Veterinary Assistants are absolutely essential to the well functioning veterinary clinic. Veterinary assistants obtain vital signs, restrain patients, run blood work, administer medications, assist with taking x-rays and administering medications....without assistants, veterinarians and veterinary technicians would be overworked (more than they are), stressed, and unable to perform their duties to the fullest extent.
A quality veterinary assistant is proactive - always thinking a step ahead to anticipate the DVM's needs, and working alongside the Credentialed Vet Tech to keep the cogs of the clinic moving. They communicate with team members and clients, and provide tender loving care to the pets that come through the door.
I have been fortunate to have encountered and worked with some extremely capable veterinary assistants. Frequently, veterinary assistants are trained on the job. This means they start working with no veterinary experience at all, and are taught, over time, how to help out and be a part of the team. The best sort of veterinary assistant is always observing and asking questions, and after extensive training and experience, is able to offer more quality care to their team members and patients.
Experienced veterinary assistants, those who choose to make it a career, are my personal favorite. They've been in the field so long, they know when to speak up as a patient advocate, read their DVM to anticipate patient needs, and the line may seem to blur between a veterinary assistant with extensive experience and a credentialed veterinary technician. The thing to remember is that credentialed veterinary technicians are graduates of a school that is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association, they have passed a national exam and a state exam, they are allowed by law to practice veterinary medicine as long as they do not diagnose/provide prognosis/perform solo surgeries, they are allowed by law to perform certain tasks and procedures that veterinary assistants cannot legally perform. They are also held legally accountable for their actions (assistants are not - the vet is held accountable), have a degree in veterinary technology, and are required to have a minimum amount of yearly education to keep their fingers on the pulse of veterinary medicine. An assistant may or may not have a certificate of completion for a veterinary assisting program, which introduces them to the world of vet medicine in a fantastic way, but is not currently required.
This is not to say that credentialed veterinary technicians are better than veterinary assistants. That is far from the truth! Both positions are beneficial to a veterinary practice. Veterinary assistants and veterinary technicians are different titles to differentiate between whether a person is formally or informally educated in the field, their level of legal liability, and legal abilities to perform duties. It's like an EMT vs a paramedic, or a CNA vs an RN. One has more education and responsibility than the other, and both are necessary. No one is "better than" anyone else, but they are on different levels, professionally and legally.
There are a few reasons why someone would choose to be a veterinary assistant instead of a veterinary technician. First of all, it's a non-regulated field of work. There is no degree, certificate, or diploma that is required to be a veterinary assistant. This means that they can get into the field with no experience - generally working their way up from "kennel tech" to an assisting position based on what the clinic asks them to do. The supervising veterinarian is held liable for any actions that the veterinary assistant takes, and the assistant is held accountable only by the supervising entity of the practice they work at.
Second, because it does not require regulation or a degree/certificate to perform the duties asked of them, the veterinary assistant does not have any student loans to pay off. There is no 2-4 years of student debt, no yearly continuing education requirements/fees, no testing fees, no yearly license renewal fees. This means that those who cannot afford school can work in the veterinary field, albeit at a lower salary and fewer legal tasks. For many veterinary assistants, this is fine by them. Because placing catheters and drawing blood is a teachable task, as is running blood work and performing lab tests, this is as far as they desire to go in veterinary medicine and do not feel as though they want/need to learn more.
Third, someone who has been working up in a clinic since they were in high school may choose to remain a veterinary assistant because they either feel they know all they need to know, or they plan to go to veterinary school to become a DVM. Going to veterinary technician school is either something that they feel is unnecessary, or they will be obtaining a more thorough degree through veterinary school and would like to keep their position at the clinic through vet school. This gives them a leg up on becoming a veterinarian.
The problem with learning on the job is that the knowledge that is given is one or two vets' choice as to how their clinic is to be run. School shows the global and national standards of medicine, and any given clinic could be either 20+ years behind the current standards, or fully up to date and on the cutting edge of medicine. One of the most dangerous phrases is, "because we've always done it that way." Don't be That Guy.
Please don't look down on veterinary assistants. The experienced, ravenous-for-learning VAs can be just as good as the experienced, ravenous-for-learning Vet Techs. There is a difference in title and responsibility, but there's no difference in the love of what we do. And that's what counts.
VAs, OWN your title. Don't pretend to be something you're not, just because you think that it's better than what you have. Be the best damn VA there ever was, and kick ass. You get out of life what you put into it. And YOU are more than enough.
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