National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues - News Feeds

Strategies for improving doctor communication

• Referral information form
  Avoid miscommunication and use this referral form to help improve patient care.
  
• Top 10 ways to make your boss hate you
  Watch Shawn McVey explain how to get on your manager's bad side.
  
• Assign grades to get veterinarians to delegate
  When a doctor does too much, use this strategy from Shawn McVey and Firstline Live at CVC in Kansas City.
  
• Send a consistent message when you make management choices
  Get members of your leadership team on board with changes before implementing them in your veterinary practice.
  
• Managing internal conflict: A comprehensive resource for stopping the madness
  Use these strategies and tools to improve co-worker relations—and your practice.
  
• Q&A: When to tell your boss that you're leaving
  I plan on leaving my job as an associate. How much notice should I give?
  
• Learn to love your younger colleagues
  Veteran veterinarians have much to teach younger doctors. But the opposite is true as well.
  
• Leaders who lose their confidence are more apt to lose their temper
  New research shows how feelings of self-worth are tied to workplace behavior.
  
• Extensive veterinary directory now online
  No more thumbing through the phone book. An online index puts veterinary contacts right at your fingertips.
  
• Delegation: Do it right
  Managers: You need to delegate more. Here's how to do it right.
  
• Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald: Be a better you
  In the veterinary world, integrity is everything.
  
• CVC Kansas City: Your chance to network
  Learn outside the classroom setting.
  
• The amorphous buy-in offer
  One of the more stressful times in a veterinarian's employment relationship is contract-signing or contract-renewal time.
  
• Commentary: Think twice before criticizing a colleague
  Badmouthing our colleagues in front of clients paints a bad picture.
  
• Dr. Oscar the grouch
  When doctors turn sour, be sweet.
  
• The next wave of veterinarians
  Learn what the new generation thinks of the challenges that await them.
  
• How to avoid conflict with new associates
  Here are three tips for how to adapt to the new doctor—without fighting
  
• Living with the alien associates
  This next generation of doctors isn't like us. And that's a good thing.
  
• All hands, eyes, and ears on deck
  Here's how to make your CE sessions effective for different learning styles.
  
• 13 things you shouldn't tell your coworkers
  No matter how close you may be with your practice team, keep these things to yourself.
  
• Q&A: Spread the word about your practice
  There are a variety of strategies for generating referrals from neighboring practices.
  
• How to make your associates hate you
  Watch how you treat your associates—you may be grooming them to resent you.
  
• 9 steps to effective staff meetings, implementing change
  Follow-through after meetings is a frustrating issue in many practices.
  
• 6 reasons to mentor associates before you sell your practice to them
  "Here are the keys; see ya!" doesn't cut it as a transition plan.
  
• Got a "C" in compliance?
  If your client and internal compliance is just average—or worse—jump to the head of the class with these tips.
  
• Live from CVC 2008: You may be driving your team crazy
  At CVC Central 2008, speaker Debbie Allaben Gair explained that every communication style has advantages and disadvantages. Here's what she says you can do to get your message through more effectively.
  
• Firstline Live highlight: Phased training and consistency of care
  Regular training and clinic-wide recommendations are practice owner?s responsibility.
  
• Tips to help associates stand out
  Here's how to help associates shine.
  
• Owners' and associates' views differ on team training
  Owners and associates aren't on the same wavelength when it comes to team education. What's causing the divide?
  
• Tackling turnover
  Lakewood, Colo. — Associate veterinarians are jumping jobs faster than the average American worker, according to a new study, and salaries that don't keep pace with inflation could be partly to blame.
  
• Bridging the generation gap
  Ever feel like you're talking to a wall? Can't understand your boss's way of thinking? What is it with kids these days? Before you get frustrated, check out how the generations in today's workforce are different.
  
• Difficult doctors: Coaching the alpha (Proceedings)
  Why this? Why now? It's the most common complaint of managers in veterinary medicine.
  
• General practitioners vs. emergency doctors
  Appreciate what makes general and emergency veterinarians different.
  
• Associates, don't fear change. Embrace it.
  You are perfectly positioned to benefit from change. Here's how to make the most of three key management decisions.
  
• The shelter dilemma
  Everyone can start to break the impasse between private practitioners and shelters by listening.
  
• Perform a SWOT analysis to identify new business opportunities
  The strongest practice teams work on their business, not just in it. Use this approach to give structure to your conversations about what paths to pursue.
  
• Write or wrong
  It's 10 a.m. on Monday morning. Mrs. Hodge rushes in with her 13-year-old miniature Schnauzer, which is lethargic and vomiting. The problems began yesterday, and all Mrs. Hodge can tell you is that she's been giving her dog some kind of pill for the past week.
  
• Take it home: these take-home points will help you put your referral network plan into action (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  These steps will guide you on your way toward establishing a referral network for your own practice.
  
• From Islands to Networks: The future of veterinary practice (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  Present day veterinarians have evolved from human islands to networks of people—treating pets in concert, making the most of the rapidly expanding body of knowledge that is veterinary medicine, and reqiring the schematic of private practice to harness a healthy array of specialties in service to clients and pets.
  
• AAHA guide to smooth referrals (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  To help bridge the communication gap between primary care veterinarians and specialists, the AAHA developed practical referral guidelines for companian animal practices.
  
• Partnership in patient care: Making the most of the primary care veterinarian/specialist relationship (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  As a primary care veterinarian knows the patients' healthcare needs better than anyone. And sometimes those needs require that you utilize an extension of your practice—the specialist. By collaborating together, the primary care veterinarian and the specialist can provide excellent overall care. Learn how to shape the referral process into a success for everyone—your patients, your clients, and your practice.
  
