Hey Boss, Listen Up!February 24, 2012 As I make my way across the country, I’m always asked by at least one person, “How do I get my boss to listen?” The “boss” could be any number of people: the veterinary practice owner, the attending veterinarian on staff, the supervisor or lead for your position, the practice manager, the board of directors—you name it. It’s hard to see all these wonderful support staffers come to my talks, only to feel that they can’t bring ideas back and make them a reality because of their bosses’ attitudes. “How do I get my boss to listen?” they’ll ask. Let’s take a look at this. When you have a new idea, a solution to a problem, or a new product that you believe will help the practice, you are excited and that makes sense! But it doesn’t take any more than a stern glance from the boss to dash your hopes and snuff out your enthusiasm. So take a step back, and take a look at why you are excited about the idea. Will it help the patients? Will it help the clients? Will it help the support staff? Will it help grow revenue in the practice? …
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From Tears To Happiness In One Phone CallFebruary 20, 2012 Dr. M was heartbroken. Possibly on the verge of tears. And she called me, of all people, to find some comfort… Ms. Greenback walked into Dr. M’s practice and interrupted a conversation she was having with a long-standing client. Ms. Greenback declared: “I’m looking for a new vet…” Since she had just opened her practice, Dr. M was excited about the opportunity to shine and impress a new potential client. That is, until Ms. Greenback finished her sentence: “I’m looking for a new vet to euthanize my sick dog.” This was against everything Dr. M believed in. She did not approve the concept of convenience euthanasia simply because a pet becomes, well, an inconvenience. So what followed was a desperate attempt at reasoning with the client. Why euthanize? “Why don’t we start with a physical exam, and maybe blood work, to find out if we can’t help your dog?” Maybe the dog’s problem was treatable. But the client didn’t want to hear it. “Look Doc, I just can’t afford all your fancy testing. If I paid for it, then I wouldn’t be able to feed all the other dogs I’ve rescued over the …
Negotiation FatigueFebruary 17, 2012 Anyone involved in presenting financial estimates, or treatment plans, to clients in the veterinary practice has been exposed to “negotiation fatigue.” You’ll recognize the circumstances—you develop an estimate of the charges involved in whatever the veterinarian feels needs to be done with that pet and walk in to explain the fees. The client winces, comments about how expensive veterinary care is, and proceeds to ask, “Well, do we have to do everything on that list?” You freeze, trying to figure out how to respond. A veterinary professional that I recently came across explained an interesting concept; to provide the best medicine the client seeks, not necessarily the best medicine that is recommended by the veterinarian. While I understand that this flies in the face of all the advice we’ve been given to offer only the best medicine, we all understand that in reality, we often have to come down a notch or two to also fit the client’s financial restrictions. We know that sometimes Plan A will be rejected, and we need to have a Plan B and Plan C readily available so that we can provide at least some medical care to that pet. You’ll figure …
From Drill Bits To Practice PhilosophyFebruary 13, 2012 Finding the right drill bit for a very special job was not an easy task. At first, I visited the usual suspects: Home Depot and Lowes. Nothing. Then I went to Sears. Here is how the experience went. Since I didn’t find the right size drill bit on my own, I spotted a Sears employee between the “paint” and the “tools” sections. Me: Hello, do you work in paint? Her: What? Me: Do you work in paint? Her: Yep. Me: So is your colleague the only one in Tools? Her: What? Me: Your colleague over there looks pretty busy, is he the only one in Tools? Her: I’m in Tools, too. Me: OK great. Could you please help me find a longer drill bit than this 3/32nd bit? After I showed her the size I needed—same diameter, just longer—she walked with the energy of a snail with myasthenia gravis over to the drill bit display and handed me a long 3/16th drill bit (i.e. much bigger). And she proudly declared: “There you go, that one’s longer!” I was speechless. What would you have told her? This …
What On Earth Are You Thinking?February 6, 2012 I have been listening to an audio-book called “Breakthrough Thinking,” in which the authors1 share some interesting concepts about the way people think. There are four main ways to think, which translate into four main ways to see the world. It may help you understand your clients and employees and colleagues (and friends and family members) It also may help you understand yourself better. What is your main thinking mode? 1. Victim Thinking Victim thinking is inactive thinking. “We are preoccupied with the past and the things we cannot control, our mind is filled with thoughts about what we coulda, shoulda, mighta, oughta done, not what we are planning to do in the future,” writes the authors. The thought process of the “victim” is that whatever happens, happens, and there is nothing I can do about it. Let’s take an example. Let’s say a veterinary clinic has hired a person solely dedicated to inventory and ordering. For years, that person has been known to be inefficient, disorganized and difficult to work with. Procrastination was a chronic and painful issue. As a consequence, the clinic routinely ran out of medications and supplies. The …
