Technical Standards for CCBC's Veterinary Assistant Training Program
The primary goal of The Community College of Baltimore County's Veterinary Assistants training program is to prepare individuals interested in working with animals in an entry-level position in animal shelters, animal emergency centers and veterinary practices. The duties of a Veterinary Assistant require the ability to routinely lift animals and sustain long hours of active work. They need to clean and disinfect cages and work areas, and sterilize laboratory and surgical equipment. Assistants may provide routine post-operative care, and administer medication orally or topically, or prepare samples for laboratory examination under the supervision of veterinary or laboratory animal technologists or technicians or veterinarians.
The following is a partial listing of the types of skills typically required for adequate job performance:
Physical Requirements:
A. Sufficient strength and mobility to:
- Lift or move animals up to 50 pounds or more
- Ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body continuously over time without giving out
B. Fine motor coordination sufficient to perform precise tasks such as:
- Ability to make precise movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects
- Ability to keep your arm and hand steady
- Ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs
C. Adequate vision to:
- See details at a distance
D. Sufficient hearing to:
- Hear and give verbal instructions in person under noisy conditions
- Identify and understand the speech of another person
Interpersonal Skills and Professionalism:
A. Have the ability to:
- Develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with others and maintain them over time
- Provide customer and personal services, including the ability to perform customer needs assessment, meet quality matters standards, and evaluate customer satisfaction
- Maintain proper certifications required to perform the duties of the profession
B. Sufficient communication skills to:
- Provide information to supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates by telephone, written form, email, and in person
- Communicating with people outside of the organization and representing the organization to customers
- Communicate in a calm and professional manner
Intellectual Ability and Emotional Stability To:
- Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Exercise independent judgment to properly perform tasks at hand
- Work calmly and efficiently in a fast-paced, stressful environment
- Maintain calm during emergency situations
Environmental Requirements:
- Working in an environment that is often noisy
- Working in an often times stressful and fast paced environment
- Working in an environment with unpleasant odors (feces).
