Written By This Author
Personal Wellness
How to Extend a Technician’s Shelf Life
Debilitating burnout and on-the-job injuries can shorten a career, but lowering or eliminating the risks is possible.
Patient Care
The Triage Technician
Establishing a system of protocols allows a veterinary practice to handle urgent calls efficiently.
Human Resources
The Toxic Technician
Your employees’ personalities and behaviors contribute to your practice’s overall culture. When you have even one venomous employee, the toxicity can harm your entire organization.
Practice Management
The Professional You
Your practice might need a checkup from a staff and hospital perspective so that clients like what they see and experience.
Veterinary Industry
10 Notable Changes in Veterinary Nursing
After a slow start, the field we chose and love has evolved into so much more.
Personal Wellness
Who’s Taking Care of You?
Supervising the veterinary nurse team is hard enough, so train and trust others to do their jobs, and remember to take time for yourself.
Personal/Professional Development
Moving Forward in Veterinary Nursing
Professional development requires the team member’s determination and commitment as well as the practice’s support of continuing education.
Practice Management
The Empowered Veterinary Nurse
Multiple payoffs await if you allow your capable and trusted technicians to take on more responsibilities.
Client Communication
The Exceptional Veterinary Nurse
A great leader elevates everyone on the team as they strive to deliver optimal patient care and thorough client communication.
Client Communication
Leading by Example
From start to finish in a patient’s care, and even after discharge, empowered veterinary nurses stay in close contact with clients.
Practice Management
Rising to the Top
One challenge for every head technician is finding the time to lead the team, manage everyone and work on the floor with patients and clients.
Personal/Professional Development
The Next Step
Veterinary nurses looking to move into management or leadership should pursue specific learning opportunities.
Merchandising
You Can Count on It
Count each item in stock, check expiration dates and flag short-dated items for return or immediate use.
Government/Regulations
Risky Business
OSHA standards outline many of the protocols for handling hazardous waste.
Staff Training
Educate and Document
Every business, regardless of type, is required to train employees.
Government/Regulations
Safe and Sound
Inspections are needed to identify known or potential hazards in each work area of the hospital.
Staff Training
Better Safe Than Sorry
When a team member is dealing with a personal issue outside the workplace, privacy issues should take a backseat to workplace safety.
Client Communication
Nurture the Bond
The pandemic upset client relationships, but you can still provide good customer service.
Personal Wellness
How to Reduce Burnout
The pandemic has made work and daily life even more stressful. You can mitigate the tension if you set expectations for clients, fine-tune staff schedules and practice self-care.
Veterinary Nursing
A Clean Bill of Health
Everyone on the veterinary team, from managers to groomers, is responsible for ridding the hospital of germs and then doing it again and again. Cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing is a never-ending job.
Practice Management
What COVID-19 Has Taught Us
We learned to navigate through the unthinkable and prepare for the unknown.
Veterinary Nursing
A Recipe for Success
Leveraging technicians gives them a greater role in patient care and frees veterinarians to focus on active, rather than passive, revenue streams.
Veterinary Nursing
From Preop through Postop
Surgical outcomes are optimized when the client is engaged and educated at every step, beginning with consent and ending with discharge and at-home care.
Veterinary Nursing
5 things you didn’t learn in school
Your clinical skill set is important, of course, but there’s more to being a veterinary technician if you want to thrive and survive.
Pet Insurance
Take the lead on pet insurance
Veterinary technicians are in a great position to raise the topic of pet insurance — and all its benefits — with clients.
Personal/Professional Development
See You at the CE
Whether accomplished at conferences, online or during lunch and learns, veterinary continuing education is important for skillset development and career advancement.
Personal/Professional Development
The road ahead
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.
Personal/Professional Development
What gets you down?
Suffering from burnout, compassion fatigue or work-life issues? Make time for yourself, and distance yourself from what causes you the most stress.
Veterinary Nursing
Wield Your Influence
What a veterinary nurse says and does can make the difference between a pet owner following a recommended treatment plan or rejecting it altogether.
Client Communication
You Make the Call
Call the day after any medication is dispensed. Ask if the client is having issues administering the drug and whether the pet is having side effects.
Patient Care
Gray Matters
Many practices have developed patient care models to address and resolve specific age-related conditions.
Government/Regulations
Uh-oh, it’s OSHA
Regular and structured safety training is an OSHA requirement. Employees must be trained upon hiring, when OSHA standards change, and annually.
Patient Care
The royal treatment
Remember to keep the patient warm, comfortable and observed throughout recovery.
Merchandising
Do the math
Once the cleanup and consolidation are complete, the next step is to physically count what you have on hand.
Personal/Professional Development
The Efficient Practice
Inefficiency results when doctors are doing “non-doctor” tasks that the support team should be doing.
Patient Care
Make Surgery an Exceptional Experience
Top-notch communication and protocols will wow clients and ensure the best possible care of their pets.
Client Communication
Craft a Treatment Plan Game Plan
Veterinary clients are more likely to accept medical recommendations if you clearly explain the services, provide a high-end, low-end fee estimate and know how to respond to financial resistance.