The Veterinary Assistant supports the veterinarians and veterinary technicians in ensuring quality veterinary care for all pets, advocates for pets, educates clients on all aspects of pet health, and ensures a safe and effective hospital environment.
Live and exemplify the Five Principles of Mars, Inc. within self and team.  Act as the extra eyes, ears and hands for the veterinarian and veterinary technician to ensure the best quality pet care and to maximize the veterinarian's and veterinary technician’s productivity. Communicate with veterinarian, veterinary technicians and all other associates to maintain the flow of patients.  Provide professional, efficient and exceptional service at all times. This includes performing or preparing procedures that do not require veterinarian or veterinary technician assistance, completing preparatory work for other procedures, ensuring that clients and pets are comfortable in the hospital, and monitoring hospitalized or surgical pets as allowed in the state practice acts.  Educate clients about Optimum Wellness Plans, preventive care, pet health needs, hospital services and other issues.  Obtain relevant information and history from clients and maintain proper and complete medical charts.  Ensure the safety of pets, clients and associates by utilizing safe restraining techniques, following standard protocols, and maintaining clean, sterile and organized treatment areas, exam rooms and labs.  Assist with surgery as applicable.  Utilize technical skills to the fullest, within state practice acts and as outlined in the NAVTA guidelines for veterinary assistant skills and duties.  Mentor other paraprofessionals in the hospital.  Other job duties as assigned.
Ability to multi-task- Manages multiple tasks at one time; quickly and accurately shifts attention among multiple tasks under distracting conditions without loss of accuracy or appearance of frustration.  Communication skills - Reads, writes and speaks fluent English, using appropriate grammar, style and vocabulary. Correctly spells commonly used English words and job specific terms. Demonstrates exceptionally strong written and verbal communication skills.  Organizational ability – Demonstrates a systematic approach in carrying out assignments. Is very orderly and excels at cutting through confusion and turning chaos into order.  Problem solving skills - Demonstrates a strong ability to identify, analyze and solve problems. Translates problems into practical solutions.  Client service skills - Consistently ensures the team provides the client with attentive, courteous and informative service. Gains and shows personal satisfaction from delivering great service.  Intellectual ability - Accurately and consistently follows instructions delivered in an oral, written or diagram format. Can provide directions.  Mathematical ability - Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide, and to compute rate, ratio and percent; ability to convert units of measurement.  Computer skills - Comfortably and confidently uses a computer and specialized medical software, as well as Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel.
Initiative – shows willingness and aptitude to take appropriate steps in finding solutions to problems; presents options and ideas to enhance current processes or procedures. Takes on additional responsibility when both big and small tasks need to be done.  Integrity – Firmly adheres to the values and ethics of Banfield Pet Hospital. Exhibits honesty, discretion, and sound judgment.  Cooperativeness – Willing to work with others, collaborating and compromising where necessary; promptly share relevant information with others.  Flexibility – Is open to changing situations and opportunities and is willing to perform all tasks assigned.  Independence – Able and willing to perform tasks and duties without supervision as appropriate.  Tolerance for Stress / Resiliency – Maintains a positive “can do” outlook, rebounds quickly from frustrations and unpleasantness, and maintains composure and friendly demeanor while dealing with stressful situations.
Ability to work at a computer for long periods of time.  Ability to be confident around pets (i.e., dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, etc.)  Client needs and work volume may often require more than 40 hours per week to complete essential duties of this job. This position requires special hours including working weekends and evenings.  Must have mental processes for reasoning, remembering, mathematics and language ability (reading, writing, and speaking the English language) to perform the duties proficiently.  The noise level in the work environment is moderately high.  Requires sufficient ambulatory skills in order to perform duties while at hospital.  Ability to stand, walk, stoop, kneel, crouch, and climb as well as manipulate (lift, carry, move) up to 50 pounds.  Requires good hand-eye coordination, arm-hand-finger dexterity with the ability to grasp, and visual acuity to use a keyboard and operate equipment.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.  Associate is routinely exposed to a variety of pets that may bite or scratch, and on occasion, exposed to anesthesia, radiation, biological hazards and medication/controlled substances.
Certificate of completion from a NAVTA approved Veterinary Assistant program, or the equivalent combination of education, training and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities. High School Diploma or equivalent preferred.  Must be able to perform all required skills of NAVTA approved veterinary assistant programs at a level in which to aid in the efficiency of the practice.  Must be at least 18 years old to perform duties involving radiography (x-ray) and exposure to radioactive substances.  One year related experience required with customer service preferred.