In Defense of Emergency Vet Clinics, From a Pet Owner's PerspectiveApril 13, 2016 It's not often that you'll have an owner stand up for a veterinary clinic, but Felissa Elfenbein of the blog Two Little Cavaliers did just that in her blog, "Emergency Veterinary Hospitals Are Not Charity Clinics." As she writes in a Pinterest post, "Why is it that people say that a Veterinarian is only in it for the money if they refuse treatment for lack of payment or lack of ability to pay?" Elfenbein wrote about her experiences when she had to bring her dog, Davinia, in for emergency treatment. While she was there, she witnessed a family bring in a dog who couldn't breathe, and who even stopped breathing while waiting for care. Unfortunately, the dog could not be saved, and the family refused to pay for any treatment, even leaving before the clinic could ask what they wanted to do with the dog's body. Elfenbein also writes about the people who come into the clinic demanding their animal be treated for free or let it die. It's not a choice any veterinarian wants to make, but sometimes they have to, and it can have consequences. "The …
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How to Talk to Your Clients: Veterinary Receptionist EditionApril 7, 2016Welcome to the “How to Talk to Your Clients: Veterinary Receptionist Edition” series! This series is not just for your clients, but for you as well. A survey was conducted in the veterinary profession some years ago. Veterinary professionals in the variety of positions on the team — veterinarians, veterinary technicians, veterinary assistants, receptionists and office managers took it. They were asked to report their biggest source of satisfaction at work, and the things that made them want to come to work. Then they were to report their biggest source of stress, also known as the things that made them want to pull the covers up over their heads and stay at home. Not surprisingly, “difficult and noncompliant clients” made the top of the stress list for EVERY position on the team! Conversely, “thankful clients” made it into the top three sources of satisfaction for everyone on the team. Based on these findings, …
How Much Money Could You Personally Be Saving?April 7, 2016As a traveling surgeon, I have the opportunity to have some pretty intimate conversations with technicians in the privacy of the OR. One day, I was talking with one of my vet surgery technicians about how she is falling behind on bills. She couldn't ever seem to catch up. Bills piled up. School loans were due. She needed new tires. In fact, she needed a new car. Yet savings were non-existent. She confessed that she was living paycheck to paycheck. Surely you realize how incredibly common this is in our profession… Yet I had noticed that she always came in to work with a large cup of coffee from a well-known national chain, that she picked up on her way in. And at lunchtime, she routinely added her take-out order to the daily list a receptionist would start. One day, feeling bad for the dire situation this technician was in, I bit the bullet and did the unthinkable: I offered to openly discuss her financial situation. She accepted. So we did some basic math (in case you are wondering, this was done outside the OR, without a patient under anesthesia!). And she quickly realized that the savings could be amazing …
14 Veterinarians Share the Best Advice They Received from a MentorApril 5, 2016Are you surprised when you think about the impact of a few words of wisdom a mentor shared with you along the way? I’m fascinated by how words like that become guideposts that endure for years to steer us toward values we know we can trust. The following are responses from more than a dozen of your peers who credit advice from a mentor with helping them become better veterinarians. 1. Choose what you focus on wisely. "After I'd been out of school for about a year I had lunch with a former clinician. He asked, 'What do you see most commonly?' I responded parasites. He advised, 'Get really good at that.' Today I'm a boarded parasitologist." — Chris Adolph, veterinary specialist at Zoetis 2. Be satisfied knowing you’ve done your best every day. “My mentor told me to never think of clients as ‘my clients.’ You don't own the clients; they are free to go and come as they like. Just feel privileged that at that moment in time they are entrusting the care of their pet to you. Other vets don't ‘steal your clients;’ they just decide to go somewhere else, many times in spite of everything …
15 Tweets That Show the Other Side of Being a Vet TechMarch 28, 20161) You won't be able to look at food the same way. When people describe their dogs poop as "tootsie roll" or "yogurt like", I never want to eat again... #vettechlife — Kat (@KathleenLynn88) February 25, 2016 2) What normally disgusts you will completely change. I get dog hair in my mouth all the time but as soon as I see human hair in my food I'm grossed out lol #vettechlife — Queen of Disaster ♔ (@Nicole_Jirjis) February 20, 2016 3) Completely. That magical moment at the end of the night when I take off my 3 sports bras and make it rain pet nail clippings. #vettechlife — Krisann (@Krisannthemum21) March 13, 2016 4) Your patients will remember you. When a client's dogs recognize me not in scrubs shopping at Petsmart but the client doesn't. #vettechlife — Krisann (@Krisannthemum21) February 12, 2016 5) Your social life will suffer for the strangest of reasons. "I can't go out tonight, I'm covered in urine..." …
