The Deadly Flea BathNovember 13, 2012 You may have seen it: the news story that came out recently about a cat that was dropped off for a flea bath and was euthanized instead. Of course that is a terrible tragedy, and for those of us in the veterinary profession, it is particularly difficult to hear. We give our lives, often to the exclusion of our own personal needs, to care for those animals that need us; to see one destroyed by accidental euthanasia is unthinkable for most of us. So where do we go from here, given this awful news and the blemish it makes on our profession? Nothing will bring Lady back. Knowing that Lady had been given to this woman by her daughter, who is no longer living, only deepens the wound. There is no consolation … but perhaps for those of us in the profession, there can be knowledge to gain. Lady’s life doesn’t have to be in vain. We often scoff at “protocols,” which are time-consuming to write, oftentimes difficult to implement, and even more challenging to maintain, but it is “protocols” that would have prevented this mistake. In fact, the woman who owned Lady commented, “I’m sure there …
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Consumer Demand For Vet Payment Options IncreasesOctober 31, 2012 Veterinary healthcare credit cards, in-house financing and pet insurance all provide financing options for veterinarians who want to help owners care for their pets and manage their own bottom lines. At the same time, providing different ways to help clients pay for veterinary services is an important way practices can bring options that help clients plan and budget for recommended treatment. “As technology and choices for care have evolved, so have the choices for how to pay for care,” says David Fasoli, CEO and president of CareCredit of Costa Mesa, Calif., a leading healthcare credit card provider for more than 25 years. “CareCredit was created to give people options to finance veterinary procedures and treatments they increasingly want access to for their pets. It is one option among many a provider may accept.” This payment method may allow the client to choose from special financing options such as deferred interest or extended terms, with no upfront costs and no prepayment penalties, and enables the veterinary practice to focus on diagnosing and delivering care, and less on administrative billing. Consumer demand for payment options continues to increase. Because CareCredit provides a revolving line of credit that can …
Teaching Work Ethics To The Younger GenerationsOctober 30, 2012 Many of us are familiar with the “younger generation,” which means a lot of us are middle-aged! At times we notice a general lack of work ethics in this generation, and we wonder where does that work ethic get taught in the first place…home? School? Once you’re literally “on the job”? I know one way the even younger generation is learning, at least as seventh graders in my daughter’s middle school. She’s in a Wisconsin charter school, with a focus on technology and fine arts. She attends a class on technology and engineering, which we hope will serve her well as she continues to learn and focus her studies on what she may want to be someday. But there’s an added plus to her being in this particular classroom, one that surprised me and warmed the cockles of my little human-resources heart: The students had to sign an employee contract! Check it out, here’s what it says at the top of this contract: “Behaviors and attitudes developed in school are a key indicator of work ethics that will be repeated on the job later in life. Ask any employer what they look for in an employee and …
A Whole Lot Of Thanking Going On!October 22, 2012 My husband, Ira Lifland, and I suddenly have become parents of sorts. The news came by text message on Aug. 2, 2012. I was to drive to San Diego to celebrate Dr. R.K. Anderson’s 90th birthday with the Behavior Academy before the AVMA Convention. R.K. invented the Promise Collar, also known as the Gentle Leader and halti head collar. For the past five years, we have been the supportive family for a Chinese mother and daughter. This is our second Chinese family. Our first family settled in Vancouver, Canada, and their daughter graduates from medical school this year. The text message from mother and daughter said that they both agreed it would be best if 14-year-old Cindy came to live with us and go to high school. So for the first time in 30 years of marriage, we have a two-footed child! Dr. Villalobos, in white, with Cindy, holding bottle, two Japanese exchange students and husband Ira Lifand. We welcomed Cindy into our household of four-footed pets. We have Fern, a lame Peter Zippi Fund rescue cat; Neo, an Old English bulldog; …
6 Tips For Keeping Patients Safe Under AnesthesiaOctober 22, 2012Refining anesthesia protocols has been at the top of practitioners’ to-do lists since the American Animal Hospital Association released its anesthesia guidelines for dogs and cats. Patient safety is a primary goal in all anesthetic procedures, so to minimize risks, consider these tips for creating a successful outcome for patients undergoing anesthesia. 1. Pay particular attention to the induction and recovery phases, as these are the most critical, says the University of Georgia’s Jane Quandt, DVM, Dipl. ACVA, Dipl. ACVECC, of Athens, Ga. “Induction [is critical because] we are taking animals to the point of unconsciousness,” said Dr. Quandt. “And in recovery they regain consciousness and must cope with the demands of tissue trauma and going back to room air if they were on inhalant anesthesia.” She also notes that the recovery phase may be the most overlooked by general practitioners. “Recovery may be overlooked a bit because once [patients] are conscious we tend to move on to the next patient.” Daniel K. Edge, DVM, MBA, veterinary liaison manager for Abbott Animal Health in Abbott Park, Ill., agrees, and notes the findings of a 2006 study. “According to the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Small Animal Fatalities, 64 percent of …
