Do You Get Nightmares About Work?August 27, 2015When I present my favorite compassion fatigue talks, there is a section where we discuss the symptoms of compassion fatigue. Among the list of symptoms is “recurring nightmares.” I remember when I first discovered compassion fatigue, I was fortunate enough to come across a resource that walked you through teaching it to others. It recommended you first take a good, long look in the mirror to see if YOU have compassion fatigue. Well, I did, in fact I often joke that I am the ‘poster child’ for compassion fatigue. Here are some of the symptoms: Bottled-up emotions The impulse to rescue anyone (or any animal) in need Isolation from others Sadness and apathy The need to voice excessive complaints about management and co-workers Lack of interest in self-care practices Reoccurring nightmares and flashbacks Persistent physical ailments Difficulties concentrating and mentally tired Prone to accidents As I went through the list of symptoms, I was dutifully checking them off one by one, the realization of my state of mind slowly sinking in. But when I came to ‘reoccurring nightmares’ I suddenly skidded to a stop. Well, at least …
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Veterinary Practice Managers: Should They be Homegrown or Imported?August 20, 2015The way I see it, there are two ways that we get people into management positions in veterinary medicine: we grow our own, meaning a person “moves up” from the kennel, the front office or the medical team and becomes a manager. Or we “import” them from outside of veterinary medicine because they have some sort of management education or experience. Both ways have their advantages and disadvantages. Homegrown managers know veterinary medicine, at least to the degree that their previous experience and job positions have required of them. They have worked in the environment, they understand the type of people who are found in this profession and typically are well respected by the team because of them being in the business, so to speak. However, they lack the management skills and knowledge to get the job done in a leadership position. This is where we need to focus their education, and teach them the business side of things. Imported managers know their stuff when it comes to business, in whatever facet they have experienced in their education and …
How To Beat Bad HabitsAugust 6, 2015Craig Ballantyne, publisher of earlytorise.com, and who kindly inspired this blog, is a really smart guy. He recently made me aware of a principle that I’ve applied for years without even knowing it. He writes: “[…] Open your eyes to the power of your environment. When you control your environment, you help controlling your future.” What on earth does that mean? He explains: “If we have a bad habit, putting ourselves into an environment that promotes the bad habit is the first step in making the bad habit worse. Therefore, we need to identify not only the bad habits in our lives that we want to change, but also the environments we must avoid in order to foster this change.” Examples he gives include: An alcoholic shouldn’t walk into a bar. A dieter shouldn’t have any junk food in the car — or at home. A diabetic shouldn’t walk into a donut shop. A shopaholic should avoid going to the mall with a credit card. A dieter shouldn’t go to the all-you-can-eat buffet. The alternative of course is to have a lot of willpower. Could you walk in an all-you-can-eat buffet and order a side salad with no dressing? Clearly, it’s much easier …
Read This: An Unconventional Guide to Veterinarian CareJuly 31, 2015Have you read “The Husbandry and Feeding of Veterinarians (for new owners)” yet? Well, you should. For those who might not know what exactly life is like with a veterinarian, this guide is for you, stating, “Congratulations on your new relationship! Partnering with a veterinarian is not without its challenges, but with some care and effort you can make things work. Here are a few pointers to help you maximize the bond with your veterinarian.” This entire post is full of gems, with this one being my personal favorite: There are some phrases that should never, ever come out of your mouth. The term ‘real doctor’ is the primary offender. This term should only be used dripping with sarcasm or with large air quotes, usually when referring to something that someone else said. If used otherwise, bites can result. Also be cautious when saying the phrase “playing with puppies and kittens”, as this is a known aggression trigger in some veterinarians, especially when used with the modifier ‘all day’. The reason for this aggression is currently unknown but studies are underway.” Written by Claws, a western Canadian veterinarian, …
How To Remember What Fueled Your FireJuly 23, 2015On Veterinary Support Personnel Network (VSPN), there is a public message board on compassion fatigue that I moderate. It has turned out to be a great place for veterinary professionals to come share their thoughts, feelings and predicaments as it were, and receive support from others who have “been there, done that.” Recently one of the topic threads has touched on burnout, and here is a posting I added recently to help those trying to figure out where they stand when it comes to burnout. I have also shared this with several audiences. See if this speaks to you, or helps in any way: If we are experiencing negative feelings now—whether it be called burnout, compassion fatigue, or something else unnamed—another factor that adds to our negative feelings is a realization that we did not start out feeling the way we may feel now. We began with noble ideas of helping animals, and the good way that sense of purpose would make us feel. In a discussion about burnout, these first feelings were identified as what “fueled our fires” back in the beginning, and they include a time when: We felt …
