The Savvy VetTech

Barking dogs are loud; there’s no doubt about that! Whether your practice includes a large-scale boarding facility or only contains a few kennels to house surgical and hospitalized patients, every practice has areas that become noisy at times.

Any time you have dogs barking in a confined area, especially when surrounded by concrete, stainless steel, and other surfaces that don’t absorb sound very well, you can expect large amounts of noise. 

According to 2016 statistics, someone working full-time in the veterinary field has a 12% chance of sustaining a work-related injury or illness in any given year.¹ This means that veterinary professionals are more likely to be injured at work than almost any other career, with the sole exception of residential care nursing!²

While firefighting may seem more hazardous at first glance, and firefighting injuries are probably more likely to be serious or fatal than veterinary injuries, firefighters have a 9.5% likelihood of being injured at work in any given year,² which means they are 20% less likely to be injured at work in a given year than a full-time veterinary worker.

Workplace conflict is inevitable. How you manage it and interact with others in the hospital are paramount. Workplace bullying is a real thing. Unfortunately, it is rampant within our profession.

Overall, the veterinary clinic seems like a pretty safe place to work. Sometimes it is important to stop and think about the hazards we may encounter in our jobs and take the steps to minimize the risks of injury.

We all like to feel valued in our jobs.

There are days where our duties can feel mundane. Cleaning up after pets, drawing blood, pulling up vaccines, restraining fractious animals, getting urinated on...you get the idea.

Sometimes being a veterinary technician can seem like a thankless job. 

It can be so easy to fall into the negativity trap. Veterinary Medicine seems especially susceptible to it. Are you or your fellow veterinary technicians and other colleagues heading in this direction?

Negativity is like a virus that can spread throughout the workplace. Read-on to see what you can do to create a more positive work environment.