Every so often, it’s helpful to take stock of your surroundings and make adjustments that enhance your everyday work life. Whether it’s that blank space on a wall, the waiting room’s drab appearance, the noise in the treatment area, or the lack of holiday decorations, it’s sometimes up to you to take initiative and fix what’s holding you back from basking in the glow of a workspace that’s warm, welcoming, and brimming with personality. If your practice works well but suffers from a simple lack of imagination (probably because you’ve just been too busy or too cash-strapped to make any changes), you’re in good company. But even if you’re a total Martha Stewart and your practice screams perfection, there’s always more you can do to give it a personal touch. After all, this is an incremental process that rarely happens all at once. It can take years for a practice to develop its personality and style. I’ve been thinking more about this recently after taking my assorted animals to dozens of vet specialists and ER visits this year. In a way, they all tend to skew towards the clinical in design. Why? I always ask myself. What’s so hard about adding interest, charm, and personality to a blank wall? Do we really need aseptic exam rooms and lobbies? I think not! Our clients may respect functionality with their heads, but their hearts are typically elsewhere when they patronize our practices. They appreciate hospitality, comfort, and individuality when they’re feeling their worst. Sure, I’m “artsy” by nature, so I’m biased, but so are a lot of your clients. If there’s warmth in your waiting spaces, they’re more likely to feel at ease and more serene. There’s a reason art and design are proven therapeutic measures. Moreover, concessions to their psychological comfort and expressions of your uniqueness will make them feel more connected to you and to the practice as a whole. To be clear, we’re not talking about remodeling here. Even these simple, low-labor, low-cost steps can make a big difference to your clients, your colleagues, and your patients: 1) Frame your personal pics Frame your family and team members’ pets, including your old vet school pics, or have your best in-house shutterbug or solicit portraits of your favorite patients from your most beloved clients. For low-cost framing options, consider investing in inexpensive, white-washed wood frames (I paid about $20 on Amazon for a comely set of four 2” x 3” frames). Send the files to an online printer for gorgeous, glowing, frame-ready pics. If you’re feeling flush and want a bit more polish, send the files to a professional online framing service. Shutterfly, Canvaspop, and Mpix can send you just the prints or the final framed art in all their super-spiffy glory. 2) Go antiquing! If you’re on the lookout for these, you can always find plenty of old animal paintings and prints of all sizes. There’s nothing more charming than a cluster of small animal paintings (antique frames are especially prized)—or one large oil painting to make a stately statement. Most will fall into the “shabby chic” category, which might work best in a farmhouse-style practice, but I have a few large, antique-framed dog and cat images that blend effortlessly into our modern workplace aesthetic. The nice thing about this approach is you can keep adding to your collection each time you go on an antiquing trip. Old sculptures of animals can look charming, too, especially when lined up on a shelf or used as an occasional accent, as a doorstop, or an urn for your favorite pets’ remains (a possible talking point when memento mori are discussed during end-of-life visits). 3) Have any old textbooks around? If they’re just sitting there collecting dust, you might as well put them to good use. I’ve framed images sourced directly from the pages of old, yellow-edged textbooks. Just slice the pages out with a bit cutter (or a scalpel!) and frame them yourself. These older images look charming lined up on a wall. I’ve framed everything from close-up anal sac and cruciate ligament images to prolapsed disk and cerebral cross-sections. Everyone is beguiled by anatomy, and it’s useful for client education, too! (Pro tip: I’ve seen delightfully heirloom-quality veterinary textbooks and prints on Etsy, Amazon, and eBay, but small images from my well-loved, 35-year-old Lahunta have worked for me.) 4) Go old school with chalkboards and chalkboard-painted walls Chalkboards never seem to go out of style. I’m always allured by handwritten menus on black chalkboards. So, why not use them to decorate your practice? We have a chalkboard easel up front to advertise kittens for adoption, along with hand-drawn chalkboard anatomical images on the walls of all our exam rooms. Whether hung or painted on, clients find them delightfully artistic, and they can help us educate them, too. Plus, I think nothing beats the coziness of an old school blackboard with your current patient’s name on it. It’s catnip for clients. They adore them. Vintage prints, chalkboard art, and patient shoutouts are examples of creative wall touches that help bring personality to your clinic. Photos courtesy Dr. Patty Khuly 5) Soundproofing This is a bigger deal than you may think. When clients leave a room tearfully after hearing the client in the next room sobbing, you know you have a sound problem. So, too, when your patient attempts to claw his way up a wall after hearing a GSD enter the lobby. Thankfully, there’s a lot you can do to inexpensively muffle the din and make rooms feel cozier and more private. Replaceable, self-adhesive sound tiles of all dimensions and colors can be purchased for as low as $100 a wall (on Amazon) to artfully muzzle the barking and yowling, along with private conversations and emotional outbursts. If you don’t like the look, hide sound tiles behind your artwork and shelving. Alternatively, add plenty of books to your rooms’ decor to effectively absorb sound waves. 6) Lighting Most of us already have overhead LED lighting fixtures that offer multiple warmth settings. Adjusting the lighting to a slightly warmer tone not only improves everyone’s appearance (whiter lighting is less forgiving), but it also subtly enhances human moods by conveying a sense of coziness. Sure, you lose a little visual acuity, but that’s what pen lights, treatment rooms, and surgical lamps are for. These ideas will hopefully help you create a theme for the practice. Perhaps you'd like to create a theme for each room, or eclectically combine your multimedia artwork (as I have). It’s all about personality, and I promise your clients and team members will notice the warmth they add to your workplace. 7) Videos If you have a computer or a TV screen in your room, queuing up a streaming loop of cute kitten and puppy videos can be distractingly soothing and makes wait times fly by (It’ll help mask sounds as well; just pick vids with minimal barks and meows for the benefit of minimized stress.). Keep in mind art can collect dust and hair, but let’s be honest: asepsis is not always the best strategy when it comes to client or patient comfort. Sometimes we have to make concessions to help all of our constituents (team members, clients, and patients) feel better about spending time in our practices. It’s a tradeoff. But remember, art is therapy. Indulge appropriately. Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, runs a small animal practice in Miami, Fla., and is available at drpattykhuly.com. Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Veterinary Practice News.