The 8th Wonders of the WorldMarch 25, 2016When I wrote about the seven modern Wonders and the seven ancient Wonders of the world in this blog, I explained that because of jealousy, rivalry or politics, the seven modern choices were not universally approved. The New7Wonders Foundation came up with the seven modern wonders of the world via a worldwide vote. Yellowstone National Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and many others did not make the list, which is necessarily subjective. Each choice could be argued with. I suspect this is the reason why there are so many so-called “8th Wonders of the World." The Panama Canal, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014, is such a contender. It is truly an incredible engineering project, which I was fortunate to visit recently. Before the canal was built, if you wanted to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, you had to travel all around South America via its southernmost tip, the hazardous Cape Horn, for about a week. Now it takes about 12 hours to cross the 50-mile-long Panama Canal. The canal made the journey immensely safer and faster, thereby reducing costs 10-fold and cutting …
5 Someecards Every Vet Tech Needs to Keep on HandMarch 21, 2016Your job as a veterinary technician is hard. And sometimes the frustrations and perks of the job are best expressed in the form of SomeeCards. 1) What money? 2) What weekend plans? 3) Bring it on. 4) Solid career advice. 5) You're just trying to be helpful.
What They Never Tell You About Being a Vet Tech in SchoolMarch 21, 2016If you're a vet tech, or looking to be a vet tech, there are just some things that can't be taught. There are things you can only learn from experience. That's the spirit that this infographic from Vet Tech Guide captures in explaining what vet techs really do. The topics covered include: You Won’t Always Cry During Euthanasia Emergencies Always Happen at 4:50 PM on Fridays Not Everyone Loves Their Pet Like You Do You’ll Almost Never Have a Peaceful Lunch It’s Not Always the Big Dogs Who Will Bite You Get a Morbid Sense of Humor You Might End Up Saving People, Too You Have to Like People Clients Will Give Vets All the Credit You’ll Trust Your Vet With Your Own Life What tips would you add to to this list? Let us know in the comments.
7 Qualities of a Great Veterinary SupervisorMarch 21, 2016Before we get started, we need to explain just what a supervisor is and what it is not. What it is not: It is generally not the office manager, practice manager or hospital manager. What it is: The person just “above” the team members on the organizational chart — the hierarchy of the veterinary practice, so to speak. In a smaller practice, with a handful of team members, this might be the office manager, if this person oversees the receptionists and there is no other management figure between the two. Typically, however, the supervisor is someone like the Head Receptionist or Lead Technician, the person put in charge of the team member in that same position. BUT — and this is a big but — this person might not actually have any sort of management title. They might instead be the one who has worked at the practice the longest, or one who is the oldest and almost always the person who is considered the best at that position. They may not hold a management title but are considered the ultimate “go-to” person for that position. We call these “silent …
Why You Need to Start Saying 'No'March 17, 2016In the course of my 20 years in veterinary practice, I’ve learned lots of stuff—mostly the hard way. Worst of all, I’ve kissed lots of frogs. I know you have, too. Be they clients, employers, employees, product suppliers, service providers or business partners, we veterinary professionals interact with a wide range of possible reptiles. But as we all know, even princesses have to pucker up to get what they want. Yes, people will come and go. The hard part is learning to say “no” gracefully so you can move on to the next potential prince with the least amount of slime on your lips. Indeed, most of us eventually learn that declining specific actions, interactions and scenarios is well worth the stress that accompanies the negativity that comes with “no.” With maturity, we recognize that people, places and things we once tolerated are not worth the energy they demand, and we can finally muster the courage to bid them farewell—and fast. Unfortunately, the possibility for negative interactions has kept pace with the speed and complexity of modern veterinary practice. Whether you’re firing a client, splitting up your practice’s …
