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 …
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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 …
Are our patients being sold out by Big Pharma?November 2, 2011Only a fraction of the drugs we veterinary professionals use on our patients are actually approved for use in veterinary settings.
Finding Software’s Hidden GemsOctober 31, 2011 Veterinarians would pay closer attention during practice management software training if they realized how much revenue they could gain and how much time they would save. Software companies offer on-site, on-phone and online training with the purchase and installation of software, but many clinic staffers never quite get to the “hidden gems” that can grow revenue and save time. “Especially in this economy, utilizing your software to the fullest is the key to helping your practice grow,” says Stephen McAllister, president of McAllister Software Systems of Piedmont, Mo., the company behind AVImark veterinary practice management software. Information searches, for example, can target patients for specific marketing. “Track who’s coming in regularly and who’s not,” McAllister says. “Or target certain breeds or ages of pets and develop certain programs for groups of clients. That’s captured revenue.” Some software lets practitioners look at how the clinic discounts services and tracks inventory. Integrating the software to track procedures for surgery, lab and radiography, along with reference labs and specialty hospitals, prevents missed charges. Software systems present a variety of communications aids, from educational handouts to e-mail reminders to direct mail. Owner compliance translates into increased revenue. “Through …
Building Bonds To Improve Patient CareOctober 27, 2011 If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that the ability to build strong relationships with clients and their pets is one of the most defining characteristics of a successful veterinary practice. It’s not rocket science—we live and breathe the importance of this bond. We train our staff to master it, keep our eyes and ears open for new ways to enhance it, and recognize that a practice’s greatest strength can be found in how well it becomes an integral third party in the relationship between owners and their pets. Similarly, could there potentially be additional benefit for a practice that chooses to emphasize building a bonding between individual veterinarians and clients? According to the 2011 Bayer Study, the answer is a “yes,” and the data from the study actually point to this one-to-one relationship between a practitioner and client as a key driver of increased visits. The study found that practices that encourage clients to bring their pets to the same veterinarian for every visit are the same practices that experience increased compliance and acceptance of recommended treatment protocols. It appears that the apparent disconnect between what veterinarians think they are …
Why We Hate Online ReviewsOctober 27, 2011 Here’s a not-very-well-kept secret: Most of us detest online reviews. Why? Well, isn’t it obvious? We know that plenty of people now use them almost exclusively to find their new pets’ healthcare provider (us). So we can’t ignore them. We’re compelled to read them and make sure they say only good things about us—for the sake of our livelihood (never mind our egos). As if it weren’t enough to have one more task to manage, now we’re told by practice management gurus (you know who they are) that we’re supposed to assign a staff member to manage these reviews and sign up for Google alerts to make sure our reputations are squeaky-clean. So it is that our already-stretched resources must be allocated in this direction—stressfully. We know how angst-provoking reading the reviews can be. She said what about me? After all that awesome work I did on her cat? Which, of course, only makes you want to furiously check the timing on your PLIT policy. And invariably, also makes for one downer of a day. Sure, everyone knows a disgruntled client is a hundred times more likely to leave a negative review than a perennially …
How To Be Found Above The Noise On The WebAugust 24, 2011 Your knowledge, experience, and commitment to your practice and community are exceptional. But that does not mean you can ignore a few new laws of nature. One: The Web is the way communications are done, now and for the foreseeable future. Two: There are a bazillion people on the Web (both users and businesses) and your grand entry will not be greeted with the fanfare you deserve. Three: To market your practice you must rely on the Web. Four: It is hard to be found on the web. If you really want to grow your business, even in a horrible economy, learning findability on the Web helps connect you with new clients. The SEO Process The term “SEO,” or search engine optimization, is a process that optimizes your site’s content to allow search engines to easily find you. It adds focused key words and phrases to your site so that when a user types in appropriate key words—there you are, at no cost to you. The goal of any smart marketer is to gain Page 1 visibility in a search tool such as Google. Page 3 may not be bad out of …
Verify Computer Backup For Best ResultsAugust 18, 2011 Most veterinarians are good about remembering to back up clients’ medical data, but critical steps are often missed. In-house backups are typically saved to CD, flash drive or internal and external hard drives, but information can be lost if these devices are damaged. “Veterinarians are good about backing up their daily client information, but many don’t verify that the information has saved properly,” says Ronald A. Detjen, president and CEO of ImproMed in Oshkosh, Wis. “It’s amazingly damaging to a practice when client data is lost. If they don’t have a secure offsite copy, they have to try to recreate the information.” Practice Backup Options According to John Bellos, technical support manager at Sneakers Software, Inc./DVMAX located in New York, three types of backup options are typical in veterinary practices. • On-server backup Backs up the current data to a local hard drive on the same computer. Good for: Quick access if the data file gets mangled by a power outage or a computer crash Bad for: Hard drive failures, fire or theft • Onsite backup, off-server storage device Good for: If main hard drive or computer …
Applications Of Therapeutic Laser In Everyday PracticeAugust 18, 2011 Advancements in technology provide practices with the versatility of laser therapy, which can relieve pain, reduce inflammation and increase microcirculation in tissues. Adding a therapeutic laser to the practice armamentarium provides an extremely effective and versatile modality that benefits many patients. Understanding and expanding the potential clinical applications within the practice is the key to providing the highest standard of care for your patients. Advanced engineering has allowed therapeutic lasers to accomplish relief of pain, a reduction of inflammation and an increase in the microcirculation within the tissues. The clinical outcome of this deep penetrating photobiomodulation is an accelerated healing time within the target tissues. Laser therapy, therefore, is a healing modality that can benefit a large and varied number of patients on a daily basis. Therapeutic Dosage Laser therapy can help pets in any number of ways. The World Association of Laser Therapy (2002) and a consensus of the literature have established that cells need 4 to 10 joules/cm2 to stimulate a positive photobiochemical response. Penetration through skin, hair, water and blood requires the right combination of power, wavelength and treatment time to achieve favorable clinical results. Superficial target …
The Purebred ParadoxJune 22, 2011 Here in the U.S., we have a purebred problem: People demand them—millions of them. So someone supplies them via a pet shop, airport, website, breeding kennel or living room near you. Casual backyard breeders, puppy millers, importers, upscale breed club breeders ... someone. But, as they say, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Herein lies the paradox: We all love dogs. We all want healthy, happy dogs. No responsible breeder wants to breed unhealthy dogs––this we know. • But it’s also true that no backyard breeder thinks that anything unhealthy will come of his or her ill-bred dogs’ union. No puppy miller or unscrupulous importer, even, wants to sell you a defective product. It’s bad for business. • Yet plenty of genetically ill-designed animals come from responsible breeders. Puppy millers breed dogs under woefully inadequate conditions. An increasingly alarming percentage of importers ship pups too young to be away from their mothers (much less travel). And the casual backyard breeder is still stuck on having her kids see the miracle of life happen, whatever the cost—or the death toll. • And the consumers? They’re willing to …
