurses. When we get busy we just never say them, or it seems cheesy to say it out loud.

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in vet tech 3 Comments

Capnocytophaga: What are the Facts?

by Lori Hehn - Aug 10, 2018 11:15:00 AM

Capnocytophaga

There have been several articles published this week regarding a very rare infection from a bacterium called Capnocytophaga, which a man contracted resulting in multiple limb amputation. (How does dog saliva turn into a life-threatening infection?)

The articles state that he likely contracted the organism from his dog's mouth. Before you panic about your daily dose of dog kisses, let's review some facts about this bacterium.

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in Outbreak 2 Comments

7 Tips on Avoiding these VetTech Medical Mistakes

by Lori Hehn - Jul 27, 2018 8:58:47 AM

7 tips

While these seem like very obvious things, complacency is unfortunately something that leads to medical mistakes being made. In a busy practice, people are rushing around and multitasking.

These are some things that you must always do to avoid mistakes. These are to be reminders for you. Always be in the moment when you are performing a task at hand. Don’t be thinking about something else, as this will lead to errors and could even result in patient death.

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in Mistakes 5 Comments

Link Post: Personal Stress Test

by Lori Hehn - Jul 20, 2018 5:23:32 AM

stress

I follow Firstline Magazine on Twitter and they posted a "Personal Stress Test Straight Outta Fetch," which is referring to a publication by DVM360. 

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in Stress 0 Comments

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