• Talk the good talk: The necessity of effective communication (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  Communication is an essential element of the relationship among primary care veterinarians, specialists, and clients.
  
• How to build a referral network: Nuts, bolts, and good manners (Supported by Nestlé Purina, Pfizer Animal Health, and the Veterinary Specialty Practice Alliance)
  You've decided to expand the horizons of your practice, accept the mantle of the primary care veterinarian, and become part of a network of colleagues—responding to the health care needs of pets with the best care possible.
  
• Communicating with referring doctors
  How can I encourage general practitioners to refer cases that are beyond their expertise? And how do I do this without coming across as self-serving?
  
• Coach your boss
  Before you punt the ball on your relationship with your boss, consider whether you can gain ground with a little coaching. Then tackle any sore spots with these six strategies.
  
• 5 startup horror stories
  Let these lessons keep you out of a business nightmare of your own.
  
• You know what happens when you assume ...
  When two people are knowledgeable in the same field, misunderstandings arise if one assumes the other already knows something, according to a University of Chicago study.
  
• Make a good impression
  Q. I'm a specialist at a referral practice and I'd like to visit the referring veterinarians in my area. What's the best approach?
  
• Meet and greet
  Q. I'm a specialist in a community with a lot of old-guard general practitioners. How can I build rapport and convince them I'm not out to steal their clients?
  
• Putting out PR fires
  I recently discovered that patients were vaccinated with expired vaccines. We pulled the vaccines out of use immediately and called clients, but what can I do to calm the commotion?
  
• "Don't ask, don't tell" has to stop
  More owners are taking advantage of herbs, nutritional supplements, chiropractic medicine, and acupuncture for their pets, but few are telling their veterinarians.
  
• Please pass the pus!
  Sometimes, as the saying goes, "'tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." Remember this when you feel the need to discuss rectal diseases with your colleagues—in a crowded public place.
  
• Sticky salary situation
  I've been with the same clinic for seven years. There's a lot of turnover, and my boss hires new graduates. Depending on my day, I'm stuck playing teacher with up to three new veterinarians. My boss isn't around much and says I'm not pulling my weight given what I'm being paid. How can I explain the situation to him?
  
• Sample standards to get you started
  Your standards should be clear, concise protocols—like the ones listed below—for what you believe is the best care for the pets you see.
  
• Issues that drive associates bananas
  Owners and associates, you can see eye to eye. Just get the monkeys off your back.
  
• 3 steps to internal compliance
  Agree on the basic care you want to deliver at your veterinary hospital. Write it down. And get all your team members heading in the same direction.
  
• Conflict
  Conflict closed this practice's doors for good. Don't suffer the same fate.
  
• Pop quiz: A test of your loyalty IQ
  "Increased customer loyalty is the single most important driver of long-term profitability," say Scott Robinette, Claire Brand, and Vicki Lenz, authors of Emotion Marketing: The Hallmark Way of Winning Customers for Life (McGraw-Hill, 2000).
  
• Associate contracts: Walk a mile in the practice owner's shoes
  There is a fundamental concept about contract law that students learn in their very first weeks of law school. It's a concept referred to as "meeting of the minds."
  
• What owners and associates see differently
  When it comes to service, associates may think owners see the world through rose-colored glasses. But in general, you may all be more alike than you think.
  
• Managing workplace confrontations
  Confrontation in the workplace can be tricky—you don't want to burn bridges, but you also don't want to suffer at the hands of a colleague.
  
• E-mail etiquette
  With the advent of e-mail, it's easy to jot a disjointed note and send it off to clients or colleagues. But a slap-dash approach may lead you to say things you'd never consider appropriate if you were using a pen and paper. Keep out of trouble with these e-mail etiquette tips:
  
• Talking about touchy subjects
  Growing up in the South, I quickly learned that there were certain subjects one simply should not talk about in mixed company--religion, politics, and money. There are similar touchy topics in business, such as pay raises and compensation plans, staff disagreements, a desire to make important changes in the practice, and disagreement about management styles. Although we'd like to avoid these topics, they need to be discussed.
  
• Keeping a relief veterinarian to your fee schedule
  What do I do with a relief veterinarian who doesn't stick to my fee schedule?
  
• A partner who isn't working
  After we hired an associate, my partner started cutting back on the number of patients he sees without consulting me. How should I handle this?
  
• Associate employment contracts:Scrutinize them prior to signing
  He or she might be in the unenviable position of asking an employer to pony up thousands of dollars for disputed, unpaid productivity revenue.
  
• Consider your partnership carefully
  All partnerships should have the legal equivalent of a prenuptial agreement.
  
• Painless contract negotiation possible, experts say
  Negotiating for the right deal means understanding the compensation process, seeking out appropriate counsel
  
• Last in a four-part-series: Associate contracts
  Don't overlook disability and pension benefits; make sure you understand documents; legalese can short-circuit best intentions
  
• Third in a four-part series- Associate contracts: salary vs. production-based compensation
  The initial two articles in this series on associate employment contracts dealt primarily with legal details of the contract; contract periods, renewal provisions and other esoteric elements that are commonly ignored when a new associate is considering a job offer.
  
• First in a four-part series: Associate contracts: When are they necessary?
  There are a host of decisions and options facing newly graduating veterinary students as they work through their final year.
  
• Future partners: Do your homework
  Veterinarians who are preparing to enter into partnerships are usually thinking one main thought, "We are going to make such great money and I can't wait to be able to share the workload."
  
• Partnerships: Can you protect yourself from liability?
  Second in a three-part series
  
• Good partnerships revolve around mutual goals
  Many of the comments I received about my recent series on non-competition agreements related to non-competes and partnerships.