Medical Costs, Bond Drive Pet InsuranceSeptember 21, 2012 Imagine making the gut-wrenching decision to humanely euthanize your sick dog when medical technology exists to save him. You can’t afford everything, and your human kids must come first. And, by the way, those human kids are looking up to you, faces tense with grief. Veterinarians have families, too. And, boy, do they have feelings. Veterinary medicine has been statistically documented as one of America’s most stressful careers. While ending a geriatric dog’s life is sad enough when the pain has become unbearable, ending the life of an animal that could make a full but expensive recovery is a shame. That choice bothered Jack Stephens, DVM, in 1979. “A client and her daughter brought their dog, Buffy, into my practice,” recalled Dr. Stephens. “Ultimately, the mother decided she couldn’t afford the dog’s treatment and requested euthanasia.” Like many of us, Stephens complied with a heavy heart. A few weeks later he ran into the mother and her daughter at the grocery store. “When her mother asked her daughter if she remembered me, she replied, ‘Yes, you’re the man who killed my dog.’” Birth of a Company This was Stephens’ defining moment. …
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When Clients Fear For Their PetsSeptember 14, 2012 So I’m lying on the bed this morning, appreciating a quiet moment with my daughter and our dog Georgia as they both wake for another day. As before, I notice that Georgia’s breath is, well, less than pleasant you could say. My thoughts linger on a discussion we’ve had about her having a dental prophy, and a pit magically appears in the bottom of my stomach: fear. What am I afraid of? I’m a veterinary technician, for heaven’s sake. I know how to convince pet owners of the important of a dental prophy, so why am I having a hard time with it? It could be a I know TOO much and have seen anesthesia go wrong for no good reason. That seems to be what I fear most, especially when I look at her little muzzle already graying and consider her age of 7 to 8 years. Yet still, if I didn’t know anything about anesthetic disasters, would I be any less afraid? In my years of being a tech and discussing this type of procedure with clients, I could say all the right things and believe them whole-heartedly. Now …
Do You Know Your Veterinary Clients’ Financial Secrets?September 10, 2012 According to a recent and frightening CareerBuilder survey, 40 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. More specifically, 44 percent of women and 36 percent of men are in this situation. Based on multiple private conversations at vet clinics, this sad state of affair applies not only to many of our clients, but also to our employees, from “the front” to “the back.” The study is based on a sample of almost 3,900 U.S. workers employed full-time (not self-employed, non-government) over 18 years of age, polled between May 14 and June 4, 2012. Here are some striking results from the survey: • Almost 60 percent of workers have cut back on leisure activities. Yet some will not cut back on some activities such as the Internet (57 percent), driving (44 percent), cable TV (29 percent) or cell phone use (24 percent). • Interestingly, in tough times, more workers would give up their phones and cable before their pets. Sadly, it doesn’t mean they all do, as we painfully experience all too often. • More than 25 percent of workers don’t ever save any money (27 percent to be exact); 17 percent save $50 or less each …
Don't Overlook Customer Service Basics At Your PracticeSeptember 7, 2012 If you read this blog with any frequency, you know I love to take lessons from “real life” and apply them to veterinary medicine. While some of that urge may be to acquire ideas for blogs, most of it is an automatic after working in a “service” field where our skills of communication are vital to the success of the business, and for us, the health of the animal. I also urge you to do the same, to take both good and bad events in your reality and see if and how they are a reflection of veterinary medicine. So here’s today’s story…chiggers. Here’s what chiggers are, because you may not be familiar if you haven’t lived in areas where they exist: Chiggers are the larval (juvenile) form of a common mite from the family known as Trombiculidae. I’ve known about chiggers all my life, but perhaps that’s because I spent a lot of time being raised in the south. Regardless, we have them up north here in Wisconsin. My family experienced their wrath after a camping trip where they went out on a lake in a canoe (minus me, who stayed on land). The bites were smaller …
Assessing Veterinary Student Loans, Repayment OptionsSeptember 5, 2012 About 2,600 students a year graduate from veterinary school to embark on a career they love, helping animals maintain their health and assisting their owners with managing their care. Veterinarians tirelessly provide an invaluable service. But in spite of this tremendous value, many new veterinarians face an uphill battle with student loan debt. The cost of veterinary school tuition varies from $18,000 to more than $42,000 annually, depending on the institution. The cost of veterinary education has increased consistently at a rate even higher than inflation. The 2011 American Veterinarian Medical Association annual survey reported that debt levels continue to increase. The mean debt for 2011 graduates carrying a student loan balance was $142,613, a 10.3 percent increase from the 2009 mean debt of $129,216. Ninety percent of veterinary students graduate with some amount of debt (/redirect.aspx?location=https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/120201a.aspx). Veterinary students are eligible to borrow up to $40,500 in federal Stafford loans each year. But as of July 1, 2012, the subsidized Stafford loan for graduate level students was eliminated. Traditionally, up to $8,500 of the $40,500 in federal loans awarded annually to veterinary students could be subsidized Stafford loans.
