Surgery Technician II

OVERVIEW: Responsibilities of this position are that of a Surgery Technician II for the WRAIR/NMRC, Animal Care Project. These responsibilities include all activities required for the proper care and maintenance of on-site animals and support of animal surgeries. All employees are expected to perform their duties as assigned, arrive to work at 6 am to 2:30 pm or 7 am to 3:30 pm (Mon-Fri). You will be required to work on weekends if scheduled. The weekend hours are from 7 am to 12:00 pm. This position is designated as essential. In addition you will be expected to work extra hours during an emergency situation or if any unexpected situation arise until work is completed. Surgery hours may vary depending on needs to support scheduled surgeries. You are to serve as the subject matter expert in your assigned areas. We expect the Surgery Technician II to be forward thinking and create and assist in developing plans to enhance the learning abilities and performance of the staff working on this contract. The Surgery Technician II must possess verbal communication and teaching skills.

Primary duties include:

• Surgery support may include per-operative and post-operative monitoring and oversight for small and large animal operative procedures to ensure compliance with institution policies, SOPs, and command directives, as well as external/federal regulatory guidelines, policies and procedures
• Provide administrative and compliance support by receiving and coordinating PI small animal surgery schedules; issues, receives, and catalogs rodent surgery monitoring cards; conducts frequent and routine surgery monitoring from schedules received; provides immediate feedback and retraining if necessary to PI and surgeons on specific techniques; maintains records of all findings and reports serious violations observed to the Chief, Veterinary Surgery Branch
• Provide protocol support for Principal Investigators (PI) and conducts post-operative surgery observations for a variety of research animal species, including, but not limited to rats, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, sheep, dogs, swine, and non-human primates
• Provide support to other surgery functions to include sanitation, sterilization, animal handling and other pre and post-operative support
• Must be knowledgeable of veterinary medical terminology and animal nursing.
• Understand and follow all SOPs and Quality assurance standards
• Assist veterinarian with examinations and procedures, and alert veterinarian of emergencies or animal problems
• Provides immediate feedback and retraining if necessary to PI and surgeons on specific techniques
• Maintains records of all findings and reports serious violations observed to the Chief, Department of Veterinary Surgery
• Perform technical and surgical duties within the surgical support areas.
• Assist in preparations of animals for surgical procedures; monitor anesthesia of animals; and assist during surgery
• Maintain all surgical equipment and cleanliness and order of the surgical suites, prep and recovery after each surgery
• Collect physiological data (pulse, respiration, heart rate, body temperature, etc).
• Safely and correctly handle and restrain animals for observation and/or minor procedures
• Identify and communicate signs of abnormal or poor health, and observe and identify abnormal behavior
• Maintain medical records accurately
• Assist veterinarian or scientist in approved technical, surgical and research procedures
• Monitor the health status of in-house animals with daily clinical rounds and preliminary health exams and create clinical care sheets, as needed
• Provide technical guidance and training to husbandry, veterinary and research staff
• Administer/perform routine clinical treatments as directed (Topical, PO, IM, SQ, IV, ID) to animals, to include calculating doses for treatments.
• Participate in weekly technical or SOP training
• Assist with animal receipts and shipping
• Maintains inventory of technical supplies, such as medications, surgical, and procedure room supplies
• Reports all animal and personnel issues and concerns to the appropriate chain of command
• Euthanize and dispose of animals per SOP/policy
• Provide technical and husbandry services, as needed, for the animal care facilities
• Must be able to lift a maximum of 50 lbs.; bend, push, pull, stoop, climb and stand for a prolonged period.
• Perform other duties assigned
• Knowledge of PCs, Microsoft Office software and database systems

Requirements:

2 years of experience in surgical technical work, expectation of an A.S. or B.S. in Biology, animal sciences, related discipline desired. Must be certified by the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science at the Laboratory Animal Technician level or be ALAT certified and then, obtained LAT within 1 year of hire. Must attain and maintain access to workplace as set forth by WRAIR personnel, access and security requirements. Maintain all contract requirements to include quality of work, occupational health (e.g., vaccinations) and training.