Why practice owners should copy hotels for inspirationApril 4, 2018You've probably had the experience of eating out at a restaurant where the food was great but the overall experience was terrible. You were seated 30 minutes after your reservation time, the server was aloof and, at times, rude, and the kitchen got your original order wrong—and then stuck it on the bill before you pointed out the error. It doesn't matter that the steak you ended up eating—the offering you actually paid for—was cooked and seasoned to perfection, tender to the bone, and delicious; at the end of the meal, you walked away feeling like you'd had an extremely negative experience and, chances are, you thought twice about ever returning to that restaurant again. The veterinary service you provide your patients is, in many ways, no different from the service you get when you eat at a restaurant—at least when it comes to customer experience. While your patients come to you for a specific service (veterinary care), just like you went to that restaurant for a steak, their overall judgment of the value of that service will be determined just as much by their overall experience and the way they were treated as by the quality of care they …
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The future of veterinary inventory managementMarch 23, 2018Running a veterinary hospital is no easy task—managing staff, client experience, finances, and marketing, not to mention delivering quality medical care to patients, are top of mind. In general, inventory management gets pushed aside. Having managed veterinary hospitals large and small, I certainly understand how inventory can be neglected. During my career, the priority in managing inventory was to keep the hospital stocked, with little regard to controlling costs. If we ran out of a medication or a product, I would get an earful. Over the past five years, veterinary medicine has changed. The cost of goods, overhead expenses, and, especially, wages are increasing at an unstainable rate. Minimum wage laws and "living wage" campaigns across the county are touching every aspect of veterinary medicine. These costs will continue to rise. Human healthcare went through a similar transition two decades ago. The answer to reducing costs was process improvement. Today most large healthcare systems have invested in Lean, Six Sigma, or some other form of Kaizen (continuous improvement) programs. The veterinary industry would be wise to follow this lead. Although change is difficult, the good news is human healthcare has already started this journey. Most of the methods, processes, …
Are you missing pet health communication opportunities with your clients?March 19, 2018Pet owners don't always get the full message that veterinary teams think they're communicating, according to a Partners for Healthy Pets (PHP) study presented during an American Animal Hospital Association session at VMX Veterinary Meeting & Expo in Orlando, Fla. The study compiled responses from surveys of 1,193 practice staff members, 833 dog owners, and 527 cat owners from April 2012 through June 2017. Practices have an opportunity to better communicate not only what is being done during a preventive examination but also how the examination benefits the pet, according to the study. Among the findings About 45 percent of dog owners and 30 percent of cat owners believed that a pain assessment was discussed or performed at their pet's most recent checkup When staff members were asked whether a pain assessment is typically performed at every examination during a visit for preventive care, 73 percent said yes for dogs, and 68 percent said yes for cats About 95 percent of staff members indicated that a dental exam is typically performed at every preventive care visit About 77 percent of dog owners and 78 percent of cat owners believed a dental examination was discussed …
Make Facebook social media work for your veterinary clinicMarch 15, 2018Social media is an important tool for any business today, including veterinary medicine. According to Statista, more than 81 percent of the U.S. population has at least one social media account. Importantly, 68 percent of U.S. adults use Facebook, and of that group, 74 percent of them access Facebook daily. When Americans access their Facebook accounts, they spend nearly 20 minutes per session on the platform. Facebook continues to dominate the social media space. Here are the numbers of users on popular social media platform as reported by Statista: Facebook: 2.1 billion YouTube: 1.5 billion Instagram: 800 million Twitter: 330 million LinkedIn: 260 million SnapChat: 255 million Pinterest: 200 million Approximately 90 percent of the people who use many of these other social media platforms also use Facebook. As most veterinary practices have limited time and resources to devote to their communications and marketing efforts, Facebook should be their social media platform of choice. Communications/marketing plans To be most effective, Facebook and other social media activities should be just one part of a comprehensive communications and marketing plan. Other tools should include electronic newsletters, brochures, community activities, an engaging website, and more. All of these …
MightyVet launches veterinary career, well-being support platformMarch 5, 2018 MightyVet today rolled out the first phase of its initiative to promote the education and support of veterinarians, students, vet techs, and other veterinary professionals about the challenges and opportunities faced by those in the veterinary profession. According to the first mental health survey of U.S. veterinarians, one in six veterinarians have considered suicide. Further, study found that the profession has seen a growing trend in the level of veterinary burnout, compassion fatigue, ethics exhaustion, and decreased career satisfaction. To address these trends, the company has gathered resources and experience of passionate veterinarians from frontline practice, specialty and ER, universities, and pet health organizations to provide a resource for real-time sustainable change, according to Steve Weinrauch, BVMS, MRCVS, founder of MightyVet and chief veterinary officer at Trupanion. "MightyVet is an industry-wide movement that offers access to information not otherwise taught as universal core curriculum in veterinary school," said Dr. Weinrauch. "Our profession can be physically and emotionally demanding, and despite the best efforts of so many, nothing has ever truly made a sustained and comprehensive difference. From veterinarian or tech student to retiree, these issues remain and are closer to us than most realize." One …