Lameness Evaluation Tool From PetSafe Aids In DiagnosisSeptember 5, 2012 For The Education SeriesLameness Evaluation Tool from PetSafe Aids in Diagnosislameness, Petsafe, Stance Analyzer, evaluate lamenessPetSafe, the manufacturer of the Wireless Fence and additional consumer pet behavior products, has introduced the Stance Analyzer to the veterinary market with a complete line of vet therapy products. Lameness is an indication of pathological changes relative to physiological or mechanical changes within the body. Evaluating lameness can typically be subjective and difficult to quantify. PetSafe, the manufacturer of the Wireless Fence and additional consumer pet behavior products, has introduced the Stance Analyzer to the veterinary market with a complete line of vet therapy products. The patented Stance Analyzer allows a veterinarian to objectively evaluate lameness at the push of a button at a reasonable price. As the pet places each paw in a quadrant, the analyzer assesses the weight distribution on each leg, which helps the practitioner pinpoint where a problem may exist. It can detect unequal weight distribution and assists in the diagnosis of a variety of complex issues which can include osteoarthritis, full or partial cruciate tears, hip dysplasia, intervertebral disc disease and degenerative myelopathy. The fast, accurate and …
When The Boss Is The ProblemAugust 31, 2012 It is not uncommon after giving a presentation for me to be approached by support staff that fully admits that the problem in the veterinary practice is the boss. The team recognizes that change is needed, and sometimes the boss does, too, but there is no forward motion sustained…and the boss is the one who ultimately needs to motivate and lead the team toward the change. Sometimes the problem has a name (a first and last name, if you get my drift); other times it’s a protocol that needs to be addressed. Perhaps a policy needs written or revised, or it’s the boss’s behavior that is causing the problem. There are so many scenarios, but the common denominator is the difficulty in convincing the boss to DO something. How do we start the conversation so change can be the result? It is typical for us to approach the boss about how WE feel, how we’re affected by the issue, what we think is the problem. Yet for the boss to commit to a change, you must help him or her discover how this problem affects them personally. Sure, your boss wants you to be happy, but until it …
Fighting Compassion Fatigue In The Veterinary IndustryAugust 30, 2012 You sit in a chair, listening to a person across the room talk about the horrible accident she witnessed. Through her tears, she describes the vehicle, the scene as it happened in slow-motion, the way her beloved family member’s body looked after being struck. In this scenario, you could be a social worker or counselor, trying to absorb your client’s story while avoiding becoming emotionally involved in the situation as it unfolds in words in front of you—trying to avoid the post-traumatic stress that is part of your job day in and day out as you witness peoples’ worst nightmares happening in real life. Now, you look in the mirror and you are wearing scrubs. The beloved family member, Fluffy, lies in back on a table while the team tries to revive the animal that has been hit by a car right in front of your client. Nothing prepared you for this part of the job as a veterinary professional, the intense tales of trauma, illness, even abuse and neglect. You walk out of the room fighting the urge to cry. Nowhere do you remember reading that being a veterinary technician meant reliving horrible …
Supporting A Veterinarian Colleague After The Loss Of A PetAugust 24, 2012 Having a good friend who focuses on hospice and end-of-life, the topic of pet loss comes up often. Add to that the euthanasia of my dear Rosy, and grief and bereavement has been a discussion that has been close to our hearts these days. The conversation often moves to talk about how we support each other in the veterinary profession with our own pet loss. Unfortunately, many scenarios involve the hard truth that we do NOT do a good job at “companioning” each other through the loss of our own pets. “Companioning” is the word that is best used to denote the emotional support offered during grief and bereavement. While there are professionals who “counsel” people in grief and have the credentials, expertise and experience to do so, those of us who are well-meaning friends and family can provide comfort from a “companion” rather than a counselor. It is still very important and is the resource most of us use for our own grief. It is not common for our clients to seek counseling after the loss of a pet, and it is almost …
Taking Pride In Your WorkAugust 17, 2012 As we all know, veterinary medicine is a passion, a calling, but it is also a business. So when I’m out and about in the big world, I can’t help but compare our business to those businesses I visit. I notice things like the parking lot, the store cleanliness, the behavior of the employees, promotional marketing campaigns, and especially the customer service. When I come across sub-par customer service, I can’t help but think, gee, I hope “we” are doing better than this, with “we” being the entire veterinary profession! After all, we each represent our practice, sure, but we also represent the entirety of our profession and have the ability to affect a client’s opinion of veterinary medicine as a whole. I was in a large-store-that-sells-everything the other day buying some pajamas for my daughter…she had grown, again. This is not a big budget item for us, knowing she’ll need more when it gets cold here in Wisconsin, and it’s likely that we parents will be the only one to really see her in them. So the garments I was buying were, well, “cheap,” in really every meaning of the word and that’s OK by me. Then …
