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I have been a vet assistant/tech for about 2 years (currently not anymore) and as of the last 9 months I have been volunteering with a hospital ED for human experience. I know of one school who accepts this, east Michigan, but I live in the southeast and would like to stay closer to home. Does anybody have any schools that also accept this or any comments on if I should include this in my HCE? Has anyone else gotten into a program with similar experience or know of anybody? Thank you.

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Sorry, no.  Not sure how East Mich. justifies vet tech as HCE but in this case animals are not similar enough to humans to qualify.  I wouldn't include it or even attempt to include it.

 

Volunteering also doesn't always count as HCE (some schools want paid experience since jobs typically have more structured duties).

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  • 4 years later...

Hey! For example, I was trained as a veterinary technician using the platform https://www.veterinaryschoolsu.com/vet-assistant/certification/ . Before starting the training, I found out if they give universally recognized certificates. As it turned out - yes! After graduation, I never had any problems with getting a job. And I was very afraid of it, to be honest. It seems to me that when you go to such a step as training, you have the right to demand a guarantee that your training certificate should be universally recognized.

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On 3/17/2017 at 6:38 PM, MT2PA said:

Sorry, no.  Not sure how East Mich. justifies vet tech as HCE but in this case animals are not similar enough to humans to qualify.  I wouldn't include it or even attempt to include it.

 

Volunteering also doesn't always count as HCE (some schools want paid experience since jobs typically have more structured duties).

As a former vet tech and current PA I strong disagree and I was accepted using 6000 hours as a vet tech. It's actually laughable that "scribe" or  hours are counted but vet tech is not in most cases. I drew blood from cats jugular veins while they tried to bite me. Gave vaccines. Performed xrays. So much experience that 50% of Pre-PA students never had. 

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On 3/17/2017 at 9:22 AM, hannahleigh1223 said:

I have been a vet assistant/tech for about 2 years (currently not anymore) and as of the last 9 months I have been volunteering with a hospital ED for human experience. I know of one school who accepts this, east Michigan, but I live in the southeast and would like to stay closer to home. Does anybody have any schools that also accept this or any comments on if I should include this in my HCE? Has anyone else gotten into a program with similar experience or know of anybody? Thank you.

Look for PA schools who also have VetMed programs. There are only 28 vet schools in the US but a lot have PA programs as well. Sometimes they will not list vet tech hours as acceptable but I had spoken to at least a dozen who said they would accept my 6000 hours. I drew labs, ran the labs in the machines, performed xrays and ultrasounds. Administered meds, monitored cardiac monitors, etc etc .... I was ready for PA school and the 3 years of becoming an EMT after being a vet tech for 3 years were a complete WASTE of time. 

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On 1/29/2022 at 8:27 AM, Lucy199 said:

Look for PA schools who also have VetMed programs. There are only 28 vet schools in the US but a lot have PA programs as well. Sometimes they will not list vet tech hours as acceptable but I had spoken to at least a dozen who said they would accept my 6000 hours. I drew labs, ran the labs in the machines, performed xrays and ultrasounds. Administered meds, monitored cardiac monitors, etc etc .... I was ready for PA school and the 3 years of becoming an EMT after being a vet tech for 3 years were a complete WASTE of time. 

I was a vet assistant for 4 years before PA school and my hours were accepted at my program.  I drew blood, ran labs, did xrays, started IVs, gave injections, intubated, prepped for surgery, maintained anesthesia during surgery, and first assisted.  Exposure to medicine like this is not possible in human medicine for the typical pre-PA student.  

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