5 tips to Good Veterinary Practice Management | VetCheck.

5 Tips to Good Practice Management

Communication is key for running a thriving veterinary practice and VetCheck offers users an easy way
for teams to deliver high quality care.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Get your team on board when it comes to new practice strategies
  • Integrate technology to streamline your workflows and build a more efficient team
  • Deliver exceptional customer service
  • Manage complaints

The VetCheck interface makes it easy for veterinary teams to ensure their clients have all the information they need to ensure that every client and their patient receives high quality care.

Tanja Mimica, former operations manager of Greencross Vets and VetWest offer tips on how you can elevate your practice and deliver high standards of care every time. 

Tip #1. Good communication can improve practice profitability.

Communication is key.

I have worked with some practices that are performing very well financially, and others that are struggling to break even. I would go as far as to say that all the differences between them are rooted in communication.

Here’s why: when vets communicate well with clients, it leads to acceptance of treatment plans. When the practice owner or manager communicate their vision and values well with the team, it leads to staff engagement; when the staff communicate well with each other, it improves efficiency in the practice, eliminates conflict and creates a more positive work environment. Finally, when staff members communicate well with clients, the number of client complaints decreases.

It doesn’t matter whether you have a fancy new piece of equipment, great marketing material or the best surgeon - if your team is not communicating effectively, your practice is not going to be profitable.

Tip #2. Communication, protocols and technology are the only things that can improve practice efficiency.

Technology can play a key role in improving practice efficiency by reducing the amount of time or effort to perform a task.

When it comes to practice management, I don’t think we take advantage of new technology enough. From allowing clients to book appointments online and using new communication tools in the practice such as Slack, to automatically sending client surveys after appointments and using Hootsuite to schedule posts across all social media channels….there is so much we can be doing to reduce time spent on administrative tasks.

When it comes to implementing technology, give your staff plenty of notice, put together protocols and offer lots of training!

Change is hard and it’s scary. No one likes change. When change involves new technology, it can be particularly difficult for team members to adapt because it generally requires changing habits that have been formed over time, and learning an unfamiliar software.

Explain why, involve the staff in the process, document protocols, offer training, review, encourage feedback and be prepared to amend procedures.

When implementing new technology, it’s particularly important that you document the new protocol in a written policy and procedure. That way, team members can refer back to it if they are having difficulties.

You may also need to inform clients of the change, or let them know that your staff are learning a new program, and thank them for their patience.

Prepare your staff for hiccups along the way. This means setting realistic expectations that they may experience frustrations with using the new technology. That way, when things do go wrong, you can say “great, this is what I was talking about, we knew this would happen, let’s find a solution and move forward”

One other thing comes to mind that relates specifically to VetCheck and client handouts: get rid of the printed handouts once you start using the digital version. When people are given the opportunity to go back to the old, familiar way of doing things, they will use it. If they have no alternative but to use VetCheck, they will eventually form new habits.

Tip #3. Pet owners can really only differentiate practices by the level of customer service they receive rather than veterinary competency.

This is 100% true, but I think some practice owners don’t recognize this.

Here’s an anecdote: My partner James, who is not from the vet industry, and I took our dog Alex to the vet a few weeks ago. He was really sick, so we saw about 5 vets in 3 hospitals within a period of 36 hours. After each consult, my partner commented on whether he thought the vet was ‘good’ or not.
From a medical point of view, they were all great and Alex received excellent treatment.
After I quizzed him a little to find out what he based his opinion on, it was clear that it had nothing to do with judging their professional skills but purely whether he thought the vets ‘seemed like they cared about Alex’. Now, I’m sure they all really did care about the patient, so the only difference was how they communicated.

In our industry, customer service is almost entirely about how well we communicate with clients. Exceptional customer service means letting your clients know you care about their pet.

It’s the old saying ‘they don’t care how much you know, until they know how much your care’ - cliche but true.

Tip #4. Dr. Google is here to stay so you need to establish yourself as a go-to for pet health information.

Firstly, I think we need to acknowledge that Dr. Google is here to stay, so we need to become proactive about how we deal with clients who have researched their pet’s disease online prior to the vet consult. Dr. Google is not going to replace us.

We need to demonstrate understanding and a positive attitude when a client comes in with a diagnosis from Dr. Google. Firstly, let them know you are pleased that they are interested in learning more about their pet’s health. Reassure the client that you will address what they have learnt online after you examine the pet. Continue with the consultation as you normally would - chances are, you will answer most of the client’s questions and fears, rendering Dr. Google redundant.

Finally, provide the client with some reading material of your own (for quality control) and encourage them to contact the clinic next time they are concerned about their pet.

Tip #5. Complaints about costs is just a perception of poor value for money.

Again, it’s about communication. It doesn’t matter what you have done for Fluffy, if you haven’t communicated that to the client and explained the benefits for Fluffy.

Vets and nurses do great work every day that delivers value to clients, but unfortunately clients don’t always see that, so we need to get better at communicating. We take patients to the hospital area and call it “out the back” - that term alone diminishes the value of our professional services. We chat to the client about their work while performing a 12 point check, so the client never realizes what you’re actually doing for their pet.

A dental cleaning is a good example of this, and I know the uptake of dental prophys is a big challenge for many practices.

The vet looks at Fluffy’s teeth and says “He needs a dental cleaning” The client’s first question is “How much will it cost”. So we give the client an estimate of $450, they either refuse on the spot or walk away with the estimate and never book the procedure. In this scenario, the vet has not demonstrated value, they have quoted the cost.

The first thing the client cares about is why their pets needs this - how Fluffy feels now, how he’ll feel if the procedure isn’t performed, and how he’ll feel after it is performed.

The second thing the client cares about is why it ‘costs so much’ - especially when they have their own teeth cleaned at the dentist for $100. You have to explain the procedure in order to demonstrate value. Start at the beginning, from admission to pre-meds, to the GA, to post-op monitoring...all the way to the discharge appointment and the revisit.

Demonstrating value is about helping the client understand the benefits of the procedure to their pet and what the procedure involves, while communicating in a way that lets the client know you care.

It sounds really basic, but the reality is that many practices are not doing this.

You can demonstrate value after a routine wellness check by summarizing what you have done (12 point check) prior to giving the client the bill or by performing nail clips and anal gland expressions in a consult room with the client present, just to name a few.

I have dealt with a lot of client complaints and I can honestly say that 95% are not due to inadequate patient care. The vast majority of client complaints arise because the client’s expectations have not been met, and the reason their expectations haven’t been met is because they were never set in the first place.

This also comes back to communication. So, to prevent client complaints, set clear expectations every step of the way.

An example of this is ear problems - I have had many clients complain after their third or fourth revisit for a reoccuring ear infection. If they were told that ear infections can take a long time to treat, that they will likely need to come back to the practice multiple times, that they’ll be charged a revisit fee each time and that despite your best efforts, the infection may reoccur, these complaints can be avoided.

About VetCheck

In today’s busy practice, client communication can be extremely difficult. Yet, it is one of the most important aspects of the clinical process with callbacks, unrealistic expectations and clients not following recommendations the by products of client confusion.VetCheck is a new kind of client communication platform bringing all your client communications together in one place to help you save time while helping you to deliver high quality care, build stronger client relationships and improve compliance. With 1400 easily searchable templates, we’ve got you covered when it comes to client education. You can easily select, customise, create new digital communications and share directly to the customers mobile device with 99% engagement rate.

Reference

This article was adapted from an interview with Tanja Mimica a veterinary practice manager with over 15 years experience in the vet industry, having worked as a vet nurse, practice manager, and business operations manager at Greencross and Vetwest Animal Hospitals.