Veterinary Assistant/Technician

Job Description

Salt Lake County… A career with a purpose in the community you love!

Salt Lake County invites you to explore our exciting career opportunities. We seek highly enthusiastic individuals to enrich our County with your experience and talent. If you enjoy working in a team environment that is committed to changing the lives of its community, please keep reading.

What it is like to work here:

At Salt Lake County, our culture is woven into all aspects of our work and our employees’ lives, from the way we treat each other to the way we support the community.  To promote and foster a fun and healthy work environment, we appreciate employees through great benefits, a healthy work-life balance, and room to grow and develop.

Surround yourself with:

Peers who are motivated to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. We serve Salt Lake County and envision a safe and vibrant community where everyone can live, work, and enjoy themselves. Salt Lake County is about connecting people and championing our community.  Community is more than a place… It's our heart and service that bring us together.

We encourage a work-life balance:

Working for Salt Lake County is more than just a paycheck.  A career with /Salt Lake County includes several benefits and perks. We support our employees with 12 Holidays, up to 24 vacation days, 12 sick days, and one personal day every year.  We sometimes work in a hybrid environment, giving you flexibility to manage working from home and being in the office.

JOB SUMMARY

Entry-level position assisting the Veterinarian or Experienced Technician with daily duties in the treatment of sick or injured animals

This position sets the speed, tone, and flow of the surgical team, ensuring efficiency and cohesion during every procedure. The ideal candidate is a self-starter, capable of critical thinking and working collaboratively with the team to ensure the highest standard of care for every patient.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Six (6) months as a Vet Assistant or Two (2) years’ experience as a Vet Tech, or other closely related field, OR an equivalent combination of related education and experience.

Must receive a verified negative test result on a mandatory drug test before starting in this position. Will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing. May be subject to post-accident and reasonable suspicion alcohol and drug testing.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Monitors animal population for any change in behavior, appetite, water/food intake, or any sign of illness; reports unusual situations to the veterinarian.
• Provides treatment and administers medications as directed. Husbandry and nursing care of shelter animals.
• Ensures clinic areas, hospital area, cages, pharmacy/lab area are re-stocked, clean, and organized.
• Verifies all animals have been vaccinated, microchipped and spayed/neutered prior to adoption.
• Safe handling and administration of vaccines, injectable medications, and sharps disposal.
• Restrains animals for exam and assists in advanced treatments and routine diagnostics. Including radiographs and collecting samples for routine laboratory test. Prepares samples for testing at diagnostic laboratory.
• Surgical instrument care, preparation and sterilization of surgical packs. Daily disinfection and maintenance of surgical suite and equipment. Ensures surgical laundry is washed and prepared for use.
• Performs routine diagnostics, including radiographs, in-house laboratory sample collection and testing.
• Prepares routine samples for testing at the diagnostic laboratory. • Surgical instrument care, preparation, and sterilization of surgical packs.
• Daily disinfection and maintenance of surgical suite, equipment, and supplies.
•  Administration of anesthetic medication by inhalation/intubation or intravenous injection, assists veterinarian during surgery as needed. Surgical preparations and positioning of patient.
• Monitors animals during and after surgical procedures and provides appropriate nursing care to ensure animals are kept comfortable to optimize recovery. 
• Provide basic dental cleaning and charting. • Responsible for handling and documenting of controlled substances and following all policies and procedures related to such.
• Dispenses prescribed medications and discharges animals to owners, providing at home care instructions.
• Provides advanced at home care instruction and demonstration for fosters and adopters.
• Performs humane euthanasia in accordance with established policies and procedures. 
• Maintaining medical records for individual animals, including associated charges for services

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES (KSA)

Knowledge of:

              • Expression of symptoms and/or diseases in animals.

                 Current infectious disease control methods.

               • Methods and techniques of humane animal care and handling.

               • Radiation safety.

               • Principles and practices of current veterinary medicine and animal care.

               • Animal nutrition.

               • Aseptic surgical techniques, anesthesia techniques, and euthanasia techniques.

Skills and Abilities to:

               • Experience with animal phlebotomy and subcutaneous, intramuscular, and intravenous injection.

               • Recognize a variety of animal species, breeds, and related behavioral and health characteristics.                • Utilize manual dexterity skills and eye-hand coordination.

               • Read, interpret, and apply disease prevention, control, and eradication practices.

               • Safely handle medical instruments and equipment.

               • Accurately enter data into modern computer applications and write/print legibly.

WORKING CONDITIONS AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Position requires standing, walking, lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling loads of 10 - 40 pounds on regular basis and up to 80 pounds on occasion, stooping, bending, squatting, and reaching on a frequent basis. Incumbent will be frequently exposed to animals that may bite, kick, scratch

or be diseased (including rabies), as well as fur, dander, unpleasant odors, loud noises, unsanitary conditions, dust, gases, and chemicals. Incumbent will be frequently exposed to blood, new and used needles, scalpels and other sharp instruments and contaminants.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

“Due to the nature of this position, the successful applicant must pass a required background check through fingerprinting and enrollment in the continuous RAP back (Record of Arrest and Prosecution Back) program in accordance with current County Human Resources policy requirements.”

Will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing. May be subject to post-accident and reasonable suspicion alcohol and drug testing. May be required to work holidays, nights, and weekends as needed.