Technical Standards and Physical Requirements of the Veterinary Technology Program
Technical Standards & Physical Requirements of the Veterinary Technology Program
This is of vital importance that the applicants know the physical, cognitive and communication skills required by the program and profession.
The field of veterinary technology is both intellectually and physically challenging. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ensure that qualified applicants have the ability to pursue program admission. However, all students must meet the essential skills and technical standards to perform functions required of the veterinary technician program and veterinary profession. Every student will be held to the same standards with or without reasonable accommodations.
General Physical Requirements
Students must possess the physical ability to:
Tolerate walking and standing for at least 10 minutes at a time, multiple times per hour.
Lift and/or carry up to 20 pounds from floor to waist level or higher at least several times per day.
Lift objects weighing 20-50 pounds to a height of one meter or higher and carry the object or animal for a distance of two meters without assistance.
Use hands and arms to handle, install, position and move materials, equipment and supplies without assistance.
Handle, position and restrain live animals of small and large animal species.
Have sustained contact with multiple species of animals and be amenable to learning safe handling, restraining, and working with these animals. An individual should not be allergic to any species of animals to the extent that would prohibit working in a facility that has them.
Cognitive Ability
Students must:
Be able to function in a structured environment with significant time restraints and capable of making rapid decisions in urgent situations and meeting deadlines.
Possess a willingness to assist with and perform a wide variety of routine medical, surgical and diagnostic procedures common to the veterinary setting; including humane euthanasia and handling of sick, injured, fractious or aggressive animals without fear.
Be able to complete required tasks/functions under stressful and/or unpredictable conditions, including emergency situations.
Be able to access information from books, reference manuals, computers, and paper and electronic medical documents to perform duties and safely use equipment without assistance.
Be able to prioritize, organize and utilize time management skills to perform tasks.
Evaluate, synthesize and communicate diagnostic information to the attending veterinarian and/or staff.
Be able to progress toward minimal supervision as they advance through the program.
Communication Skills
Students must:
Read, write, speak and report accurately and effectively in English.
Comprehend and carry out complex written and oral instructions given in English.
Be able, when communicating with other individuals by speech, either in person or by telephone, to make legible and coherent written notes in English within the margins and space provided on the appropriate forms.
Professionalism and Interpersonal Skills
Students must:
Demonstrate professional and socially appropriate behavior.
Maintain cleanliness and personal grooming consistent with close human and animal contact.
Be able to interact appropriately with clients and all members of the veterinary healthcare team.
Have the ability to exercise good judgment and make appropriate professional and procedural judgment decisions under stressful and/or emergency situations (i.e. unstable patient condition), emergent demands (i.e. stat test orders), and distracting environment (i.e. high noise levels, complex visual stimuli, aggressive animals).
Manual Dexterity and Mobility
Students must:
Be able to move their entire body a distance of no less than three meters within two seconds of a signal to do so, to move rapidly from danger while handling animals in confined spaces.
Possess fine motor movements in order to perform the essential functions of the profession. This includes the dexterity to manipulate small equipment, adjust resistance on equipment, hold hooves while cleaning and evaluating, manage syringes, catheters, and common surgical instruments.
Possess tactile ability necessary for physical assessment and to perform nursing duties in a timely manner. This includes performing palpation during physical exams, administering oral, intramuscular, subcutaneous and intravenous medication, inserting and removing tubes, collecting organic samples from live animals and performing wound care.
Possess the ability to palpate and interpret findings, i.e. palpation of pulses, lymph nodes or trachea to determine proper endotracheal tube size.
Be able to hold surgical instruments in one hand and perform fine movements with such instruments. This includes the ability to assist in holding hemostats or other instruments while assisting in surgery, inducing and monitoring general anesthesia in an animal patient, and placing intravenous and urinary catheters without assistance.
Be able to hold, manipulate or tie materials ranging from a cloth patch to a very fine string This includes the ability to hold and manipulate a surgical sponge, tie a 00 silk suture, perform endotracheal intubation, inject liquid intravenously, catheterize animals to obtain urine and/or other body fluids as samples, and apply bandages without assistance.
Auditory, Olfactory and Visual Skills
Veterinary technicians must have functional use of senses to safely and correctly assess patients and interpret and record data.
Students must:
Possess adequate visual ability, with or without correction, that allows the determination of minute areas of detail, very small variations in colors and adequate depth perception (size, shape and texture), including differentiation of details as viewed through a microscope. This includes ability to characterize and interpret the color, odor, clarity and viscosity of body structures and fluids, observe variations in skin and mucus membrane color, integrity, pulsations, tissue swelling, etc.
Possess visual ability to allow for observation and assessment as necessary in nursing care both from a distance and close by in order to recognize physical status and non-verbal responses, including behaviors.
Possess auditory ability necessary to monitor and assess health status, including auscultation of heart and lungs, and hear equipment alarms and warning sounds from animals, humans and/or equipment of impending danger or injury.
Recognize and respond appropriately to distress sounds from animal and alarms/warning signals on animal monitoring equipment directly and through inter-communication systems to ensure patient safety.
Detect and respond appropriately to odors in order to maintain environmental safety and patient needs.
