Career Change - Registered Nurse to Vet Technician
Wednesday June 29, 2005
Career change is one of the most popular topics in the Pre-Vet & Career forum. Have you made a successful career change, or considering making one? Stop in and see what people are talking about.
BNJOYFUL asks: "I am in desperate need of advice! I currently work as an RN but am thinking of changing careers and becoming a vet tech. Has anyone done anything similar? I am wondering if a nursing background will make it easier to obtain a job within the veterinary medical field...?"
BNJOYFUL asks: "I am in desperate need of advice! I currently work as an RN but am thinking of changing careers and becoming a vet tech. Has anyone done anything similar? I am wondering if a nursing background will make it easier to obtain a job within the veterinary medical field...?"
Comments
I am also a RN interested in being a vet tech. I have the same questions as you. there is not a vet tech school in dayton Ohio so I am not sure what I am going to do.
I am a RN student right now. My primary major is Nursing and I am thinking of making my secondary Vetarinary Technician as well! All I know is that if you switch from RN to Vet Tech your pay will go down because Vet Techs aren’t as in demand as RNs. Sucks but I animals are so much happier to be around
I am currently enrolled to be a nurse, so that I can become a vet nurse.What would be the down side to being a nurse first.
I am also an experienced RN looking to switch to animal nursing. I understand the pay is much different. Looking for info. from anyone who has done this RN to Vet Tech.
Salary of a vet tech depends on your location. I live in the sf bay area, avg is 14 to 16 an hour from what i understand and RNs start around 34 an hour or so.
I have been a registered nurse in Texas since 1993. I asked my vet, whom I’ve used for 30 years, if a vet would hire me to become a RVT, while I was studying the program. He related that b/c I had a BS in nursing, certainly I would be in high demand for other vets. Currently, I work as a nurse/paralegal and make considerably less than if I worked clinically. Here in Texas, RVT pay is approx. 25K/year. However, I have no bills now and I believe that the job would be so much more rewarding than “pushing papers”.
oh wow! I saw this post and couldnt help but respond! I have a degree in veterinary technology, and a lisence in the state of California (RVT). I worked in a wonderful veterinary hospital for a few years and am now taking some more classes to get into a diploma program for registered nursing. (I now live in Virginia) HERE’S WHY: vet tech’s are extremely underpaid. I thought that I could deal with the the terrible income because I love animals so much, but after a while, you just start to get burned out from the aweful grunt work thats involved. Wrestling a 120 lb. rottweiler on the floor for 20 minutes while he’s trying to bite you and squirting his anal glands on you all for a $10 nail trim? oh yea…fun fun. daily fun. Lifting a sedated great dane (dead weight) onto an x-ray table 10 times in the same day to do a barium series. Keep lots of advil on hand for the back aches. I cant tell you the amount of times (and scars for that matter) that you have to wrestle a fractious cat or a vicious dog, and when they are in that state they do attack as well as urinate and defecate on you, anal gland secretions go everywhere, you have to restrain and hold on no matter what. How bout all the constant barking? Are you ready for 8 hours of constant barking? They dont stop when you tell them to, and you just cant sedate them cuz you want to. Hello headache. And you are not just a “nurse” to animals. You are the dentist, the surgical tech, the x-ray tech, the x-ray developer, you clean and pack all the surgical packs once surgery is done, you are the hospital cleaner (yup, laundry too in most hospitals) you have to clean the cages in recovery; that means any time an animal vomits or poops or urinates or leaves the hospital, you have to get a spray bottle and paper towels and clean the cage. If an animal makes a mess on the floor in treatment, there isnt an orderly you can call…nope, thats all you baby! grab the mop! depending on the hospital, you are the pharmacist too, you have to fill prescriptions. You are the anesthetist as well, responsible for knocking down the surgeries and monitoring them throughout their procedure. You are also the lab tech, doing fecals and running urine analysis, also blood counts. Now dont get me wrong, I loved working with the animals, thats the reason why I persued a career as a vet tech, and I loved the medicinal part of my job, but the rediculous amount of grunt work is what killed it for me and what ultimatly made me decide to look into being an RN. When I spent the majority of my day rolling around on the ground restraining dogs with no manners, cleaning cages, lifting from the floor and heaving anesthitized animals from treatment into surgery and then back into treatment and then into recovery; I was exhausted, my back and knees were killing me, and I stunk like any number of animal excrements that had gotten on me that day. Now ask yourself: are you willing to do this gloriousness of a job for $12 an hour? yea, me neither.
