Columns

A well-equipped and well-situated suite will help a hospital capitalize on the fast-growing service of oral care.

Veterinary medicine has enjoyed healthy growth for a number of years in the range of services offered. For many general practices and specialty hospitals, income and caseload growth are powered by expanded diagnostic and treatment modalities. Carving out space for special procedures has become standard in both new and existing clinics. Clients are looking to […]

Compassion, curiosity and courage are a potent antidote to the common fears that can paralyze us as human beings.

We’ve been focusing lately on the first two components of emotional agility: compassion and curiosity. Now, we turn our attention to the final component, courage. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” — Maya Angelou As Maya Angelou suggests, courage is an essential […]

Think imaginatively and freshen the look to jump-start sagging product sales.

Who is fronting the merchandise at your veterinary hospital? Rotating it? Freshening the stock? Creating and building a new point-of-purchase display? These types of actions are happening almost everywhere today throughout Retail America but probably not at most veterinary clinics. Why not? Not a priority? Don’t see value in the effort? Or are you of […]

Modest improvements in benefits or pay, or both, can pay off when it comes to recruiting and retaining employees. An incentive program can help.

Has hiring employees gotten harder lately? Not just finding veterinarians, but also veterinary nurses and other team members. Naturally, low unemployment is one reason for the problem. Another is the fact that we have underpaid veterinary employees for quite some time. I don’t think any practice purposefully underpays team members. Instead, we do it because […]

Clients don’t respond well to lectures. Strive to partner with them for the good of the patient, and remember to ask open-ended questions to jump-start conversations.

Last summer a friend and I had a conversation about nutrition for her dogs. Well, at the time I thought it was a conversation. She was feeding a boutique brand of food because of the supposed benefits, which to me sounded like nifty marketing rather than real science. Of course, I jumped on the opportunity […]

A support position doesn’t have to be a lifetime job. You have other options in the veterinary field if you’re motivated to do something else.

Working in a veterinary practice is an enviable career choice. It is a calling for many of us as well as a profession many are drawn to. The career choice is often reinforced when someone’s reaction upon hearing what you do is “Oh, that’s awesome!” or “Lucky you.” How many of us can make our […]

Authentic, personalized client service will differentiate your practice.

We can all think of a business where an employee told us to “Have a nice day” as we left. Years ago, I imagine, the phrase “Have a nice day” was meaningful. At its best, the phrase conveys politeness and indicates that an employee has had basic customer service training. At its worst, it can […]

“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.

As I and millions of fellow baby boomers begin to see more of life in the rearview mirror than out the windshield, I often find myself reflecting: Have I served my family well, did I give back to the profession I dearly love, and where the hell are my glasses? It’s become abundantly clear that […]

As legislators in three states ponder awarding non-economic damages to pet owners, the veterinary profession needs to get to the bottom of what is troubling nurses.

When we talk about threats to veterinarians and access to veterinary care, nothing is more dangerous than legislation that authorizes the recovery of non-economic damages. This troublesome idea has been around for decades, but state courts have done the heavy lifting to maintain the status quo in California, Texas, Georgia, Oregon and Vermont, to name […]

Adjust your thinking and your hospital to appeal to millennials.

“Millennials are killing the ___________ industry!” Headlines like that are all over social media and in the news. Every day, it seems, another business model is being threatened by millennials’ way of doing things. The fact is, young people act, buy and are focused differently compared with older generations. My grown children are of the […]