Veterinary Assistant - CVCA Fairfax - Cardiology Specialist

Veterinary Assistants play an integral role in the care of the patients, clients, and referring veterinarians of CVCA. Veterinary assistants work directly with the cardiologist to provide medical support and help the doctor achieve greater efficiency by relieving technical work, record keeping and communication tasks. They have a very significant role in communicating with and educating clients about their pet's health.

Skills and Abilities

• Experience with basic office functions in a busy practice environment
• Accurately add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and compute rate, ratio, and percent
• Detail oriented
• Ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality
• Have excellent communication skills
• Ability to negotiate with difficult people and problem solve
• Ability to handle high call volume
• Adaptable to constant changes in work environment
• Can stay calm and efficient during a medical crisis
• Genuinely enjoys working with people and animals and is able to deal with animals even when they are stressed, ill or in pain
• Be flexible in attitude and work habits
• Is experienced in the teamwork approach and works well with all levels of hospital team members
• Ability to self direct and work independently
• Flexibility with work hours and able to work additional hours when necessary
• Schedule 4 days work week with 10 hour shifts
• Physical Effort: Work requires lifting and carrying animals up to 40 pounds (will be assisted by other staff members in lifting animals over 40 lbs). Bending, stooping, crouching, kneeling, walking/standing for extended periods of time; frequently works in a bent position
• Working conditions: May be exposed to unpleasant odors, noises and animal feces. May be exposed to bites, scratches and contagious diseases

Essential Job Functions/Responsibilities

• Provide compassionate care to our clients and patients
• Perform all duties in accordance with company policies and procedures
• Anticipate the needs of the doctor and ensure efficiency of appointment flow, care of emergency patients, and complete medical record keeping
• Prepare and maintain the exam rooms and treatment areas
• Understands the importance of a clean and orderly facility, does not hesitate to clean or organize as part of a normal job duty
• Admit and perform physical history and blood pressure as needed on all patients.
• Patient Triage
• Assist with surgical/interventional procedures
• Assist with monitoring vital signs of anesthetized patients in preoperative, operative, and postoperative phases.
• Administer oral medications
• Can compassionately and effectively restrain pets even when large or difficult, and ensure the safety and prevent injury of the patient, clients and personnel
• Perform venipuncture and ensure that blood work is properly recorded, sent out, and invoiced.
• Can effectively position for and take radiographs
• Can perform electrocardiograms
• Holter placement and removal, and related tasks: data submission, processing results and medical record keeping
• Prepare medications and prescriptions for dispensing as directed by the doctor. Ensure that each prescription is properly labeled and includes the doctor’s name, practice’s name, address, phone number, date; patient’s and client’s name, medication name, strength and volume or number,
• administration instructions including route of administration, and product’s expiration date
• Discharge all patients in house and outpatient, review the diagnosis, treatment recommendations, and follow up care with the owner. Ensure that all owners receive proper medications and/or prescriptions upon departure
• Has good computer skills and shows accuracy in inputting details.
• Communicates in written form (email, patient medical notes, etc...) with proper grammar, punctuation and spell check.
• Maintain appropriate medical records for appointments and consultations
• Maintaining and monitoring message board: posting messages for doctors and technicians, processing messages by contacting pcDVMs/clients and updating medical records as needed. Maintain appropriate invoices for all procedures
• Troubleshoot office equipment (load paper, clear jams, replace toner, use of check scanner, CC machine, print/scan/fax, computers, medical equipment
• Assist other team members when needed
• Assist in training of new employees
• Understand and carry out oral and written directions
• Maintain positive and cooperative relationships with other team members, and management
• Maintain positive and cooperative relationships with affiliated services
• Effectively communicate with doctors, team members and members of affiliated services
• Arrive promptly as scheduled for work
• Perform other duties as assigned
• Answer telephones and address client’s inquiries about hospital policies, basic animal care questions, cost of routine procedures and products, and scheduling appointments.
• Receives and relays telephone, fax, and email messages accurately and promptly.
• Assist client service representative with daily tasks as needed
• Deal intelligibly, pleasantly and efficiently (both verbally and in written form) with clients, referring veterinarians and affiliated services, often doing several things at one time
• Display tact and diplomacy with team members and clients even when busy or hectic
• Conducts oneself in a confident and professional manner even when stressed and/or focused on individual tasks
• Travel to secondary office may be required
• Can prepare client invoices and obtains payments for services performed
• Perform and assist with Clients Service Representative tasks and responsibilities
• Perform delegated tasks assigned by the team leader
• Additional tasks may be assigned or removed from listed responsibilities

Education/Experience/Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Minimum of 18 years old.
• Minimum two years of experience as a veterinary assistant, desirable but not required
• Computer knowledge required. Comfortable with MS Word, MS Excel, Paint, photos, Google drive/sheets/docs, PDF/CutePDF, keyboarding, instant messaging and email

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental, & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401K)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary, & AD&D)
• Short Term Disability
• Paid Time Off
• Educational assistance for qualified teammates to enroll in AVMA-CVTEA accredited veterinary technician programs
• Teledoc
• Discounted Veterinary Care
• EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
• A large network of over 5,000 veterinary professionals who all share common interest in promoting a collaborative working environment and individual career growth.
• Opportunity to make an impact in your community while tackling a challenging variety of tasks and the ability to help animals among a great team of people.

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