Veterinarians are mentally well but experience poor well-beingFebruary 17, 2018Veterinarians as a group don't experience psychological distress at significantly higher rates than the general population, according to a new mental health and well-being study by Brakke Consulting and Merck Animal Health. The Merck Animal Health Wellbeing Study, designed to definitively quantify the prevalence of mental illness and stress in the veterinary profession, compared findings to previous studies and to the U.S. population in general. The survey, which polled 3,540 American Veterinary Medical Association members (from a random sample of 20,000), is the first to measure well-being of such a large veterinary sample using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, which is widely used in assessing psychological distress among general and clinical populations. "This survey is unique in that, for the first time, a nationally representative sample of veterinarians in the U.S. were asked about their well-being, which is a broader measure of happiness and life satisfaction than mental health alone," said study investigator Linda Lord, Ph.D., DVM, academic and allied industry liaison lead for Merck Animal Health. One big takeaway is that 5 percent, or 1 in 20, of veterinarians struggle with serious psychological distress (roughly that of the employed general population). "The …
MVS Pet Care becomes nation's first house call veterinarian franchiseFebruary 2, 2018A business team and a house call veterinarian have partnered to launch Mobile Veterinary Services (MVS) Pet Care, the nation's first professional franchise network of house call veterinarians. MVS Pet Care offers general wellness care, vaccinations, and illness and injury care, as well as hospice care and in-home euthanasia. In addition to solving the longstanding problem for some owners of rustling up reluctant pets for the journey to the veterinary clinic, MVS Pet Care also provides veterinarians with new business opportunities. "Previously, upon earning their degrees, veterinarians' options were limited to either working in a vet's office or animal hospital, or starting their own brick-and-mortar practice, which is tough," said Todd Giatrelis, co-founder and CEO. "They're typically overworked and underpaid. With MVS Pet Care, they can get into business with significantly lower entry costs than a brick-and-mortar practice. They'll receive training and support, scheduling software and access to unmatched pricing for equipment and supplies through partnerships we've cemented with national pharmaceutical, diagnostic labs and supply companies." The mobile pet care franchise was developed by Giatrelis, Sarah Towne (president), and Ashley Shimabukuro (COO), whose previous franchises include Flip Flop Shops and Sugar Plum Parties, a themed children's party concept. Partnering …
Behavior basics for the emergency clinician and technicianJanuary 22, 2018Emergency and/or critical care workers are often faced with urgent cases and fast paced environments. Unfortunately, this setting is not always conducive to caring for patient's emotional needs. Here are some easy ways to help patients in even the most trying situations. 1. Keep patients with their owners as long as possible. Being in an unfamiliar environment can cause fear. Having a familiar person there is one way to help minimize fear, and therefore, anxiety and stress. 2. Control pain. Pain can contribute to fear, anxiety, and stress. (Remember, acepromazine is contraindicated for treating anxiety and aggression.1) 3. Provide a comfortable kennel. Providing adequate bedding goes a long way for patient comfort. Provide lots of padding for large dogs. Inexpensive bolster beds are easy to wash, and small dogs usually love them. Cats like to hide. Provide a box, or cover part of the kennel with a towel or blanket. Giving cats their own, quiet space in the clinic will help lower their stress levels.4 4. Keep things quiet. If there is a howler in the hospital, do something about it. Not only for the howler's sake, but for the rest of the hospital's sake, as well. Humans included. …
How veterinarians cope with patient deathJanuary 22, 2018Every veterinarian experiences occasional complications, sad outcomes, or patient deaths, but some have developed coping skills and strategies that help them manage the emotional impact and learn and grow from these events, according to a study authored by Sara White, DVM, MSc. The study will appear in the February 2018 issue of the journal Anthrozoös. The study questioned 32 shelter and spay-neuter veterinarians about their experiences, thoughts, and reactions as they coped with life-threatening complications or death related to spay-neuter. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify themes and patterns in the responses of veterinarians who were successful in coping with these adverse events. In the aftermath of a patient death or serious complication, veterinarians who were surveyed described feelings of guilt, sadness, anxiety, and self-doubt, and felt deep empathy for their clients. Some said they never recovered from the trauma of these events, while others were able to transform the incidents into learning experiences and opportunities for growth in their technical and emotional skills. The veterinarians who coped most effectively were those who were able to talk openly with colleagues about the events, and who were able to learn and improve protocols. Further, successful veterinarians had learned to place the loss into perspective, and had developed expertise in how to handle and support themselves through the event's …
Are you protecting your passion for veterinary medicine?January 5, 2018 Compassion fatigue and burnout—everyone is talking about it. Try picking up any veterinary publication or attending any conference without seeing this subject appear at least once. There is a reason the subject is everywhere—it's because they are real and our colleagues are suffering. I wish to continue the conversation based on recent experiences. We've all seen the stats and certainly agree they are alarming. I do not claim to be an expert in these matters, but I have made the commitment to learn about it so that I can help my team and peers stay rooted in the passion that first brought them to the profession that they love. Veterinary professionals are kind, compassionate, and selfless people. It's a double-edged sword when that selflessness turns into fatigue and anxiety from pushing too hard, too long without enough self-care. I recently participated in a six-week online course called Compassion Fatigue RX. Hosted by Julie Squires, certified compassion fatigue specialist and certified life coach, this course was part of her efforts to help individuals and teams thrive in the midst of challenging and stressful work environments. I found this course to be an incredibly helpful and enlightening …