Be able to use a compound microscope to identify cells and organisms and be able to differentiate color of stained objects.
Be able to observe movement at a distance ranging from 30-45 centimeters to 15-20 meters at a discrimination level that permits detection of subtle differences in movement of the limbs in animals. This includes the ability to detect and describe a change in color of hair coat caused by licking or trauma, detect abnormal head posture in a parakeet, monitor respiratory rate during anesthesia, and read anesthesia monitoring equipment.
Be able to discriminate shades of black and white patterns in which the band is not more than 0.5mm in width. This includes the ability to characterize bacterial hemolysis on a blood agar plate, density patterns on a radiograph, and see ECG tracings.
Possess adequate depth perception to allow detection of a 0.5cm elevation that is no more than 1cm in diameter on a slightly curved surface having slightly irregular surface. This includes detection of tissue swelling on the hip of a smooth-haired dog to determine presence of a reaction to skin testing for allergies.
Be able to perceive the natural or amplified human voice without lip reading to permit oral communication in a surgery room with all occupants wearing surgical masks.
Be able to perceive the origin of sound as needed to detect movement of large animals in a pen or corral or monitoring multiple patients in an ICU.
Reasonable Disability Accommodations
All requests for reasonable accommodations must be initiated by the student. Reasonable accommodations may be provided for students with documented disabilities upon submission of appropriate documentation. Documentation must include the names, titles, professional credentials, license number, addresses and phone numbers of the medical professionals that evaluated the student as well as the date of the evaluation. The evaluation report must include a summary of the assessment procedures and evaluation instruments used to make the diagnosis and a narrative summary of evaluation results. The evaluation must list specific accommodations requested and the rationale for those accommodations. Documentation for eligibility must be current, preferably within the last three years. The age of acceptable documentation is dependent upon the disabling condition, the current status of the student and the student’s specific request for accommodations. Students may be required to resubmit this documentation each semester to allow for review of continuing eligibility for accommodations.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disability as a substantial limitation of a major life function. A temporary medical condition does not qualify as a disability and is not covered under the ADA of 1990 or under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act because the extent, duration and impact of the condition are not permanent. Accommodations may not provide an unfair advantage to the students, fundamentally alter the nature and substance of the curriculum, present an undue hardship for the institution, pose a direct threat to the safety of the patients, or compromise the academic integrity of the program. Students may be required to cover the cost of such accommodations and should be aware that a potential employer may not be amenable to use of accommodations that result in undue hardship to the employer. Students receiving accommodations must be aware that these may not be available from a prospective employer. Veterinary practices with small numbers of employees may be exempt from the requirements of ADA.
Examples of reasonable accommodations that may be available to students that qualify under the ADA for performance of required skills could include the following:
- Amplified stethoscope
- Portable speech amplifier
- Hearing aids
- Clear surgical masks
- Magnifying headsets
- Non-allergenic gloves
- Magnifying microscope monitor
Health Risks and Hazards of the Veterinary Technology Program
The veterinary technician profession may involve some potential health risks. The narrative below describes the potential dangers during training. We provide this information so that students can make an informed decision about participation in the veterinary technician program. Each student must read the statements below and sign the Informed Acknowledgement and Consent to Health Risks and Hazards associated with the profession before entry into the program.
Health Risks and Hazards in Veterinary Technology
This is a disclaimer to aid you in making an informed decision as to whether you should participate in the veterinary technician program, and accordingly, whether you should sign the Informed Acknowledgement and Consent to Health Risks and Hazards to enter this program.
Participation in the veterinary technician education and practice of animal health may involve injury, illness, or death to one’s self or others. Such injury or illness can include, but is not limited to, biting, kicking, scratching, and other actions of animals, exposure to infectious disease, improper use of equipment or substances involved in the practice of animal health care, exposure to hazardous substances or radiation. Accidental injury may also occur in the clinical setting, or en route to or from a clinical experience site. Injury or illness can affect an individual’s health or the health of their unborn child. Additionally, injuries or illness can impair an individual’s general physical and/or mental health, and may impact the individual’s future ability to earn a living, and/or engage in other business, social or recreational activities.
In addition to acknowledging health risks and hazards, applicant must be aware of their personal responsibility regarding matters of safety involving self, animals and others. It is the individual’s responsibility to ask questions and learn as much as possible from faculty, staff, clinical experience site mentors, veterinary technicians or other relevant knowledgeable persons. Students must inform appropriate faculty of any personal relevant medical condition that might potentially pose hazards or risk to self or others. Individuals may be required to submit permission from their personal physician to participate in veterinary technician education activities.
Veterinary technicians must be capable of communicating with other persons and maneuvering animals and heavy equipment. Therefore, they must have adequate use of limbs and speech. They must also have the ability to remain mentally and physically alert to react to emergency situations, equipment malfunctions, and safety hazard warning techniques. Therefore, they must have the functioning ability to feel, see, hear, smell and perform in stressful situations. Every reasonable attempt will be made to accommodate disabilities. Persons who consider themselves to be disabled or in need of accommodations should contact the Office of Accessibility Services at the earliest possible date.