The Craziest Veterinary Technician StoriesJuly 16, 2015It is inevitable that something difficult, messy or never-heard-of-before will happen in a veterinary clinic. No one is safe, no one. At times, it appears technicians are the ideal target for crazy situations. From untimely fires to breaking personal space and animal bodily fluids landing in unfortunate areas, technicians are exposed to it all. So we asked technicians to share the craziest stories that have happened to them at our various referral hospitals. Cute but Messy Kitten Speaking of bodily fluids: A technician was cuddling with the cutest kitten in the world. He climbed all over her, and suddenly — to her horror — he had explosive diarrhea all over her: her face, her neck, her hands and her scrubs. Yet it’s hard to get mad about a cute kitten… No Scrubs, No Problem At an emergency clinic, a technician became covered in blood while triaging a hit-by-car patient. He was covered in blood, and pretty soon, she was covered in blood as well. Of course, this happened at the beginning of her shift. There were no extra scrubs anywhere, so she decided to wash her scrubs at the clinic. And so she wore a towel wrapped around her body …
Why You Should Use STATJuly 9, 2015An Absent Assertiveness Alarm should go off if any of these statements sound like you: Doing something you don’t want to do; Saying yes when you mean no; Meeting needs before being asked; Doing more than your fair share; Giving more than you receive; Fixing other people’s feelings; Thinking for another person; Suffering other people’s consequences; Failing to ask for what you need or want. The first publication of STAT: Special Techniques in Assertiveness Training for Women in the Health Professions was in 1978. Now in its fourth edition, this publication proves that indeed, some things never change. Reading this book is like looking at any nurses’ station in any hospital across the continent, where women continue to be the dominant gender in nursing, yet remain subservient to men in the profession for the most part. Veterinary medicine is really no different, EXCEPT that the number of female veterinarians is climbing! So does that mean this dynamic may change in the near future? That remains to be seen. In that scenario, perhaps instead of the “female vs. male” battle, we’ll just change it to the “practice owner vs. support staff” battle. Regardless, it never hurts to learn more about how …
Are Your Ethics Being Compromised?June 25, 2015What happens when we find ourselves in moral distress on a frequent basis? At the 2013 Veterinary Social Work Summit, Sonnya Dennis, DVM, DABVP, presented a session on “Ethics Exhaustion.” She defined “ethics” in this regard as a code of moral conduct or rules, following duty and not convenience, and doing the thing that “I should do.” The problem is, there is not universal acceptance of what is “wrong” and “right”; ethics is clearly a personal concept and will vary from person to person. Yet if we accept a position in a practice that provides a service we personally feel is immoral or unethical, we are allowing our ethics to be compromised. Dr. Dennis explains that ethics exhaustion is fatigue, emotional distress and lack of will to continue to act in a way that is consistent with what you believe is the ethical thing to do. It is having failed to square behavior with belief so often that you no longer care to try. At times, ethics exhaustion can be having trouble defining what that right thing is, or can be a mismatch between your ethical belief and your actual behavior. “Ethics exhaustion is not a loss of compassion, but …
Eat That Frog!June 18, 2015An ancient story claims that if the first thing you do when you wake up every morning is eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen to you for the rest of the day. Mark Twain reportedly said: “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.” Brian Tracy, the best-selling author and professional development guru, explains that your “frog” should be the most difficult task on your to-do list. Believe of or not, the frog contains a secret hormone (fittingly named APH or Anti-Procrastination Hormone), which will give you energy and momentum for the whole day. The “frog” could mean returning a difficult phone call, organizing your desk or your office, firing a poor performer… The difficult phone call (or email) might be to an especially emotional client whose pet has died unexpectedly, to share bad news about biopsy results, or to return an irate client’s phone call (this last one never happens to me of course. I heard that it apparently has happened to colleagues though). In fact your frog also could …
How to Use ART to Combat Compassion FatigueJune 4, 2015Vidette Todaro-Franceschi tells us that, “We do not have to accept compassion fatigue and/or burnout as the costs of caring; with intention, we can make choices that help us to reaffirm our purpose and actively sidestep feeling dissatisfied and disenchanted with our work.” In her book, Compassion Fatigue and Burnout in Nursing: Enhancing Professional Quality of Life, she teaches a concept called ART: Acknowledge, Recognize, and Turn Outward, which she describes as reaffirming purpose as a healing model for our wounded workforce. In her book, Todaro-Franceschi discusses ways to use ART for many different situations or purposes, which we’ll look at closer. In every case, she states that “when applying ART, you focus on awareness of turning points, connection to others (and the environment), and one’s place (individually and collectively) in the unfolding present.” The first application of ART is compassion contentment, or job satisfaction in a manner of speaking. This is the positive side of professional quality of life, the reasons we put on scrubs every morning and clock in at our practices. When you remain aware or mindful of the positive things in life, we can look to repeat those things and experience joy …
