Veterinary Emergency Assistant at Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon Inc

We are a group of enthusiastic pet heroes who go beyond expectations at providing a personalized experience for all patient-guests and their parents. We currently provide dermatology, internal medicine, medical oncology, surgery, ophthalmology, neurology, physical rehabilitation, urgent care, and emergency services. Our quality of care and diverse specialty offerings makes VRCCO's team the leaders in advanced pet care for Central Oregon. To improve the experience for our patients and help support our amazing team we have created a purpose built veterinary hospital campus, with an over 26,000 sq. ft. facility to serve our community. Our hospital has all the advanced diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities (MRI, CT, Fluoroscopy, chemotherapy, etc) and a campus-like feeling for employees and clients with food trucks, childcare for staff, beer garden, and an upstairs balcony.

At the Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon, we believe that teamwork, superior patient and client care, education, and fun are the secret to a wonderful career. From day one we have known our staff has to come first to make this happen. We are pretty sure we are the first ever, and perhaps still the only, Veterinary Specialty Hospital to be Great Place To Work Certified (https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7041336). Come see the difference for yourself and be a part of our team.

Job Summary:

The Emergency and Patient Care Assistant works in a team environment to provide care to in/out patients from multiple services. The Emergency/Patient Care Assistant uses clinical knowledge and the Veterinary Referral Center of Central Oregon's SOPs to treat patients in accordance with the primary DVM's orders. This is done in a calm, organized and efficient manner working closely with the primary veterinarian and is under the supervision of the department doctors and ED Supervisor. This position is responsible for ensuring patients' treatments are completed in a safe and timely manner. It requires attention to detail, strong communication skills, the ability to triage medical situations and the ability to take direction from others.

Essential Functions:

Maintenance of hospital

• Disinfect kennels, treatment tables, and other surfaces
• Disinfect and keep exam rooms orderly
• Clean, sterilize, and maintain medical equipment and instruments
• Launder towels, blankets and surgical gowns
• Sweep and mop as needed
• Stock necessary supplies in accordance with our inventory system
• Remove garbage and recyclable materials

Patient Care

• Restrain patients for exams and medical treatments in a safe manner for both the patient and staff
• Walk, feed and bathe patients
• Triage patients and admit to the hospital
• Performing medical treatments under the supervision of a CVT/Doctor.
• Medical Record Keeping
• Obtain vital signs
• Monitor patients for pain and discomfort and relay changing demeanor to assistants/doctors
• IV catheterization and venipuncture
• Obtain blood pressures via doppler and oscillometric
• Provide other medical treatments per VRCCO's Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs)

Client Communications

• Obtain and write histories from owners
• Provide nursing updates as needed
• Provide treatment plans and financial updates
• Review discharge summaries and provide client education
• Assist CSR with telephone inquiries, scheduling appointments and taking payments as necessary

Laboratory

• Collect and handle laboratory samples (feces, urine, cystocentesis, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, biopsy, and cytology samples)
• Perform in house laboratory tests
• Store and package laboratory samples for outside submission

Radiology

• Assist technicians in requesting, positioning patients, and taking radiographs and CT scans
• Restrain patients for ultrasounds

Surgery/Anesthesia Prep

• Assist CVT in inducing anesthesia by restraining the patient and holding the patient for intubation.
• Attach cardiac and respiratory monitoring equipment
• Understand and maintain aseptic technique for the patient, instruments and procedure area
• Clip and prepare surgical sites
• Clean and prepare instruments for sterilization
• Set up and maintenance of scoping equipment
• Be able to set up and check anesthesia machine for a patient

Other

• Other duties as assigned

Education & Experience:

• Technical knowledge in a clinical setting acquired through apprenticeship, degree pursuit, or professional certification.
• Preferred: hands on experience working in an Internal Medicine unit of a veterinary hospital

Knowledge, skills, and abilities and/ or competencies:

• Calm and reassuring in stressful situations
• Medical math - calculating basic formulas for weight conversions, medication dose conversions
• Knowledge of feline and canine anatomy
• Patient restraint
• Customer service and people skills

Physical demands:

• Lift and carry up to 40 lbs,
• Team lift and carry up to 150 lbs
• Apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions, deal with problems with concrete variables and draw appropriate/accurate conclusions.
• Sit, stand, stoop, bend and walk intermittently during the day on hard floor surfaces.
• Manual dexterity sufficient to accurately work with small, delicate pieces of equipment or large heavy objects/containers/machinery.
• Wear all protective gear including mask, gloves, gown, hairnet, safety goggles etc.
• Work for long periods of time with arms extended.
• Work within an environment that has high levels of animal sounds, bodily fluids that need disposal, and open wound management.

The above duties are not an exclusive list. As the assistant's knowledge base and skill set grow, training will be provided for more advanced duties.

EEO Statement:

VRCCO believes that a diverse and inclusive workforce is essential to our One Team success. All employment decisions are based on merit, experience, ability, performance, and business needs.

Compensation details: 20-22 Hourly Wage

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