Our biggest mistakes and the lessons we learnMay 27, 2019Is there ever a day when you don't make a mistake? Sometimes it's as tiny as Cheyletiella; other times, it looms as large as a pachyderm. A classmate and friend of mine from the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 1980, the late Drew Turner, DVM, had a well-known father who was a beloved pastor from a large church in Seattle. A popular Seattle Times religion columnist and a gifted speaker, the Reverend Dale Turner had a quote about mistakes that I kept inside my day planner: "It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes, and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character." I recently made a major mistake. Not my first, but one of my worst, and especially egregious because of the increased awareness of the pressures our profession faces and the problems of depression and suicide. An honest mistake I'm a voracious reader and consumer of news. I forward the links to as many as a dozen pet or veterinary-related articles to my trusted decades-long communications director every day. …
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Professionalism—Own it!December 11, 2018Your veterinary clients deserve and expect to be greeted and cared for by professional veterinary team members. In addition, veterinary teams expect to work with courteous, thoughtful, and professional coworkers.
10 mistakes to avoid after surgeryJanuary 16, 2018Just because surgery is over doesn’t mean that your care of the patient should be, too. Most people (clients included) mistakenly believe that the riskiest part of the entire surgical process is the procedure or the anesthesia.
10 mistakes to avoid during surgeryDecember 12, 2017All kinds of sticky situations can be avoided by following a simple set of rules during the various steps of surgery, from the incision to the last suture.
Dispelling myths about entrepreneurship and practice ownershipNovember 7, 2017I had the rare opportunity to speak with Michael Gerber, management guru and best-selling author of The E-Myth Revisited and the E-Myth book collection, who recently co-wrote The E-Myth Veterinarian with Peter Weinstein, DVM, MBA, executive director of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association.
When veterinarians make mistakesAugust 26, 2016As I have confessed in this column many times before, I’m no poster child for veterinary practice. No one in their right mind would nominate me for clinician of the year. In fact, I’m prone to thinking my bad habits alone should probably disqualify me for any kind of a mentorship role.