Please Please Please…..If you are really serious about leaving your job as an RN and becoming a vet tech, spend some time volunteering at your own vet hospital. They wont turn down free help, especially if you tell them you are interested in persuing a career as a vet tech. They’ll probably tell you that you’re crazy, but dont just spend one afternoon, spend a good amount of time seeing what the job is really like. Almost all vet tech’s will tell you though that the burn out rate is almost 100%.
I Hope that this was helpful, and I didnt squash anyone’s dreams. I wish that someone had told me to spend some time in a vet hospital before I went to school.
And if you feel like you need to give back to pets, or you want to help them or make a difference in their lives somehow, volunteer at your local shelter walking dogs, thats what I do!!!
Thanks Everyone!
*Dont Breed or Buy While Shelter Pets Die!!*
Wow Kat, thanks! I’m a new RN, currently making 25/h because jobs are kind of hard to come by in my area for new RNs so I’m working in a crappy nursing home… I was seriously thinking about switching careers to be a vet tech. I LOVE animals, way more than people, and I thought vet techs were just like nurses but for animals. I had no idea vet techs had to do all the dirty/unskilled labor. I did not know that the pay was THAT low. I expected to take a pay cut but I was thinking it would be more like 33% (that is, if a nurse makes 30 bucks an hour starting a vet tech should make 20).
Thanks for saving me from a big mistake… I’ll stay a nurse!
I’m currently an RN student and also taking online vet tech courses. I can totally understand what Kat says about the job description at vet clinics that don’t utilize vet assistants, but instead have vet techs do everything. But, I live near a very large vet hospital where there are cleaners & other staff that do the ‘grunt work’, allowing vet techs to do more medical work – what they are trained for.
I stumbled upon this line of comments when I googled “RN wants to change career” I have been an RN for 8 yrs now and when I read that vet techs are under pay (which I do not deny)… how about the nurses? I read that the nurses start $30/hr? wow! with all my experience and working in one of the best hospitals in the South I bearly make $21/hr! This job is mentally and physically draining as the one described by Kat as a vet tech. I am ready for a career change, I do not know what, but I am ready!
I am currently a Vet. Tech.(ICU Nurse) in a busy practice, and have been in the field for 10 years. Now I am also a junior in college for my B.S.N. because many of the same reasons Kat had mentioned.
To anyone interested in working as a Vet. Tech. Please do not quit your day job, try doing both, or per-diem work. Do what is best for yourself because being a vet tech can be rewarding, but at your own expense.
If money is not the issue then go for it. Animal care is in great need of improvement, and the skills of a R.N. can be of great help.
I have enjoyed reading all the comments on becoming a vet tech. I have been sooooo seriously looking for a career change. I have been a nurse for 24yrs. I enjoy the patients mostly, but I have always wanted to be in the veterinarian field ever since I can remember. I thought that I would continue to work part-time in my nursing position, and then work part-time as a vet tech. Does a vet tech get paid more or less than a vet assistant? I LOVE animals and have always had some sort of pet in my life. I just want to make the right career choice. After reading Kat’s comments it makes me wonder if maybe I should stay where I am. I am still struggling. I live in Virginia and the south does not pay nurses as well as some other areas. I look forward to anyone’s response to this. Thanks!!