Don’t Sweat The Petty Stuff…February 6, 2012 My daughter, who is now 11, is at that age where the only reality is the present, the now, the minute she exists within. So no matter what the day held before or after, if something “bad” happens to her—a disagreement with a friend, a stern look from the teacher, an interruption to her favorite pastimes—she will exclaim “This is the worse day EVER!” It’s easy to chuckle and think, wow, is it really that bad? Did this one little moment in time make the whole day, the worse day EVER? We smile at her innocence, likely thinking, just wait, you’ve got a long way to go in life! But if you stop and think about it, we all take this attitude when we let something small, something otherwise petty, affect our mood for the rest of the day or our impression of the quality of that day. Although we may not say it, we are often feeling, “This is the worse day EVER” when relatively small happens in the course of the day. It’s easy to think my little girl is exaggerating, but we do it all the time! For example at work, we may …
Why We Need To Support New GradsJanuary 31, 2012 Somehow I’ve allowed my son to get the idea that somewhere within the realm of veterinary medicine lives the best job on earth. Never one to disabuse any hard-to-motivate adolescent of the notion that his career choice might not be all it’s cracked up to be, I might be inadvertently guilty of imparting a rosier impression than our profession deserves. And nowhere is this rose-colored glow more directed and less deserved than upon graduation from veterinary school. It’s the promise of a life after all that schooling that drives them so hard through its punishing process. Unfortunately, reaching what should be the end of the rainbow too often ends up feeling rather more like stepping through the looking glass. Not that our next generation is unrealistic enough to expect puppies, kittens and foals frolicking in a pot of gold. They’ve come to expect a hard time. From Day One in vet school they begin to receive layer upon layer of dire admonitions on the subject of their collective debt burden so that by the time they finally graduate, most students are as prepared as they possibly can be for that anvil that’ll sit on their …
We All Have Stake In Next GenerationJanuary 31, 2012First of Two Parts Hi. My name is Patty and I’m in debt. As you may know from previous columns, I’m up to my ears in it. And that’s OK. In fact, it’s exactly as I expected it would be when I accepted an out-of-state seat in the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 1995. At the time, students like me were riding the first wave of veterinary medicine’s new world order for graduates. The profession was just beginning to realize what being a new graduate in veterinary medicine could mean: over $100,000 in debt and a starting salary incapable of allowing graduates so besieged to meet their debt payment schedules. No whining here. Just the facts. And as you may know, it’s gotten way worse since then. That’s why understanding the extremes of debt we know new grads will encounter is crucial to the future of veterinary medicine. Mark my words: Helping new graduates deal with the financial pain they face will be fundamental to creating a healthy and sustainable profession as we move into uncharted territory on the debt front. Because it’s not just about the young ’uns. Indeed, no matter where you …
Stop Expecting FailureJanuary 20, 2012 Recently I was in a hotel in Orlando, not really “watching” television, but it was on in the background. Along came a commercial for inventors. It was a company that you could send your invention to, and they would try launching it for you. It went on to talk about a guy who invented a drive-through “car wash” water sprinkler that allowed the child to ride under on their little tricycle or Big Wheels and subsequently get wet and have fun! Apparently this invention was then bought by Wham-O, a name we all know from the toy industry, and the inventor financially benefited from his invention. Great success story, and very motivating! Then, as the commercial is finishing up, I hear the announcer say in a low voice, “Results are not typical; most inventions do not succeed.” Seriously, that’s what he said! What a downer! I mean really, you psych up the inventor with this awesome success story, but have to qualify it with the fact that most inventions are losers! Heaven forbid that the viewer get just a little excited about the possibility of success! I just couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the irony of …
Four Things We Do That Make No SenseJanuary 9, 2012 Arguably, we all do strange things in daily practice. Some are acceptable, and some…not so much. Let’s go over four classic no-nos. 1. Wearing a mask that covers your mouth, but not your nose. I have seen several doctors and technicians wear a surgical mask that covers their mouths, but not their noses. The explanation is typically that they “can’t breathe” when the mask covers their noses. Since there is no reported case of someone suffocating while wearing a surgical mask in the history of modern medicine, it is imperative to understand that masks are important to protect our patients as well as ourselves. The mask decreases the risk of microbes being blown onto or into our patient. This is especially critical at a time when a strikingly high percentage of healthcare professionals have been found to harbor MRSA in their nostrils. Scott Weese, a board-certified internist-turned-infectious disease specialist at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College (Canada), agrees: “The nasal passages harbor a wide range of bacteria, including a multitude of opportunistic pathogens. If someone is taking precautions to prevent contamination from oral bacteria, it makes no sense to neglect nasal bacteria, since the chance …
