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Bob Lester

Bob Lester

DVM

About the Author

Creative Disruption columnist Dr. Bob Lester is the chief medical officer at WellHaven Pet Health, a former practice owner and a founding member of Banfield Pet Hospital and the Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine. He serves on the boards of Pet Peace of Mind, WellHaven Pet Health and the Lincoln Memorial veterinary college. He is president-elect of the North American Veterinary Community.

Written By This Author

Veterinary Education

Learning to Innovate

Look no further than Lincoln Memorial for a shining example of new ways to educate the next generation of veterinarians.

Veterinary Education

Ready, Willing and Able

At some colleges, a newer approach to teaching and learning leaves new veterinarians well-prepared for their first day on the job. 

Veterinary Education

Building a Career Ladder

Our profession desperately needs more credentialed veterinary technicians. Human medicine stands as a shining example of progress. 

Human Resources

Cultivating a Team

Explore 15 ways to support your employees personally and professionally and keep them at your practice longer.

A H.O.T. Topic

Tweaking to-do and don’t-do lists and supporting better ways to practice can help us leave at a decent hour.

Government/Regulations

10 Trends Worthy of Attention

Knowing that only fools predict the future and knowing further that I qualify as a fool — my kids regularly remind me — I’ll take a stab at 10 veterinary profession trends to watch.

Practice Management

Some Creatures Great and Small

Can we still practice like James Herriot and offer all things to all people?

Human Resources

The Great Renegotiation

Talented employees are more likely to stay if you treat and compensate them better. Exercising your pricing power will pay the tab.  

Patient Care

Tear Down the Wall

A spectrum of care approach might better address clients of limited means, lowering the barrier to care.

Personal/Professional Development

Up, Up and Away!

The consequences of the workforce crisis include the risk of losing business to non–veterinary professionals, not delivering necessary care and overworking our teams. Ultimately, we risk our health and that of the pets we swear to care for.

Practice Management

Afloat in a Sea of Opportunity

The old do-all-things-for-all-people practice model is increasingly difficult to work in, lead and administer, and satisfy growing consumer needs.

Veterinary Nursing

Calling All Superheroes

With an assist from technology, we can maintain and improve the deep client-doctor relationships for which our profession is known.

Patient Care

The Paradox of Preventive Care

Preventive care benefits pets, people, providers and practices.

Innovation/Technology

Let’s Embrace Techs and Tech

Not enough veterinary technicians, you say. There would be if we honored, empowered, paid and retained the ones we have.

Personal/Professional Development

‘Just’ a GP

By honoring GPs, might we better embrace preventive care, resulting in healthier patients, healthier doctors and healthier teams?

Innovation/Technology

Make Digital Client Service Stick

Keep pet owners and the veterinary team happy by continuing to digitize six key services.

Practice Management

Mercenaries and Missionaries

Consolidators who push profits first leave veterinary teams feeling neglected, leading to less-than-optimal pet care and reduced profits.

Practice Management

Onward and Upward

Forced to adjust amid the pandemic, we proved we’re capable of radical change. We can do a lot more, from pushing for portable licensure to embracing asynchronous learning.

Veterinary Education

The Post-COVID Learner

Change is coming to traditional veterinary education. Colleges long isolated from each other would do well to share resources, expand online teaching, embrace distributive clinical training and even rethink admissions requirements. 

Veterinary Nursing

Two Out of Three Is Bad

We have technology and wellness care down pat. So then, why are we so slow to empower veterinary nurses? They are capable of so much more. Doctors, it’s your move.

Patient Care

A Long-Term Answer

Under a subscription wellness plan, pets and their owners return time and again. Ongoing preventive care is great for the patient, good for compliance and a net gain for practices and their teams.

Practice Management

What the Corporates Get Wrong

Successful, happy practice is more about commitment than compliance.

Practice Management

Do We Really Want to Postpone Preventive Care?

In these pandemic days, wellness visits might not be a priority, but the risks to animal health aren’t going away.

Innovation/Technology

We Can’t Afford to Wait

Virtual care and reinvention of the veterinary nurse will take our profession to the next level. The taxi and recording industries were asleep at the wheel at crucial moments in history. Look where it got them.

Innovation/Technology

Always be learning

The path to enlightenment is paved with lecture halls and PowerPoint presentations. Or we can try something different. In the end, we need to be engaged, excited and current.

Staff Training

A shared journey

The evolution of veterinary education and successful practice requires open-mindedness and a willingness to change. Universities, employers and students all have key roles to play.

Veterinary Education

What vet school could look like

Four-year programs? No. Blockchain technology? Yes. Income sharing? Perhaps. We have a lot to learn about veterinary education and how knowledge is shared and absorbed.

Client Communication

The future is PetGen

Make way, boomers and Gen Xers. Millennials and Generation Z are remaking how Americans view pets and veterinary care.

Human Resources

Unintended Consequences

How to implement key performance indicators in your veterinary practice that track employee satisfaction and success.

Veterinary Industry

Come aboard!

The veterinary industry has a lot going for it, starting with the historic role pets play in everyday life. Staffing issues and the cost of care deserve attention, however.

Diversity and Inclusion

It Was Meant to Be

“Mentern” relationships between baby boomers and millennials allow for the exchange of knowledge and the smooth handoff of the veterinary profession from one generation to the next.

Innovation/Technology

Bricks and Clicks

Veterinary medicine will be in a world of hurt if it doesn’t embrace new and better ways of serving pets and clients.

Innovation/Technology

The Future Has Arrived

Call it distributive education or community-based learning. Either way, veterinary students want it and benefit from it, and so do affiliated practices.

Human Resources

Life First, Work Second

For today’s young veterinary professionals, an excellent quality of life is a must-have. Practice owners need to embrace a new employment model if they want to hire and keep the best and brightest.

Innovation/Technology

One step at a time

Try not to underestimate the power of incrementalism — one step at a time, bit by bit.

Personal/Professional Development

Choose optimism

Optimism is about learning to see the positive and acting on the opportunities presented despite the negativity.

Personal/Professional Development

Let’s get personal

Through a white coat off/on approach to personal and professional development, we are committed to coaching, mentoring and sponsoring the next generation of veterinary profession leaders.

Veterinary Industry

Opportunity Knocks

The bond PetGeners share is remarkable. As they leave their parents’ homes, they are getting a “fur baby,” for whom they provide the very best in food, holiday gifts, veterinary care and beyond.

Practice Ownership

The Goldilocks concept

Corporate consolidation is well underway. It’s a natural economic response to a very successful and fragmented industry.

Personal Wellness

Put vets before pets

Our default setting is generally to place the needs of others over our own, which breeds a backseat approach to our own health.

Veterinary Education

Turn Your Exam Room Into a Classroom

A simple name change — think of it as rebranding — and a new mindset could boost client education and collaboration.

Innovation/Technology

What Do Dentists Know That We Don’t?

Veterinarians could learn from how dentists have adapted and thrived.

Veterinary Industry

It’s Time to Get Creative

The two biggest issues we have to solve are the high cost of veterinary education and the high cost of veterinary care.

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