It never occurred to me that this may be a question that needed to be answered until I was chatting with my mom. She asked what one of the acronyms I was using stood for. Most of us are familiar with many of the common acronyms out there, such as: LOL (laugh out loud), OMG (oh my goodness), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CSI (Crime Scene Investigator). There are SO many! But check out the team member page of our website and you’ll find more acronyms that you may not be familiar with. Let’s start at the top of that page and work our way down.
DVM – Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Ah, our veterinarians. A ridiculous amount of schooling and student debt didn’t deter them from getting into a field that they love. Thank goodness for that! We are so lucky here at MVH (Martensville Veterinary Hospital, since this blog is all about breaking down the acronyms!) to have 4 vets who are very different from one another, but united in their passion for enhancing the human-animal bond.
RVT – Registered Veterinary Technologist. I’m part of this group, so I may be a bit biased but we are pretty awesome! 2 years of school, a national exam, and then we can call ourselves RVT’s. DVM’s can do it all but RVT’s come in close behind them! Groomers, lab technicians, phlebotomists, x-ray technicians, dental hygienists; the list goes on and on. Enough of tooting my own horn, let’s move on!
VPM – Veterinary Practice Manager. Because Tech school wasn’t enough, Kate went on to continue her education to become a practice manager. What does this mean? It means Kate is crazy! Crazy in love with her job and the clinic! Not only does she perform RVT duties, but she also does a lot of behind the scenes business type stuff. Do I know exactly what she does? No, I don’t, but I do know enough to appreciate her and her hard work!
VOA – Veterinary Office Assistant. The front line. The first and last faces you see at the clinic. These amazing ladies put in 6 months of hard work to get a VOA diploma. Think it’s easy sitting up front answering phones and talking to people? Heck no! Not only do they have a heavy workload, they also bear a heavy emotional burden because they are almost always the first to hear from upset clients. Yet, they come to work every day and put on a smile. I love our VOA’s!
TA – Tech Assistant. This is the acronym I was using when my mom stopped me to learn what it meant. Before we had tech assistants, their job was my job, and by my job, I mean the job of all of the RVT’s. We were busy! So busy that, looking back, it was difficult to do our jobs as well as we’d like to have. I hope they read this. TA’s, you save my derrière every day! Not only are they my best friend but they are your pet’s best friend too. They are an extra set of eyes, ensuring your pet is clean, warm, dry, and loved during their entire stay at the clinic.
So there you have it. All of our job title acronyms. I hope I was able to give you the impression that I appreciate every single one of them, because I do. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to stop and say, “Thank you! No, really. THANK YOU!” Our team is made stronger by every person in it. DVM’s, RVT’s, RVT’s that double as VPM’s, VOA’s, TA’s. We’re all here to help make your pet’s life as long and as awesome as it can be!
TTYL,
Chantel, RVT