Technical Requirements and Essential Functions
PennWest California
Eberly College of Science and Technology
250 University Ave
California, PA 15419
B.S. and A.S. in Veterinary Technology
The technical standards in the field of veterinary technology are both intellectually
and physically challenging. These physical skills and cognitive abilities are required
of a student to complete the Veterinary Technology Program at PennWest California
(PennWest California). The student must also possess sufficient mental and emotional
stability to confirm that they are able to complete the entire course of study along
with being employable as a competent Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT) with or
without reasonable accommodations.
The PennWest California Veterinary Technology Program has an ethical responsibility
to ensure the safety of the animals with whom the students will come in contact as
well as to the public to assure that the students become capable and competent Veterinary
Technician professionals. The students admitted to our program must possess the integrity,
compassion, perception, as well as the physical and emotional capacity necessary to
practice veterinary technology skills. The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ensure that qualified applicants have
the ability to pursue program admission. However, all students should meet the essential
skills and technical standards to perform functions required of the veterinary technician
program and veterinary profession. Students are obligated to notify the administration
and faculty in the Veterinary Technology Program of any changes in their abilities
to fulfill the technical standards.
General Physical Expectations
Students are expected to:
- Tolerate walking and standing for at least ten minutes at a time, multiple times per
hour.
- Have the capability to lift and/or carry up to 50 pounds, with or without assistance,
from floor to waist level or higher at least several times per day.
- Have the capability to lift objects weighing up to 50 pounds, with or without assistance,
to a height of one meter or higher and carry the object or animal for a distance of
two meters.
- Possess sufficient motor function to handle, install, position and move materials,
equipment, supplies, and to administer proper animal patient care for varying lengths
of time.
- Capable of handling, positioning, and restraining live animals of small and large
animal species.
- Be able to have sustained contact with multiple species of animals and be amenable
to learning the safe handling, restraining, and working with these animals.
- Be able to sustain contact with multiple species of animals. No individual should
be severely allergic to any species of animals to the extent that it would prohibit
working in a facility that has them.
Cognitive Ability
Students are expected to:
- Be able to complete required tasks/functions in a structured environment under stressful
and/or unpredictable conditions or time constraints.
- Possess a willingness to assist with and perform a wide variety of routine medical,
surgical, and diagnostic procedures common to the veterinary setting; including humane
euthanasia and handling of sick, injured, fractious, or aggressive animals without
fear.
- Be able to complete required tasks/functions under stressful and/or unpredictable
conditions, including emergency situations.
- Possess the mental capacity to assimilate and learn an extensive amount of technical
and detailed information and to access information from books, reference manuals,
computers, and paper and electronic medical documents to perform duties and safely
use equipment without assistance.
- Have the ability to schedule appointments, admit and discharge patients, and triage
according to the client-patient-facility needs through either phone or in person.
- Have time management skills to be able to perform and complete tasks properly under
minimal supervision.
- Evaluate, synthesize, and communicate diagnostic information to the attending veterinarian
and/or staff.
Communication Skills
Students are expected to:
- Read and understand the legal and ethical standards of the veterinary medical profession.
- Read, write, speak and report accurately and effectively in English.
- Comprehend and carry out complex written and oral instructions given in English.
- Communicate with other individuals by speech, either in person or by telephone, to
make legible and coherent written notes in English within the margins and space provided
on the appropriate forms.
Professionalism and Interpersonal Skills
Students are expected to:
- Demonstrate the ability to work effectively, respectfully and professionally as part
of a veterinary healthcare team.
- Students must interact with animal patients, client owners, and the veterinary health
care personnel in a respectful and professional manner.
- Accept constructive feedback from others.
- Maintain cleanliness and personal grooming consistent with close human and animal
contact.
- Apply an understanding of interpersonal skills in all aspects of team dynamics.
- Have the ability to exercise good judgment and make appropriate professional and procedural
judgment decisions under stressful and/or emergency conditions (i.e. unstable patient
condition), emergent demands (i.e. stat test orders), and a distracting environment
(i.e. high noise levels, complex visual stimuli, aggressive animals).
Manual Dexterity and Mobility
Students are expected to:
- Be able to move his/her entire body a distance of no less than three meters within
two seconds of a signal to do so, to move rapidly from danger while handling animals
in confined spaces.
- Possess fine motor movements in order to perform the essential functions of the profession.
This includes the dexterity to manipulate small equipment, adjust resistance on equipment,
hold hooves while cleaning and evaluating, manage syringes, catheters, and common
surgical instruments.
- Possess tactile ability necessary for physical assessment and to perform nursing duties
in a timely manner. This includes performing palpation during physical exams, administering
oral, intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intravenous medication, insert and remove tubes,
collect organic samples from live animals, and perform wound care.