I have enjoyed reading all the comments on becoming a vet tech. I have been sooooo seriously looking for a career change. I have been a nurse for 24yrs. I enjoy the patients mostly, but I have always wanted to be in the veterinarian field ever since I can remember. I thought that I would continue to work part-time in my nursing position, and then work part-time as a vet tech. Does a vet tech get paid more or less than a vet assistant? I LOVE animals and have always had some sort of pet in my life. I just want to make the right career choice. After reading Kat’s comments it makes me wonder if maybe I should stay where I am. I am still struggling. I live in Virginia and the south does not pay nurses as well as some other areas. I look forward to anyone’s response to this. Thanks!!
I thought I was a minority! I went to school to be an RN, worked for a short time. Then went back to become a vet tech (I have always loved animals). Well I almost finished until a family matter arose and I had to withdraw. I have to stay the vet tech course(2 yr)was shockingly hard and quite challenging. Even after going through nursing! The other post was right about you are not just a nurse(and I actually found it was very little care giving)you are also an x ray technician, a dental hygenist, a surgical nurse.. The amount of things you are expected to know is crazy. The testing in school was vigorous to say the least! There are also duties that are expected to be done around the facility whilst your in school, so its also like having a full time job on top of it!
I could go on.. For the amount of pay that is given, the demands put on vet techs seems very unreasonable..
I thought I was a minority! I went to school to be an RN, worked for a short time. Then went back to become a vet tech (I have always loved animals). Well I almost finished until a family matter arose and I had to withdraw. I have to stay the vet tech course(2 yr)was shockingly hard and quite challenging. Even after going through nursing! The other post was right about you are not just a nurse(and I actually found it was very little care giving)you are also an x ray technician, a dental hygenist, a surgical nurse.. The amount of things you are expected to know is crazy. The testing in school was vigorous to say the least! There are also duties that are expected to be done around the facility whilst your in school, so its also like having a full time job on top of it!
I could go on.. For the amount of pay that is given, the demands put on vet techs seems very unreasonable..
I have been an O.R. Rn for 9 years and a nurse for 12. I read the title and was curious. I read XO’s (?) post and thought…and its different HOW being a nurse vs a vet tech? (no disrespect intended at all!!) Ok we don’t have to express anal glands…lol…The pay may be more but maybe google RN Burnout too.There are so many nurses that are complaining of the same physical issues you are having. It is a tough job be it animals or humans.
My daughter works for Banfield as a PetNurse, and they have the assistants or CSE’s that do that “grunt” part of the work. She has been at this for 2 years, works with other PetNurses that have been at it for 10 years or longer, and while they have had a bumpy road getting appropriately trained staff and compliant doctors on board, they have a nice mix now, and their practice is doing great. She does have days where she is exhausted, but is not even remotely interested in Human Nursing.
I DO agree they are paid faaaarrrrrr less than they deserve to be paid for the amount of knowledge they have and over the many complex systems of all the animal kingdom, and the skills that you possess.
I would love to see the VT/VN’s stay in it, and become involved with your professional organizations, and start lobbying for better pay. (No it won’t happen overnight, but it won’;t happen at all, if no one speaks up!) Someone has to do that, somewhere to get changes started. I do know the power of a voice in your professional organizations.
Kudos to you all that have done this for as long as you have for the little that you get. I am sorry. I wish i could do more for you myself.
But….you will find that there are just as many issues in nursing as there are in the Vet tech world, and the “more pay” conversation runs around in our heads too…the grass may be greener for a while, and maybe that is what you need. If that works, come join the nurses! It will be a loss for the animal world I am sure.
Pay is a tough thing to look at in these economic times. I wish all of you good luck in wherever your journey may lead.
I completelty agree with O.R. RN. People shouldn’t have to choose between two careers due to the pay. If a RN = a RVT then they should recieve equal amount of payment for the work that they studied for and for what they work for. I am pretty sure that becoming a RVT school is not cheaper than becoming a RN