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 …
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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 …
Can An HMO Help You Achieve Professional Bliss?January 6, 2012 While many veterinarians are struggling to make pet care affordable through third-party payment, compromise, pet insurance and—let’s face it—discounts, designing an in-house health maintenance organization is the natural progression of this thought process, says Louise Dunn, a practice consultant at Snowgoose Veterinary Management Consulting in Greensboro, N.C. An HMO is fair to the practice as well as the client, and it enables pets to receive the best possible preventive care year round. Some corporate practices, as well as some private clinics, have already embraced the idea. Although HMOs tend to have a bad reputation in human medicine, the concept in veterinary medicine is very different. The plan is set up and managed entirely by the clinic, not by a health insurance plan. Plan components are chosen by the clinic, not by a distant, faceless administrator. The fees are chosen by the clinic, not dictated to please shareholders. When you are ready to start the process, consider these seven steps: • Sit down with a few key team members to brainstorm about the opportunity and weigh the pros and the cons. • Design different plans, offering an increasing number of services and products as the level (and fee) …
Financing A New Building In This EconomyJanuary 5, 2012 The current economy has given rise to many questions about how a veterinarian should go about financing the construction of a new facility. The buzz in the marketplace is that construction costs are not coming down, appraisers are approaching the market conservatively and banks have tightened credit standards for real estate lending. All these statements are true. But many veterinarians just don’t have enough space to continue to grow their businesses and need new facilities. Will all this news prevent a veterinarian from securing the needed funds to build her building? It doesn’t have to. There are different financing options and one of the scenarios can work for your situation. The market has three primary products available for veterinarians looking to construct or renovate their facilities: conventional bank financing, SBA 504 loans and the SBA 7(a) loan product. The best loan type for your project depends on the appraisal, cash equity injected into the project, current business cash flow, size of the project and additional items important to each lender. As you begin your evaluation of the loan products, it is important to consider each loan type and talk to lenders involved with each product. …
Thou Shall Not Judge … Your ClientJanuary 3, 2012We’ve probably all been there, standing across an exam table from a client who doesn’t seem too enthused about sticking a pill, squirting a liquid, or cramming a capsule down the mouth of their pet. So, being good veterinary professionals, we pull out all the advice and tricks of the trade … pill pushers, pill pockets, restraint tips, confidence coaching, you name it. If we still end up with a client that “refuses” to medicate their animal, it is easy to judge them at that point as inadequate pet parents, or worse. It affects our respect for that client, and ultimately, the way we treat them in our practice. Think you can fake it, and not let your inner feelings show? Think again. In fact, let’s think of this in a whole different way. Shannon Fujimoto Nakaya, DVM, wrote a wonderful book called “Kindred Spirit, Kindred Care.” In this book, she encourages pet owners to look at their options and decisions regarding their pets in several different lights. She speaks of how to choose a veterinarian, how to assess the patient, advice on understanding the diagnosis and options, the sometimes limited financial commitments, and …
Baby On BoardNovember 28, 2011 Most of us have heard that there are more female students in veterinary school than male students. This preponderance of estrogen will likely have various effects on the profession, and many of them will reflect the reality that often it is the female who bears the brunt of starting a family. The female of a couple is often responsible for a lot of the parenting. That’s not to say there aren’t “househusbands,” and this may be one trend we see climb in the veterinary profession. But out of necessity or pure desire, Mom will need to make time for her family and begin the challenging task of balancing work and home. Creating a Plan As an employee, the female veterinarian who intends to have children must have a frank discussion with her employer as to what they each expect and will tolerate. This requires the veterinarian to determine what those expectations look like on her end, to see if an agreement is possible. How much time off do you expect to need, depending on the ages and number of children in the household? What shifts can you work, and what times are reasonable for …
What To Say Back When Money TalksNovember 2, 2011It is a scene that’s all too familiar. We know what needs to be done for a pet’s health, but the client cannot afford the care. They come to us for help, but we are stopped short by the tough choices they have regarding how much they can afford. Some people go much further than we’d imagine, even spending kids’ college funds and mortgaging the house to save their pets from extreme illness or injury. But we’ve also seen people who think the veterinary profession should provide care even when they can’t pay for it. When we have to explain that the pet owner is responsible for funding the pet’s treatment, they often question our emotional attachment to animals in general, or accuse us of letting a pet die. This is when veterinary medicine is the toughest, when we are made to feel responsible for their inability to pay. What do we do when faced with this situation? Which of several options we use will depend on the situation and the client’s frame of mind. The Humorous Approach Sometimes, particularly with clients who comment on the price but don’t seem to be disappointed or angered by the total, it can …
