Reprinted with permission from Smart Flow Sheet Are you a veterinarian with a bad habit? Do you work with a veterinarian that has bad habits? There are some bad habits that need to be stopped now. Not only for the relief of the staff, but for the veterinarian themselves and for their patients' well-being. 1. Giving Discounts One of the worst habits vets can get into is showing weakness to clients by giving into discounts. By giving discounts, vets are telling clients that their services are overpriced and undervalued. It is important be considerate of a budget, but if estimates are done correctly then discounts are unnecessary. 2. Micromanaging It is incredibly common for veterinarians to wear many hats. Most often, they wear far too many hats. The one they should toss aside sooner than later is the micromanager hat. While it is important to keep tabs on the team, vets should realize that their micromanaging tendencies just cause more chaos than anything else. It can cause people to feel untrusted, disrespected and frustrated. 3. Ignoring Workplace Issues It is very common to find veterinary teams that do not all mesh together or work well as a team. Veterinarians know these problems exist and instead of turning a blind eye, they should make sure these issues get addressed. Whether they do it themselves or ask management to investigate, it needs to be done. Like yesterday. 4. Being Afraid to Advance The world of medicine is constantly evolving. Clinics will send staff to CE events and then hardly even consider advancing their practice forward with the newly received information. Instead, many vets would rather continue on as is because "that is the way it has always been done." Vets should quit saying this phrase and look to improving their practice, medicine and staff. 5. Not Utilizing Vet Staff One of the biggest insults to staff is not utilizing their skills. I have worked for a vet who had one scare during intubation causing her to not trust a single credentialed technician to perform that very basic skill. While I understood the fear, I became frustrated that I could not perform my job as efficiently as possible. It slowed down procedures and the entire flow of the day drastically. 6. Treating Cats Like Small Dogs Cats are not small dogs in kitty costumes. They require (and demand as we all know so well) different treatment, clinic environment, diet, and medicine. These 6 bad habits veterinarian's make have become commonplace in our field, but they should not go unattended to. Just because it is the way things have always been done, doesn't mean they should stay that way! Smart Flow Sheet™ is a cloud-based veterinary software module revolutionizing the way veterinarians care about in-hospital patients.
