Missi Potenziani CVT

Responsible for on-boarding new hire technicians

Training new technicians who are very green and getting them up to speed for an emergency setting

Providing support and education to continue learning

Responsible for training "Techs in training" which are assistants who are currently enrolled in a technician program

Responsible for training extern technicians from outside schools and programs

Responsible for retraining technicians who need more help in certain areas ex: anesthesia, CPR, prioritizing patients according to presenting concerns, medications, proper restraining, venipunctures, sampling lines, Lumens, U-caths, labwork, radiology, client compassion and how to navigate stressful situations. triaging

Being a strong leader and leading by example

Working mainly in ICU with mild to critical patients needing around the clock care

Monitoring and catching any changes in patient vitals that require immediate intervention

Knowledge of medications, Mechanism of Action, reconstituting, amount of time to be administered, storage, side effects

Knowledge of lab work and what results indicate

CPR certified in ALS and BLS

can properly run a code in the event of a STAT situation

Most Importantly, Passionate about my patient care!

Advocating for my patients and their needs

• Worked in IMC ward taking care of in patients.
• Recovery technician for multiple services
• Help with ER admits when need.
• Hourly monitoring of patients and any treatments needed
• Communicating with Doctors on cases and changes noticed.
• Daily charges
• Discharges and at home care and education on medications
• Client updates
• Being a "go to" tech for others in ER.

• Critical Care ICU Technician, caring for critical patients and helping assist Doctors and teammates with diagnostics and treatments
• Duties include:
• Quality patient care, proper knowledge of diseases and trauma, proper knowledge of administered medications and drug compatibility/interactions as well as dilution ratios and proper amount of time to be given over.
• Knowledge of emergency drugs and protocols
• Assessed extent and nature of injury or illness to prioritize and establish medical procedures
• Assisted with resuscitation, CPR and emergency airway procedures
• Placing catheters (Central lines,sampling cath, peripheral ,urinary) and venipunctures.
• Placing NG tubes as well as nasal cannulas
• Perform blood/plasma transfusions
• Radiology
• Patient vitals as well as blood pressures and visual inspections to log any changes or new findings
• Lab work and knowledge of in house machines
• Client communication and updates
• Talking with clients in difficult situations when time is of essence and still allowing them to feel in control and heard.
• Filling prescriptions.
• Keyholder for controlled drug lock box.
• Recovery and post op care for surgical or anesthetized patients.
• Some knowledge of CT machine and how to effectively run it.
• Proper morning and evening rounds with teammates.
• Patient charges and charge capturing
• Cross trained to work on other services ( Internal Medicine, Surgery, Oncology, Cardiology, work 1.5 years on Ophthalmology service)
• Answering phones and helping direct clients as well as computer tasks and new clients.

• In charge of coordinating Small Animal Internship program under direction of Medical Director and Intern Director, Dr. Heather Galano VMD, DACVIM/Neurology
• Setting up Internship for 3rd and 4th year Veterinary students.
• Helped guide new interns of set up process and how to apply.
• Required to be in contact with applicants during admissions process
• Making sure all info and documents needed by students were complete and available for Lead Doctors at Shoreline and our Sister Hospital VCA Norwalk for Match Day.
• In charge of Intern class and responsible for scheduling and requested days off.
• In charge of events for new class Interns as well as current Interns
• In charge of Intern class during their program here with VCA.

• Expertly managed planning, scheduling and coordination of inpatient/outpatient/emergency procedures.
• Coordinated with facilities to set up surgeries for referred patients and obtained all records needed prior to consultations.
• Reviewed medical histories and current information to provide accurate information to surgeons.
• Checked patients in and out and collected payments.
• Answered phone calls and messages for surgical department and both surgeons, scheduling appointments and handling patient inquiries.
• Received, recorded and addressed incoming and outgoing communication via telephone and email.
• Scheduled patient follow up appointments in respective doctors' calendars and followed up with reminder phone calls.
• Coordinated referrals through insurance and other medical specialists and documented details in patient charts.
• Completed administrative patient intakes with case histories, insurance information and mandated forms.
• Obtained payments from patients and scanned identification and insurance cards.
• Registered and verified patient records before consultations with most up-to-date information.
• Frequently double-checked patient histories and current information while scheduling follow-ups and other appointments.
• Greeted visitors and initiated consultation processes for clients to streamline patient flow.
• Contacted hospitals to confirm patients medical histories and prevent inaccurate diagnoses and treatments.
• Carried out front office duties utilizing data entry skills in framework of medical database.
• Received and routed laboratory results to correct clinical staff members.
• Managed office logistics by scheduling appointments, maintaining files and collecting payments.
• Organized and maintained patient chart filing system to promote quick data finding for staff.
• Facilitated organized record retrieval and access by maintaining filing system for both in-house and discharged residents.
• Educated patients about surgeries and provided treatment plan documentation.
• Verified insurance coverage and obtained pre-authorizations.
• Discussed discharge instructions, medications and follow up at time of pick up as well as all post op care instructions with my business card and email attached should they have any questions at home. ( all advice given would be under direction of Surgeon via personal text messages and documented )

See above duties

• Triaged incoming animals and relayed info to doctor
• Vitals and important findings that could mean patient is more critical than it seems
• Admit animals to hospital
• Diagnostics (labwork, radiographs, AUS, urinary catheters)
• IVC placement
• CPR and knowledge of emergency drugs
• Charges
• Proper rounds to ICU tech
• Communication with owners to eliminate confusion or tension due to wait times

• AAHA Accredited hospital. Worked under direction of Dr. Mike Gorra and Dr. Trish Grinnell, both graduates of Cornell University.
• Proper restraint and keeping other techs and doctors safe. Knowledge of animal behavior and warning signs. I pride myself on handling fractious cats.
• Being assigned in patient and being in charge of all hourly treatment orders assigned by doctor
• In charge of surgical suite ( ordering, stocking or issues)
• Digital x-ray- placed in charge for any issues or maintenance needed. Also in charge of dosimetry badges and quarterly reports.
• Use od dental machine. Also placed in charge of any issues and routine maintenance.
• Ultrasound- in charge of maintenance and trouble shooting
• Endoscopy machine: maintenance and cleaning
• Lab work- able to draw blood in front of clients, iv catheters, understanding of what tubes are needed , how much blood, serum or plasma is needed, fasting and other testing requirements. In house test and great use of microscope
• Pharmacy Tech: filling medications at hospital as well as calling prescriptions into other pharmacies and compounding pharmacies.
• Surgery: admission of surgical patients, obtaining morning histories from clients, dosing and recording presurgical and induction drugs, Having OR clean and ready with all things needed , intubation, proper positioning, surgical monitoring, extubating and recovery, heat support as well all iv fluid therapy, calling clients after with updates, discharging and to go home treatments plans as well as setting up follow up and rechecks.
• Clean up: all rooms, surgical suite, main areas of hospital. Walking animals and making sure they have clean bedding
• Medical boarders and knowledge of insulin and diabetic pets.

See above notes

Also helped with boarding facility .

• Hours of operation were at night and weekends only. Worked Sundays as technician with duties stated above.

• First job as actual technician and grew as technician during this time period
• Learned about holistic medicine as well as acupuncture

• First job in Veterinary field
• Walked animals and learned how to properly restrain.
• Stocking of shipment and food.
• In house lab tests as Idexx and Antech were not options at that time.
• Maintained hospital cleanliness and exam rooms ready to be used.