Tattoo Wars: Indelible Unprofessionalism Or Unfair Discrimination?July 26, 2013 I recently exceeded my friends’ and family’s expectations by crossing the 40-year mark with no ink on my person. In spite of a prolonged skate-punk phase, I’d somehow escaped this particular depravation of the flesh. But let me be clear: It’s not that I consider tattoos tacky, déclassé or ugly. My reticence is more to do with the assumption that the ink wouldn’t evolve as gracefully as the rest of me. (It’s long been my view that tattoos age less well than the skin it tints.) And what image would I care to live with forever, anyway? Alas, puerile image selection and sagging skin aren’t what most practice managers cite when they grumble over the recent scourge of tattoos within our ranks. "Professionalism” and "client perception” are the buzzwords most often bandied about in response to the budding enthusiasm for ink at all socioeconomic levels. Which can be problematic … and not simply because some people like tattoos and some don’t. Personal Preferences Though it’s true that personal style preferences are typically at the heart of this issue, that this trend’s limits seem strictly generational means those in charge are more likely to …
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The Tortoise And The Hare—RevisitedJuly 26, 2013 Remember the classic story of the tortoise and the hare, told by Aesop in ancient Greece around 600 BC, and later by La Fontaine in France? Moral No. 1 The story by itself has many interpretations, but it seems like the most common one is that "slow and steady wins the race,” or perseverance typically leads to success. In other words, relative talent + exclusive focus = success. Focus is how you presumably went through vet school or tech school while your buddies were partying at the bar. The revised version of our fable relates that the hare, as skilled and "born to run” as he may have been, felt rather humiliated. He had failed because of hubris or overconfidence. So he asked the humble tortoise for a rematch. The tortoise, exhilarated and cocky, took him up on it. Of course, the hare learned from his mistake, and instead of "sitting under a tree for some time and relaxing before continuing the race,” he ran like he was chased by a starved wolf until he won the contest. So what’s the moral of this revised fable? Moral No. 2 Undivided talent + …
InterruptionsJuly 26, 2013 May I ask a personal question? Nobody has to know the answer. It will remain our little secret. Do you interrupt your clients? Do you wait until they completely answer question A before asking question B? If you’re not sure, you might want to focus on what happens during your next consultation. You could also pay attention to the way your colleagues and team members interact with clients. You might be surprised. While there is little information, to my knowledge, about what happens during veterinary consultations, physicians have studied that very topic. Three separate human studies show that physicians interrupt patients within 12, 18 or 23 seconds respectively*. It is quite likely that vets do the same thing. Dr. Beckman recorded 74 office visits with physicians in the 1980s. In only 23 percent of the visits was the patient able to finish his or her "opening statement of concerns” before being interrupted by the physician. The average time before the interruption was … 18 seconds! In 69 percent of the consultations, the physician interrupted the patient's statement and directed questions toward a specific problem. Quizzed by the researchers, the physicians believed …
Are we giving enough?July 19, 2013Back on the "other” side of the exam table, I sit with my tabby boy, Mickey (Mickey and Minnie Mouse, siblings, were babies in this picture…the one sitting up is Mickey).
