Veterinary Assistant

Hours: 240 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced
Retail Price: $1,425.00

Course Overview:

In this course, you will discuss and become proficient in the skills, terminology, and procedures necessary to assist in a veterinary office.

About This Course:

We are committed to offering world class interactive online courses that provide training and learning support for the student in a number of ways during their experience. This course structure has been developed to provide activities to guide students throughout the entire process of learning. Learning activities include hands-on assignments that allow students to use what they are learning to allow better transferable skills within their work environments.

When a student learns, they are not alone.   Each student will be supported by our student services department – which ranges from course mentors, registrar, and technical support assistance.   Every month students have a progress report run on them every month by our student services department to ensure they are making satisfactory progress.   If a student falls behind, we reach out to them personally by phone call every month to see if there is anything we can do to continue to assist them with moving forward in their course.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Foundational Skills

In this lesson we will discuss the foundational skills necessary for the veterinary assistant, review terminology, and use self-assessment tools to determine needs.

Lesson 2: Professionalism and Office Etiquette

In this lesson we will discuss aspects of professionalism including expectations, communication and courtesy, the animal-human bond. the role of the veterinary assistant, and ethics.

Lesson 3: Introduction to Animal Classification and Identification

In this lesson we will become familiar with animal classification and identification, breeds, and groups.

Lesson 4: Disease Transmission and Prevention

In this lesson we will discuss types of disease transmission, methods of prevention, sanitization and disinfecting, patient safety, cleaning techniques, and waste handling.

Lesson 5: Animal Restraint and Handling

In this lesson we will become familiar with various methods of animal restraint, handling, and caging

Lesson 6: Nursing Skills I

In this lesson we will discuss and become familiar with discharge and hospitalization procedures, meeting basic needs, medical records, and treatment.

Lesson 7: Nursing Skills II

In this lesson we will discuss grooming, clipping, vaccines, dental care, and administering medication.

Chapter 8: Nursing Skills 3

In this lesson we will discuss vital signs, pain evaluation, gender identification, IV duties, wound care, emergency support, and euthanasia. 

Lesson 9: Pharmacy Skills

In this lesson we will discuss and learn how to read a prescription, we will become familiar with labeling and packaging, we will learn how to fill a prescription, we will discuss controlled substance guidelines, and we will learn how to explain medication to pet owners.

Lesson 10: Laboratory Skills

In this lesson we will discuss laboratory skills and procedures such as imaging, sample collection and analysis, and laboratory equipment.

Lesson 11: Surgery

In this lesson we will discuss presurgery and postoperative skills, procedures, and duties.

Lesson 12: Office Procedures

In this lesson we will discuss filing, medical records, scheduling, and information management.

Lesson 13: Veterinary Practice Routines

In this lesson we will discuss wellness programs, practice protocols, inventory, in-house communication, and correspondence.

All necessary materials are included.

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

• Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

• Windows 7 or higher.
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions
  

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.