What does a VA actually need to know?
Edit 2: Please stop telling me that I don't belong in vet med because "I'm not interested in learning." I am asking what level of knowledge is acceptable to BEGIN a career as a VA. I may be a little dumb but I am not dumb enough to believe that one simply stops learning once they get a job. Continuous education is important for all people, vet med or not. Good lord.
Hello! I'm currently enrolled in a 6 month self-paced online vet assistant program provided by a local university. I'm working on lesson 4 of 25 right now and I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed already. Lesson 1 included a vague description of a VA's responsibilities but I still don't know, in detail, what a VA actually does day to day.
In lesson 4, I'm learning (or trying to, anyway) about cells, the musculoskeletal system, types of bones, the layers within bones, types of muscles, tendons, ligaments, veins and arteries, digestive system, urinary system, reproductive system, all in great detail. Based on the vague list of VA responsibilities, it seems like I don't need to know a lot of this and could be wasting my time trying to memorize vet TECH level information, rather than information that a vet ASSISTANT would actually use/need to know.
So, does a vet assistant actually need to know the full and complete anatomy, physiology, and terminology relating to animals?
The list of VA responsibilities includes "assist vet and vet techs before, during, and after surgery" but what exactly does that mean? In what way are you assisting?
If I do need to know all of this, do you have recommendations for how to permanently cram all of this into my brain in fewer than 6 months? I'm 34, f, graduated HS in 2010, have never attended college, and have never worked in the veterinary field before. My brain simply cannot comprehend how anyone could possibly memorize all of this information. Before enrolling in this program, I had attempted to shadow at a few vet clinics in my town to get a better understanding of what I would be doing/need to know to be successful in this career. Unfortunately, no one responded to my requests or called me back.
I have the ability to cheat my way through this program by simply googling the answers to test questions, however, I would very much like to be preppared and successful in this career. I want to gain knowledge, not just a piece of paper stating that I completed an online course. I also don't want to overwhelm myself with information that I don't need. If I don't need to know all this detailed anatomy information, I could possibly skim through those lessons without trying to memorize the anatomy of bones and whatnot 🥲
PLEASE, I would greatly appreciate if anyone could help me out here. I also welcome any advice that I've not thought to ask about.
Edit 1: Thank you for the responses, everyone. The general consensus seems to be "not entirely necessary knowledge for a beginner but certainly beneficial to know" which means that it's time to lock in, do my best, and not allow myself to stress about needing to know all of the things right now 😅
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