Should You And Your Clinic Have A QR Code?June 25, 2013 I don’t know how and where it first started, but it seems like QR codes are everywhere these days. Not sure what a QR code is? It is the name of those strange little black squares on a white square background, called "Quick Response Codes” (hence QR codes), that you may have noticed on the back of products you buy, magazines you read and packages you receive. They may have appeared recently in our lives, but it turns out that they are nothing new. A subsidiary of Toyota actually created them in 1994 to track cars during the manufacturing process. They have two major benefits: They can contain much more information than a regular bar code, and don’t require a bulky reader; a fancy cell phone often is enough. Indeed, if your smartphone or web cam has the necessary software, scanning the QR code will take you to the company’s web site, where you can learn more about the product in question. That’s how most of us know these fancy bar codes: a way to access a web site. Yet they can be used in a number of more creative ways. After all, they are …
Selling The Value Of DiagnosticsJune 10, 2013 With persuasive conversations, technology tools and effective reminders, veterinarians can get more patients the preventive diagnostics they need. Since 2007, Ellie has taken nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to manage her arthritis following two knee surgeries. The 11-year-old black Labrador retriever gets a drug-monitoring test every six months. When Peter Brown, DVM, of Chuckanut Valley Veterinary Clinic in Burlington, Wash., reviewed Ellie’s latest test results, he used Idexx’s VetConnect Plus to see trends over time. Ellie’s liver values had been steadily increasing and were now at the top of the normal range. Dr. Brown sat next to the client, showing her graphs of Ellie’s changing liver values on his iPad. He discussed adding a liver supplement and plans to recheck blood work next month. From his iPad, Dr. Brown shared lab results to the client’s Petly online pet health page through Idexx’s Pet Health Network Pro. "While she was still at our clinic, an alert on her phone indicated she had new lab results shared,” says Dr. Brown. "Now she can share results with the rest of the family at home.” A 2012 State of the Profession study found that diagnostics make up 18 percent of practice …
How To Introduce A New Product In Your ClinicJune 10, 2013 When an elderly couple visited Animal Hospital of Smithson Valley in Spring Branch, Texas, they complained about fleas covering their German shepherd. Dr. Roy Madigan confirmed the infestation and said, "Let’s put him on a dose of the new Frontline Tritak while we’re talking.” Five minutes later, fleas on the dog’s rear legs were seizing and falling off. By the end of the exam, they all saw a pile of dead fleas on the floor. "We decided to use Frontline Tritak for its quick flea-killing time,” says Dr. Madigan. "We also need strong tick control in our area.” Although the flea/tick category saw 15 new entrants between 2011 and 2012, manufacturers know veterinarians’ recommendations drive consumer demand. Last winter was the fourth warmest winter on record and prolonged the need for flea-and-tick products. "At the end of the day, we are all racing toward the same goal—to get more pets protected,” says Shawn Hooker, director of parasiticides long-term strategy at Merial Ltd. in Duluth, Ga. Before expanding pharmacy shelves, veterinarians need to evaluate whether a new drug meets the medical needs of their patients or fills a void, …
Our Part In Pet Loss & GriefMay 31, 2013 In my last blog, I shared more information about the Veterinary Social Work Summit, and two of the four pillars of that master’s program at the University of Tennessee: animal-assisted therapy and the link between human and animal abuse. Next we’ll look at the third pillar, pet loss and grief. By the very nature of what we do, we are in the position to help pet owners through loss and grief. They come to us when their pets are ill or injured, whether the pet has a chance to recover, or not; or they come to us when it’s just a matter of time left for the pet, whether a day or a month. Most of us, or dare I say all of us, do this work with grief and loss without any formal training either from our schooling or our employers. We learn it "on the job,” because death is a part of our job. We may never slow down long enough to really reflect on how unprepared we are to be helping these pet owners. At the Veterinary Social Work Summit, there were presentations about …
Lasers Promote Faster, Stronger Wound ClosureMay 21, 2013 Wounds and dermatology issues represent perhaps the widest variety of ailments in veterinary practice, both in origin and complication. From an acute burn to a chronic lick granuloma, from an ischemic ulcer to a dehiscent surgical site, no two wounds will be alike. Compound this variation with different histologies and enzyme over/under-expressions; then throw bacterial or fungal infections on top of all that; now plan for a dog gnawing at it constantly or a horse sleeping in a dirty stable. Snake Bite This is a snake bite case handled by someone who was skeptical about therapeutic lasers. The dog was bitten in the hind limb and after three days, the entire belly was necrotic. Veterinarians did a full surgical debridement on Day 5 and one day later, the necrotic tissue returned to the entire area. At this point on Day 6 they applied the laser, but in the interest of science and skepticism, they left a control section, lasering two-thirds of the belly and leaving one-third untouched, above right. Two days and two treatments later, the effects on each section are clear. At …
Blowing The WhistleApril 30, 2013 On my Yahoo! home page recently, there was a story about a dentist who was raided by the health department. They found disgusting, dirty, unsterilized instruments and unclean conditions. They suspect this dentist has exposed thousands of patients to blood-borne illnesses such as Hepatitis B and HIV. I read the story to find out who tipped off the health department; apparently it was a patient that had no other risk factors and had tested positive for one or both of these illnesses. I must say, I expected to find out that someone working in that dental practice tipped off the authorities, and I must also say, I’m a bit disappointed to find out that wasn’t the case! There were obviously people besides this dentist that worked in that practice. Were THEY trained professionals, who would know the difference between "good medicine” and what this dentist was practicing? Did they know, and just choose not to tell for fear of being a "whistle blower”? By the way, "whistle blowers” have legal protection against retaliation; if you report an unsafe environment to OSHA, for example, your employer can not retaliate in any way, including terminating your employment. Although in …
