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07-30-2008, 10:01 AM | #1 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| Vet vs. Vet Tech This thread was inspired by a thread in General Discussion about a vet tech giving two shots and both causing problems while the vet does it with no problems whatsoever. I'm sure most vet techs do a great job and vets would have tons more work to do without them, so I am not against techs. I just want opinions. At Ellie's vet office the techs weigh, take temps, take history, swab ears for cytology if infection is suspected, take blood, do cystocenteses (I think), assist in surgery, give injections and vaccines (if vet has examined the animal and the vaccines are being split up or whatever...it is the difference between a $25 or so vet visit or a free tech visit), remove staples (from incisions)... Now, I think a WELL TRAINED tech could do any of this but I don't know the techs nearly as well as I know Ellie's vet, so I really have no reason to trust them. Taking temps and weighing is fine but what about blood work and staple removal? I just don't think I'm comfortable because again they may be great, but I don't know them. Ellie's vet is more than accommodating and she has done a couple things before that were "tech jobs" for me, so I know if I ask for her to do certain things, she would. I just don't want to stop good techs from doing things that they are perfectly capable of doing and making the vet busier. I have had a couple issues with techs before where I just think the vet (with more experience) could've done things better... So, my question is, what do you let the tech do and would you be comfortable with an average, possibly just out of school tech drawing blood (from the jugular...that is where Ellie's is taken), removing staples..? Would you ask that the vet do some of these things instead?
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07-30-2008, 10:13 AM | #2 |
I ♥ Joey & Ralphie! Donating Member | There is a huge difference between drawing blood from the jugular and removing a staple. You remove staples with a tweezer-like instrument, and very little skill is involved. Drawing blood from the jugular, is a much more difficult procedure, and I wouldn't even want the on-call vet to do this. Injections could be given by techs as well.
__________________ NancyJoey Proud members of the CrAzYcLuB and YAP! ** Just Say No to Puppymills – Join YAP! Yorkshire Terrier Club of America – Breeder Referrals Last edited by Nancy1999; 07-30-2008 at 10:15 AM. |
07-30-2008, 10:16 AM | #3 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Mid Michigan
Posts: 1,510
| The tech does not give my little ones shots all I have seen them do is take weight and temp.
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07-30-2008, 10:17 AM | #4 | |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| Quote:
Maybe I should have the vet draw blood everytime then. Techs seem to bruise Ellie easily because she wiggles but the vet did a nice job, so I am thinking maybe she should do it all the time.
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 | |
07-30-2008, 10:18 AM | #5 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| From the replies so far it seems that the techs around here are expected to do more.
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 |
07-30-2008, 10:28 AM | #6 |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Northern Indiana
Posts: 1,252
| Around here the vet techs only take the weight & hold the dog for the vet. They don't even take the dogs temperature.
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07-30-2008, 10:35 AM | #7 |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| Same here. I wonder if it is because of any Indiana laws.
__________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427 |
07-30-2008, 10:39 AM | #8 | |
Donating YT 10K Club Member | Quote:
That being said..I could've removed Reggie's stitches if every pair of small scissors in my house wouldn't go...wherever it is they go. ETA - Sometimes it depends on the person giving the injections. I've gotten injections which didn't hurt at ALL...and I've received them from Nurse Ratchet. OUCH!
__________________ Deb, Reese, Reggie, Frazier, Libby, Sidney, & Bodie Trace & Ramsey who watch over us www.biewersbythebay.com Last edited by bchgirl; 07-30-2008 at 10:41 AM. | |
07-30-2008, 10:41 AM | #9 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| That is totally foreign to me. Only weights? They even clean teeth here if more than one procedure is being done and on the same dog and the vet is busy (she is right there though). Anyway, Ellie went to the vet not long ago and the tech tried to take her temp but couldn't get it because Ellie wouldn't let her. The tech said Ellie wouldn't let her put it in. The thing is, I was holding her for the tech and I take Ellie's temp by myself. It isn't that hard, especially with a restrainer. I don't know it just makes me wonder.
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 |
07-30-2008, 10:49 AM | #10 |
I ♥ Joey & Ralphie! Donating Member | Wouldn't it depend on the vet, and his staff, some techs may be in training, while others could have years of experience. Hopefully you can trust your vet to select which procedures should be done by which tech. I had to see the on-call vet once, and while she was a very nice person, she just didn't seem to have the experience or confidence our regular vet has, I just love the way he calms Joey.
__________________ NancyJoey Proud members of the CrAzYcLuB and YAP! ** Just Say No to Puppymills – Join YAP! Yorkshire Terrier Club of America – Breeder Referrals Last edited by Nancy1999; 07-30-2008 at 10:51 AM. |
07-30-2008, 10:54 AM | #11 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member | Perhaps what the vet tech does...is dependent on education or training. I don't mean trained at the office...I mean some type of formal training.
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07-30-2008, 10:58 AM | #12 |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| I would trust the vet to have the techs do only what they are capable of doing but her vet doesn't own the office, so I don't know if she has any say in it. The only way around it is probably just asking the vet to do what I wouldn't be comfortable with a new tech doing. Ellie's vet does have her own tech (for surgeries) but she doesn't do all of Ellie's vet's appointment preps... There are soooooo many techs at this place and you don't always get the same one. I don't know the rules but I think if they are a tech, they can draw blood, etc. I also know they have assistant (no school) and I think they are trained to do things like blood draws too. A huge vet office with 24/7 staff is great but you can't just get to know one tech and understand what they are capable of. There may be a system there to only allow certain techs to do certain things but I really don't know. So I just wondered how much everybody else let the techs do.
__________________ Crystal, Ellie May (RIP), Rylee Finnegan, and Gracie Boo🐶 Last edited by Ellie May; 07-30-2008 at 11:00 AM. |
07-30-2008, 11:06 AM | #13 |
YT 2000 Club Member | This may sound absurd but, I pay for a vet visit, not a vet tech visit. I'd expect to see & talk to the "vet" not the vet tech. At our vet, the doc is very hands on, he does the taking of the temps, the blood work, the ear swabs, the stitch removal, the injections, all of it (oh no wait, the techs do weigh our furkids, but that's it). In all the years we've been with our vet, it's always been this way, I've only sent he vet techs holds the animals while he performs these procedures. Now as far as the vet techs doing these things so they can learn, I wouldn't mind if they took our furkids temp or swabbed the ears, but anything more than that, I'm sorry, I want the "vet" doing it. I know the techs have to learn somewhere, somehow on some living furkid, I just would rather it not be on ours. I know, that sounds terrible and maybe I'm absurd, but this is just how I feel. Now I'll roll up my sleeve and let a tech take blood from me at a hospital or doctors office no problem, but when it comes to my kids, (skin and fur) sorry, I'm very particular about who does what and I don't have a problem letting any doctor know that.
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07-30-2008, 11:15 AM | #14 | |
I Love My Yorkies Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Posts: 37,147
| Quote:
__________________ Chachi's & Jewels Mom Jewels http://www.dogster.com/?132431Chachi http://www.dogster.com/?132427 | |
07-30-2008, 11:21 AM | #15 | |
And Rylee Finnegan Donating Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Metro Detroit, MI
Posts: 17,928
| Quote:
I totally agree. Thankfully we get more than our fair share of time with the vet. We talk and talk and talk and a lot of times it has nothing to do with Ellie. She is a great vet. I am really starting to see that maybe I should request the techs do less though. I think I will only allow the vet to do blood draws from now on. The jugular thing makes me nervous if someone is just learning. I also don't want people practicing on Ellie. They have to start somewhere, but not with my dog they don't.
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