Animal Technician jobs in Long Beach, CA

Job Purpose –

• Increase efficiency of the doctor staff by providing care and support to patients, clients, and hospital staff
• Provide excellent medical support and compassionate care for patients and clients
• Act as a point of communication between clients and internal hospital staff regarding the status of patients in hospital

Duties and Responsibilities –

• Possess complete understanding of all knowledge required for, and skill set of, the Assistant Level II job description
• Responsible for training technical employees in levels below current level
• Give accurate and detailed patient rounds.
• Admit and discharge a patient from the telemetry system.
• Administer oral medications to a dog or cat. Have knowledge of the injectable medication administration sheet and of administering IV medications when the patient is on or off IV fluids.
• Set up and aseptically place IV catheter in dogs (cephalic and saphenous vein), cats (cephalic and medial saphenous vein). Perform IVC maintenance following in house protocol.
• Perform quality nursing care including ensuring that the patient has clean, comfortable bedding and is kept clean at all times. Check IVC for swelling around the tape and confirm patency.
• Correctly perform drug calculations and be able to calculate mg to ml, mcg to mg, g to mg.
• Set up and calculate IV fluid additives for administration (example KCl and Dextrose).
• Set up for and obtain radiographs with proper positioning.
• Correctly perform nebulization and coupage on patients.
• Obtain blood pressure with a doppler and understand normal parameters and when to alert the doctor.
• Understand perfusion parameters.
• Correctly identify basic cardiac arrhythmias such as a VPC and understand treatment.
• Wrap packs and pouches for surgical equipment.
• Perform basic operating room set up and have knowledge of the basic instruments.
• Set up and leak test anesthesia machines and monitoring equipment. Use the monitoring sheet in Smartflow.
• Identify and use correctly each blood collection tube. Collect blood from cephalic, lateral and medial saphenous veins and understand how to properly handle the sample.
• Administer Subcutaneous fluids to a patient.
• Run and read PCV/TS and understand what these numbers mean and what normal values are.
• Perform in house laboratory tests on the Idexx Procyte, Catalyst, Coag, Siemens Blood Gas Machine, Abaxus i-Stat, UA Analyzer, Sedivue.
• Perform blood typing and log blood products accurately.
• Demonstrate safe patient restraint for physical exam, blood collection, IV catheter placement, Abdominal Ultrasound and Cardiac Ultrasound.
• Understand and perform nursing care for non ambulatory patients including how to sling walk.
• Perform monitoring and patient recovery after surgery or anesthetic procedures.
• Dispose medical waste safely.
• Assist with and understand basic CPR.
• Anesthesia On-Call shifts may be required
• Responsible for upholding the spirit of LBAE by handling all necessary tasks that require attention

Compensation: $26-29/HR