Assistant Technician Supervisor - Anesthesia

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts provides 24-hour care for pets 365 days of the year. Since 1985 the school has offered high-quality medical care, consultation, referral, and emergency veterinary services for the care of small animals, large animals, and exotic pets. The Assistant Supervisor Anesthesia is an intrinsic member of the anesthesia department providing excellence in care to small and large animal hospitals. The Anesthesia department has over 30 years of experience managing routine to critical cases for surgery, advanced imaging, and state-of-the-art procedures.

The Assistant Supervisor Anesthesia primarily functions as a working anesthesia technician participating in daily case coverage with additional administrative and leadership responsibilities. As a technician on the anesthesia team, you will perform anesthesia of all kinds, manage a busy and diverse caseload as well as support and teach veterinary students. Acting as the assistant supervisor in anesthesia, this position assists the supervisory team in managing the workflow, staffing, responsibility prioritization, and policy development for the department. Additionally, you will delegate responsibilities as needed, handle conflicts or concerns that arise in the daily workflow, and serve as a pillar for teamwork, respectful communication, superior patient care, and exceptional internal customer service. The assistant supervisor will assist with administrative responsibilities including the creation and management of employee schedules, managing call-out coverage and employee breaks, and assisting with employee weekly payroll.

As an Assistant Veterinary Technician Supervisor essential functions to the role will be:

Clinical Patient Care Responsibilities:

• Monitor, manage, and implement treatment plans as ordered by clinicians to ensure prompt delivery of high-quality patient care.
• Collaborate with administrative and clinical care team members throughout the hospital to coordinate and prioritize patient care.
• Assessment and anesthetic management of patients from induction, throughout the procedure, through to recovery.
• Anesthetic patient monitoring, identifying concerns with patients, and intervening as needed.
• Routinely perform technical duties such as IV catheter placement, intubation, medical calculations, pain assessments, and drug administration.
• Provide care to patients and support to co-workers and students that are consistent with hospital standards of minimizing fear, anxiety, stress, and pain in our patients.
• Complete diagnostic testing as ordered by clinicians including bench-top lab tests.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Ensure adequate inventory of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.
• Ensure all treatment areas are maintained in good condition, submit requests for improvements or work orders as needed, or schedule service.
• Assist in managing workflow and prioritization of tasks based on multiple factors including concurrent procedures and urgent requests
• Assist with technician scheduling, payroll, and annual performance reviews as needed
• Ensure all patient safety checklists and procedures are being followed
• Ensure controlled drug protocols are being followed and that controlled drugs are handled appropriately
• Manage the working student and student on-call schedules and identify concerns with working students
• Foster an environment of inclusion, respect, and learning
• Monitor student teaching labs to ensure quality education is being provided by the technicians
• Engage students to ensure they are receiving a successful and fulfilling education in the department
• Teaching
• Contributes to the teaching and instruction of veterinary and technician students performing basic technical skills and veterinary nursing care.
• Clinical instruction of basic and more advanced anesthesia protocols and procedures for veterinary students, interns, residents, and student technicians throughout anesthesia rotation.
• Assist in training, orienting, and mentoring new veterinary technicians in all aspects of the service.
• Engage students to ensure they are receiving a successful and fulfilling education in the department.

Departmental and Additional Responsibilities

• Cleaning and stocking of supplies and equipment in all areas for which anesthesia is responsible.
• Provide coverage for other shifts and sections of the hospital as needed.
• Participate in service and hospital-wide initiatives as required.
• Assist faculty and house officers with ongoing research projects.

Basic Requirements:

• Certified Veterinary Technician in good standing.
• 1 to 3 years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently when completing basic tasks and procedural skills, and the ability to conduct more advanced tasks under supervision.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to work effectively as a member of a diverse team of clinical and administrative professionals.
• Highly motivated, enthusiastic self-starter with a professional attitude.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and resourcefulness.
• Prior experience with an emphasis in anesthesia
• Excellent understanding of medical terminology and familiarity with veterinary pharmacology
• Experience with Microsoft Office and ability to learn electronic medical record systems and other software systems used.
• Minimum required technical skills:
• Safely restrain cats, dogs and exotic patients
• Assess the attitude and responsiveness of dogs and cats
• Obtain vital signs, including temperature, pulse, respiration, and capillary refill time.
• Be able to identify animals in pain or distress
• IV catheterization
• Phlebotomy (cephalic, saphenous, jugular)
• Dosage calculations for medications, fluid therapy, and continuous rate infusions.
• Set up of fluid therapy systems and fluid therapy monitoring
• Monitoring and identifying physiological parameters in patients under sedation and general anesthesia.
• Familiarity with sedatives and tranquilizers.
• Ability to use point of care machines.
• Describe steps required and be able to assist in CPR.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. with or without accommodation

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3 or more years experience in a busy, fast-paced veterinary hospital
• Previous veterinary technician leadership experience
• Experience in a large Specialty Hospital or Academic Hospital
• Demonstrated ability teaching other technicians, veterinary students, veterinary technician students
• Interest to learn advanced anesthesia practices/protocols/patient assessment
• Fear Free Certification
• RECOVER Certification
• Exotic Animal Handling Experience
• Experience working with large animals and/or an interest working with large animals