- Possess the ability to palpate and interpret findings, i.e. palpation of pulses, lymph
nodes or trachea to determine proper endotracheal tube size.
- Have the ability to perform cardiopulmonary cerebral recitation (CPCR) in the event
of an emergency.
- Have the ability to manipulate, or tie materials ranging from a cloth patch to a very
fine string. This includes the ability to hold and manipulate a surgical sponge, tie
a 00 silk suture, perform endotracheal intubation, inject liquid intravenously, catheterize
animals to obtain urine and/or other body fluids samples, and apply bandages without
assistance.
Auditory, Olfactory, and Visual Skills
Veterinary technicians should have functional use of senses to safely and correctly
assess patients and interpret and record data.
Students are expected to:
- Possess adequate visual ability, with or without correction, that allows the determination
of minute areas of detail, very small variations in color and adequate depth perception
(size, shape and texture), including differentiation of details as viewed through
a microscope. This includes ability to characterize and interpret the color, odor,
clarity, and viscosity of body structures and fluids, observe variations in skin and
mucus membrane color, integrity, pulsations, tissue swelling, etc.
- Possess visual ability to allow for observation and assessment as necessary in nursing
care both from a distance and close by in order to recognize physical status and non-verbal
responses including behaviors.
- Possess the auditory ability necessary to monitor and assess health status, including
auscultation of heart and lungs, and hear equipment alarms and warning sounds from
animals, humans, and/or equipment of impending danger or injury.
- Recognize and respond appropriately to distress sounds from animal and alarms/warning
signals on animal-monitoring equipment directly and through intercommunication systems
to ensure patient safety.
- Detect and respond appropriately to odors in order to maintain environmental safety
and patient needs.
- Be able to use a compound microscope to identify cells and organisms and be able to
differentiate colors of stained objects.
- Be able to observe movement at a distance ranging from 30-45 centimeters to 15-20
meters at a discrimination level that permits detection of subtle differences in movement
of the limbs in animals. This includes the ability to detect and describe a change
in color of hair coat caused by licking or trauma, detect abnormal head posture in
a parakeet, monitor respiratory rate during anesthesia, and read anesthesia monitoring
equipment.
- Be able to discriminate shades of black and white patterns in which the band is not
more than 0.5 mm in width. This includes the ability to characterize bacterial hemolysis
on a blood agar plate, density patterns on a radiograph, and see ECG tracings.
- Possess adequate depth perception to allow detection of a 0.5 cm elevation which is
no more than 1 cm in diameter on a slightly curved surface having a slightly irregular
surface. This includes detection of tissue swelling on the hip on a smooth-haired
dog to determine the presence of a reaction to skin testing for allergies. be able
to perceive the natural or amplified human voice without lip reading to permit oral
communication in a surgery room with all occupants wearing surgical masks.
- Be able to perceive the origin of sound as needed to detect movement of large animals
in a pen or corral or monitoring multiple patients in an ICU.
Reasonable Disability Accommodations
Reasonable Disability Accommodations Request for reasonable accommodations must be
initiated by the student. Reasonable accommodations may be provided for students with
documented disabilities upon submission of appropriate documentation. Documentation
must include the names, titles, professional credentials, license number, addresses,
and phone numbers of the medical professionals that evaluated the student as well
as the date of the evaluation. The evaluation report must include a summary of the
assessment procedures and evaluation instruments used to make the diagnosis and a
narrative summary of evaluation results. The evaluation must list specific accommodations
requested and the rationale for those accommodations. Documentation for eligibility
must be current, preferably within the last three years. The age of acceptable documentation
is dependent upon the disabling condition, the current status of the student and the
student's specific request for accommodations. Students may be required to re-submit
this documentation each semester to allow for review of continuing eligibility for
accommodations.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a disability as a substantial limitation
of a major life function. A temporary medical condition does not qualify as a disability
and is not covered under the ADA of 1990 or under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act because the extent, duration, and impact of the condition are not permanent. Accommodations
may not provide an unfair advantage to the students, fundamentally alter the nature
and substance of the curriculum, present an undue hardship for the institution, pose
a direct threat to the safety of patients, or compromise the academic integrity of
the program. Students may be required to cover the cost of such accommodations and
should be aware that a potential employer may not be amenable to use of accommodations
that result in undue hardship to the employer. Students receiving accommodations must
be aware that these may not be available from a prospective employer. Veterinary practices
with small numbers of employees may be exempt from the requirements of the ADA. Examples
of reasonable accommodations that may be available to students that qualify under
the ADA for performance of required skills could include the following:
- Amplified stethoscope
- Portable speech amplifier
- Hearing aids
- Clear surgical masks
- Magnifying headsets
- Non-allergenic gloves
- Magnifying microscope monitor