The Savvy VetTech

As a vet tech, you will likely find yourself communicating with people from a wide variety of age groups. You’re probably already doing this in your vet tech coursework, to some extent, but the frequency of these cross-generational interactions will only increase as you begin your career. In addition to likely working with coworkers of different ages, you will likely spend a significant portion of your time interacting with clients from across the spectrum of age ranges and generations. 

No matter the context, an awareness of generational differences can help improve your communication with your colleagues and clients.

If you’re like most vet tech students, you are probably trying to juggle a number of different responsibilities right now. Between your vet tech courses, a job, externships, pets, family, friends, and everything else going on in your life, it may seem like a huge challenge to stay completely on top of everything. 

So, how do you do it?

The Scenario: You’re working a quiet day shift at a small animal general practice. One of your coworkers comments that it is a slow day, prompting you to joke that they just jinxed the afternoon. Sure enough, the phone rings a few minutes later! It’s Mrs. Smith, a longtime client.

Mrs. Smith tells the receptionist that she saw her cat, Rudy, chewing some tinsel from the Christmas Tree a few days ago, but didn’t think much of it at the time.

When a dog presents for an acute onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, pancreatitis will likely be near the top of the differential diagnosis list.

The veterinarian will likely recommend a full diagnostic workup, including a CBC, serum biochemistry, abdominal radiographs, an in-house IDEXX SNAP^® cPL and/or a Spec cPL to be submitted to a reference laboratory, and possibly an abdominal ultrasound.

You’re working in a small animal practice when a pet presents for antifreeze ingestion. The client is frantic, the veterinarian is hurriedly assembling a treatment plan, and the receptionist is trying to get a deposit.

What is your role in caring for this patient?