RCC Vet Tech Instructor Kristin Loy Publishes New Book | Vet Tech Instructor

Veterinary Technician Book Offers Students
Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming a Vet Tech

Rockford, Ill. (January 19, 2016) – Long-time Rockford Career College Vet Tech Instructor Kristin Loy has recently had a book published by bluedoor, LLC, out of Minnetonka, Minn. “Veterinary Technician: Animal and Laboratory Techniques and Essential Skills” is a step-by-step guide on perfecting skills used by veterinary technicians when handling animals, including images detailing each task and techniques taught in Rockford Career College’s animal and clinical pathology classes.

Loy wrote the book and also supplied much of the photography to illustrate it. “We took more than 3,000 photos and ended up using about 800 of them,” she says. The book was originally intended as an operations guide across the Vet Tech programs operated by Rockford Career College.

“We had some discrepancies with different instructors teaching the same class so the director, Melissa Stacy, asked us to put together guidelines for instructors. As I got into it, I got super detailed and it turned in to a full-fledged book,” she says. The manual has been printed in-house for Rockford Career College instructors and students for the past five years, and the publisher is now offering it to the other vet tech programs offered by Rockford Career College’s parent company, the American Higher Education Development Corporation (AHED). The publisher has plans to offer it to vet tech programs across the country.

Loy says one of the the main selling points of the book is that it includes an essential skills sheet, and conforms with requirements by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) for accreditation. “It is basically a step-by-step guide that makes it easy for the students to correctly implement the essential skills and tasks needed when working with small animals and in laboratory classes,” she says. “It is especially good for schools that are just starting their veterinary technician programs.”

The book covers everything from the proper way to remove an animal from a cage to performing a dental exam and evaluating bloodwork. “Being a vet tech is a very rewarding career, but there is a lot that goes into it,” Loy says. “We want to make sure our students are fully prepared when they go out into the workplace.”

Loy has been working in the veterinary field for 16 years and a certified veterinary tech for 12.  She has taught at Rockford Career College for the past eight years. “Some days I miss the field work, but it has been just as rewarding working with students and teaching a new generation of vet techs to care for animals,” she says. 

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, “employment of veterinary technicians is expected to grow by 30 percent through 2022, much faster than the average for all occupations.”

Rockford Career College’s Vet Tech program prepares graduates to perform a wide variety of medical procedures, produce diagnostic radiographs, how to administer anesthesia, and surgical assisting. Students work with equipment used in today’s modern veterinary health practices, such as a digital X-ray machine and in-house blood machines. Upon graduation, vet techs could be prepared to work in private clinics, laboratories, animal hospitals, boarding kennels, animal shelters, rescue leagues and even zoos.

“Kristin is a fantastic instructor, and now she is a published author. She has already been such a huge influence on our vet tech programs, and now she will be influencing programs across the country,” said Stephen Tave, President and CEO of American Higher Education Development Cooperation. “We could not be more proud.”

Read more about Rockford’s Veterinary Technician Program here.

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