Veterinary Technology Program Policy

Student Orientation
All students and alternate students which are admitted into the program are required to attend Veterinary Technician Student Orientation. Only students who attend the orientation will be allowed to register for classes.
The orientation is held in the summer before the fall semester begins. The student will be notified of the date. Plan to set aside the majority of the day for the orientation program.  
A new student handbook is published once a year and is available at orientation

Health Screening/Immunizations
Safety considerations and procedures regarding disease are a primary consideration at PACVTP. Prior to enrollment, students are required to submit written documentation that their health will permit them to meet requirements of PACVTP. All students must provide proof of physical exam, complete an emergency contact form, and a medical release form, which will be maintained in your file.

1. In an effort to help maintain safety for our students, we strongly recommend the following immunizations:
1. Pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis
2. Tetanus prophylaxis

If the student declines any of these immunizations, a waiver form must be signed and placed in the student's file. The Veterinary Technology Program strongly recommends a pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis vaccination series for all PACVTP students at the student’s expense. Documentation verifying rabies vaccination series will be requested prior to registration for the fall semester.  If any student declines the rabies prophylaxis for whatever reason, a waiver will be signed by the particular student and placed in the permanent file.

Kennel Duty Rotation
All students are required to participate in the daily care and cleaning of animals housed by the program. Kennel duty is performed on a rotational basis, five days a week and a couple of shifts per weekend. Kennel duty is generally performed between 6am-8am and 4pm-6pm.

Failure of a Course
All Veterinary Technology Courses must be taken in sequence and a final grade of "C" or higher must be obtained in each course in order to progress to the next semester. Upon failure of a course, reentry into the Veterinary Technology program will require a GPA of 2.0 or above, and if space is available at the time of reentry. Students will have to wait until the following year to retake the courses that were failed.  Reentry into the program may be contingent on class space available.

Pregnancy & Other Special Needs
Because of the nature of this profession, there are certain limitations that should be observed by any student who is pregnant or might be pregnant. The hazards that accompany many of our courses, such as use of radiation, anesthetic gases, formalin, as well as other chemicals, can be highly detrimental to an unborn fetus. Any student who believes she may be pregnant has a right to privacy regarding her pregnancy.  However, should she voluntarily choose to waive that right in part, she may request that the program director arrange detailed counseling regarding the potential hazards and strategies to reduce them.  Students are ultimately responsible for determining the likelihood of their pregnancy and reducing its hazards in the context of the program.  Such hazard reduction might extend to dropping courses with hazards not susceptible to adequate reduction.  If dropping a course is desired in this context, special accommodations may be made.