Become a Veterinary Assistant

Are you considering a career as a veterinary assistant? This course will answer all of your questions and more as you learn about pet nutrition, preventing parasites, health and safety issues, reasons for and against spaying and neutering, and how to best assist owners in times of need.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Lehman College

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$135

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$135

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Starting April 16 | May 14

Details + Objectives

Course code: pcv

If you have ever considered a career as a veterinary assistant, you might have quite a few questions about what it is they do: What vaccinations do cats and dogs? What is the best way to control fleas? What do you do if your dog has a cut? What is the best way to deal with an emergency situation involving a pet? This course answers these questions and more.

You will learn about pet nutrition and a variety of health and safety issues. You will understand how to treat and prevent parasites, including roundworms and heartworms. You will even learn the facts of life, as it pertains to dogs and cats. You will explore current thoughts on spaying and neutering, how to deal with the very emotional issues of euthanasia, pet loss, and how best to assist clients in a time of need.

What you will learn

Learn the fundamental skills you will need to become a veterinary assistant
Gain insight into the reasoning and recommendations made by veterinarians
Discover the inner-workings of the typical veterinary hospital from marketing to cash flow
Learn all the basics in health care for dogs and cats, including some cutting edge practices
Consider the role of veterinary assistant from every angle - from addressing the grief of euthanasia to maintaining confidentiality in medical records

How you will benefit

Discover the best diets, treatments, and daily care for your pets
Learn knowledge and skills that can lead to a rewarding career
Gain insight for developing a comprehensive health plan for the animals you love

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

This first lesson starts way back at the beginning and introduces how ancient veterinary medicine evolved into the modern-day practice that you're accustomed to. You will learn why a veterinary assistant is just as important to the success of the practice as the veterinarian.

In this lesson, you will learn how vaccines protect against disease and why they sometimes fail. You will take a close look at how often vaccines should be given, why they may be ill-advised, and why vaccinosis is so controversial.

This lesson addresses the parasites that can infest both pets and people. You will see the worms that live in the intestines, and get acquainted with heartworm, a nasty guy that lives in the arteries. You will explore how parasites infect people, what they do, and how to prevent their invasion.

Have you ever wondered how to pick the best food for your pet? This lesson will give you the tools to make the right decision, and how best to pass the information to your clients. You will also talk about the role of prescription diets in pet health.

This will certainly be the most emotional lesson in the entire course. The topic is euthanasia, and you will look at it from the perspectives of both the client and the hospital employee. You will explore the stages of grief that everyone goes through after a loss.

In this lesson, you will learn why a veterinary hospital can be a dangerous place. You will see how X-rays, anesthetics, and certain drugs can harm you. You will finish this lesson with Economics 101, a glimpse into the cash flow of a typical veterinary hospital.

Designed like a short course in human first aid, this lesson will help you cope with almost any veterinary emergency, and you will discuss ways that some emergencies can be prevented. There's even a segment on cardiopulmonary resuscitation for dogs and cats!

What is the most important parasite affecting people's pets? If you answered the flea, you're right. In this lesson, you will learn all about this parasite. You will hear about other crawling parasites that also live on or in the skin (mange) and how they can be managed.

Did you know that as a hospital employee, any advice you give could end up in a lawsuit? You will find out how to handle these situations and, related to this, how to maintain client confidentiality. You will round off your study of client communications with an introduction to client education programs.

As soon as you're hired as a veterinary assistant, you will be helping to prepare prescriptions. In this lesson, you will find out how to do this correctly. You will also learn about your role in keeping accurate medical records.

In this lesson, you will learn all about alternative therapies that some veterinarians are applying in their practices, including acupuncture, homeopathy, herbs, and chiropractic care. You will also examine the plusses and minuses of each diet.

In the last lesson, you will take a close look at animal behavior. You will delve into how best to train puppies and kittens, and more importantly, how to share the information with your clients. At the end of the course, you will see how everything you've learned can be put together for a comprehensive health plan.

Instructors & Support

Tracy Heyland, RVT

Tracy Heyland is a Registered Veterinary Technologist (RVT), earning the Academic and Practical Proficiency Award upon graduating. She brings 25+ years of experience in small animal medicine to her teaching, earned the Provincial Instructor Diploma, certified as a Professional Co-Active Coach, and is Fear Free Certified. Tracy has worked in general practice, emergency medicine, veterinary sales, operations management, and teaching positions and runs her own coaching and training company for veterinary teams, leaders, and managers.

Giving back to the veterinary profession is a passion of Tracy's where she volunteers for a veterinary technologist program advisory committee, remotely located spay and neuter projects, and a veterinary technologist association continuing education committee.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

I have never taken an online course before, but this course absolutely soared over my expectations. I feel like this course was very fitting for me, even in my busy lifestyle at the moment. My instructor, Dr. Jeff, was very informational, welcoming and helpful. I already recommended this course to others before I even finished it. I definitely plan to further my education here in the future, I'm forever grateful for this opportunity.

I really enjoyed this course and gaining more knowledge into the vet field. This was a very helpful course and Dr. Jeff did an extraordinary job of explaining each concept into details. Would recommend this to anyone interested in being a vet, or just learning how to care for their pets better

Loved the course and the instructor's style of teaching. I absolutely loved the webinars in the discussion area it provided a better understanding of topics discussed in the lessons. I'm glad I took this course, it helped tremendously.

I loved this course. I've always wanted to work in the field of veterinary medicine and this class has definitely helped me learn a lot of topics. I feel as if this course will help me get to where I'd like to be in my career. I also thought that the instructor was very experienced on the subject and very helpful.

This course was a great experience for me. I had no idea, until I began this course, all the knowledge I gained from every chapter. This course was very encouraging and I highly recommend the instructor for all his professional skills. I would recommend anyone to take this course whom is looking into advancing as a veterinary assistant course. Thank you, Dr. Jeff

Dr. Jeff and Tracy the assistant were the best! This is my first online course ever, and it surpassed my expectations for what online learning would be like. I felt engaged, not isolated. Also, the little interactive activities embedded in the lessons were so helpful. I learn best when I can use and work with the information.

This course was very informative and Dr. Jeff's curriculum was spot-on. I would recommend this course to anyone who would like to work as a veterinary assistant or to a pet owner who wants to be more knowledgeable as it relates to their pet's care.

This course was really well designed and easy to follow. The information was extremely pertinent and covered many necessary basics not only to becoming a veterinarian assistant, but to simply be a good pet owner. The instructor was very friendly, always answered questions quickly and accurately, and encouraged discussion among the students as well.

I was really impressed with this course. Jeff Grognet has a way of transmitting information that was not only thorough, but showed a lot of compassion for pets, their owners, and those who work with them. He shared his experiences in the field which was helpful and educational...I liked the breadth of information offered, from medical to office management to CPR and on. I liked that the final allowed me to refer back to the lessons to find answers -- doing this really made me review everything...I'll be referring back to this course often as my work with animals continues.

This course was fantastic! Easily managed but packed with information. The course layout on the website was also amazing...I was even able to print and save the lessons so I could keep reviewing it in the future! The instructor's expertise was impressive...The little games and quizzes helped to add a bit of that charm that's usually lost in an online course of this type. I would definitely recommend this course to others and I would love to take the next two courses in this series in the future.

Become a Veterinary Assistant

Lehman College