Technical And Business Training Help Drive Ultrasound’s Growing PopularityOctober 19, 2012 While quality ultrasound equipment is less expensive than ever today, access to good educational opportunities is the major force propelling this imaging technology’s popularity, believes Charles Maloy, president of E.I. Medical Imaging in Loveland, Colo. “A number of groups out there are doing training. That is what I think is the big facilitator to getting this equipment into people’s hands,” Maloy said. His company engineers, designs, manufactures, services and sells veterinary ultrasound machines. E.I. Medical also provides training and consulting for its equipment. “It’s a proud thing for me when people ask what we do, and then they say, ‘It’s good to hear there are companies in the United States still making things,’” he said. “There are two basic types of training: one is the technical side, and then there’s the business side—how is adding this service to my practice going to make money?” Maloy said. “They need to learn how the equipment can pay for itself and add to the bottom line. We coach a lot on that with prospective clients. We’re trying to expand a veterinarian’s horizon on what these tools can do for them. There’s a broader array of services than they even …
Moving Into Practice ManagementOctober 19, 2012 At IVECCS this year in San Antonio, I presented a talk for technicians who are interested in moving into a management or leadership role in their respective practices. I have a lot of experience in this topic, both as a technician who DID move into management and as a manager who then moved others into management, and I must say that I learned a lot from mistakes and disasters that occurred during my own career. Like a parent, you always think that if you share your mistakes and lessons learned with your children, it can help them avoid the same pain; but alas, it doesn’t work for parenting, and certainly doesn’t work with managing! But I’ll try nonetheless. So I just wanted to briefly recap that presentation topic, for those of you out there who may be considering a move into management. I was pleasantly surprised at how many people came to my talk at IVECCS, and in general I see a larger number of people looking toward a management career, which is fantastic! For most of the levels of management within an organization, I’m still of the belief that we should “grow our …
No Excuses When It Comes To Client ServiceOctober 16, 2012 So this is the last entry about my saga with my daughter’s dentist, and yet again, I learned something new about client service on THIS side of the exam table. As you may recall, and I believe I blogged about, we had one experience where the nurse was reviewing all the details about an upcoming procedure on my daughter, which was fairly major stuff. (Truthfully, with my daughter’s Asperger’s and anxiety disorder, everything is major stuff.) The nurse ran through her “script” literally with no emotion whatsoever, barely pausing to breath, much less ask me if I had any questions or observe my body language to tell I was uncomfortable with the pace and process. Fortunately, my daughter had procedures at that dental practice before, and I knew enough about medicine to follow along, so I left without registering any complaint or discomfort. Then the last time we visited that dentist, the hygienist escorted my daughter back out to me in the lobby (it took years before she felt comfortable going back there alone for routine cleanings), and nonchalantly mentioned that we are in good shape for braces. BRACES? No one had ever …
What To Consider When Investing In In-Clinic Blood AnalyzersOctober 15, 2012 To be confident in what you tell your clients, you’ve got to have confidence in the laboratory doing your blood work, whether it’s a full-scale reference lab or a bench-top machine in your clinic. While an in-house blood analyzer can be a time-saving, convenient practice tool, in many cases even the finest equipment is no substitute for human knowledge and experience, veterinary clinical pathologists say. And when you have a shadow of a doubt about your results, it pays to double-check. “In-house laboratory machines can definitely improve turnaround time,” said Leslie Sharkey, DVM, Ph.D., a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathology (Clinical Pathology). “Pre-anesthetic blood work for routine or elective procedures in otherwise relatively healthy animals is one of the best applications of these machines.” Dr. Sharkey, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, is president of the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology. In emergency cases, the quick results offered by a lab machine across the room are a major asset, added Kristen Friedrichs, DVM, Dipl. ACVP (Clinical Pathology), assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. “If we...focus on which results are needed …
In-house Blood Work Can Be A Revenue Stream For Veterinary PracticesOctober 15, 2012 In-house blood work can boost veterinary clinic profits but only if practitioners treat it as a major capital investment and do their homework, say veterinary clinical pathologists. “Many people only look at the cost of the instrument, but there is so much more to understand,” said Craig Tockman, DVM, director of Abaxis North American Animal Health of Union City, Calif. “We must look at the cost and value of time. Veterinarians must look at the value of investment in capital equipment as part of the value of their business and what they provide their patients. The cost of running a test at the point of care is actually less expensive for the practice, and provides the ability to actually grow the business.” Kendal Harr, DVM, MS, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, is owner and clinical pathologist of Mukilteo, Wash.-based URIKA LLC, a private pathology consortium of boarded consultants. A member of the Abaxis Scientific Advisory Board, she has written extensively about issues surrounding her field, particularly the assurance of quality, accurate test results. “Especially in the more normal patients, in-house complete blood count and biochemical analyzers can improve turnaround time and diagnostic …
