Make Time to Create Time

We had another rocking Saturday at our veterinary hospital today. It was loaded with patients ranging from the cutest little sheltie puppy in for his second vaccine appointment, to a difficult euthanasia, to the two vomiting cats that needed radiographs and blood work and still gave me no solid reason for their vomiting. The busy overloaded schedule and the stress that I felt radiating off of my veterinary team, made me wonder how can we better manage our brains around time?  How can we manage the way we think about our time at work and at home, and would it make a difference if we could think differently?

Over the years I have observed myself spending time and wasting time. Using time wisely and costing myself time with worry, indecision, regret and distraction.  I have the type of personality that always wants to know what is going on.  I have trouble sitting in an office alone when there are people and things to see and do outside my office door.  I find myself distracted by the activity in the rest of the hospital.  It is like a monkey controls a small part of my brain.  This results in me procrastinating the “boring” usually important tasks that I need to accomplish and wasting my time worrying about how my team members are spending their time.  Another big thing for me is helping other people get their tasks accomplished.  I find it more fun to help others get things done than to help myself.  

There are things that we can do to create time.

Make a plan:  In order to get more done, be very deliberate with your time.  You will need a detailed plan as to how your time will be spent each day.  The plan should have actual time blocks penciled in to accomplish each task.  If you give yourself a 30-minute slot at the end of the day to write up records, set the timer on your phone to 30 minutes.  Don’t look up from those records until your 30 minutes are up.   You will surprise yourself with your productivity.

I have a small journal that I carry with me.  I sit down in the morning and list all the things that I will get done in the day and schedule time for them.  When I write those tasks down, it looks like my perfect day.   But, we all know that perfect days are rare in a veterinary hospital.   Although I don’t always get it exactly right, by having the written plan I have a much higher chance of success.

Follow the plan:  Making the plan is vital, but following it is key. When you sit down to attend to your plan, your mind will tell you to check your phone, get a snack, get some water, catch up on some gossip and visit the bathroom. Your brain will try to foil your efforts, but stand strong and keep to your plan.  Realize that when your brain tells you to stray from your plan, you can control it.   Tell it to quiet down and get to work.  Later you can schedule in a snack break, but when you decide, not when the monkey in your brain wants it.

Make strong decisions and don’t look back: Many of us spend too much time agonizing over simple decisions instead of just making them and moving on.  Things as simple as, “What should I eat for lunch?” can take some of us over 20 minutes.  If you fear making decisions because you could fail and choose wrong, force yourself to make some quick decisions and don’t second-guess.  You can practice going with your gut and choosing the first thing that comes to you. If you make the “wrong” decision you can just chalk it up to a learning experience and make a better one the next time.  No big deal!

If we all pay attention to the way that we waste our time with distraction and become aware of reducing that waste, we can create more time in our day for the things that we want to accomplish.  Remember that you only have this moment.  The past is gone and the future is out there waiting for you to build the amazing life of your dreams.  

Dr. Julie Cappel

Dropped Pants!

I am always impressed and entertained at how intimate the relationship can become between a veterinarian and a client.  People just love us and often feel so close to us that they share things that they shouldn’t (or we wish they wouldn’t).  It can be a big responsibility and is stressful at times, but mostly it is an honor to be thought of as a trusted friend by people that pay us to help them with their pets.  

I see it as the human-animal-veterinary bond. 

Here is a story from my veterinary life as an example of this awesome phenomenon.

One of my favorite client pairs was a very sweet, happy, and proud Polish couple that brought their very fat Cocker Spaniel  “Taffy” into the office regularly.  They spoke English, but had very heavy accents that were sometimes difficult for me to follow.   In fact, I don’t know that the Mrs. understood much that was spoken to her in English, but she would always smile and nod her head vigorously in agreement with everything I said.  Mr. would explain Taffy’s symptoms in broken English with many details, most of which I got.  He would point and gesture with each word, then smile and shake his head in the affirmative if I repeated his words correctly.  Taffy was very loved as evidenced by his very obese physique.  He was always well groomed but would waddle into the exam room and wag his very stubby and plump tail, but promptly lay down because he was so fat.  He was the kind of fat that makes a dog look like a walking tabletop or ottoman.  Each time he came in I would gently suggest that they reduce his food and they would go on and on about how little he really ate.  “Doctor, he eats only a few bits of food, how can he get so heavy?”  I would ask, “Do you give him any treats or food from the table?” “Oh No!  He only gets a little toast with butter for breakfast,  a couple bites of chicken, a little of my sandwich, he likes pasta and once in awhile he likes a little ice cream and dog treats when he goes outside.”  But he really isn’t a very good eater.”

One day this poor eater arrived for an emergency visit.  It happened when Mr. was taking Taffy for his daily ride in the car.  When they returned home he jumped out of the car as he always had, except for this visit he jumped from the car seat as opposed to the floor.  When he landed on the cement driveway both of his front legs gave way, he screamed out in pain and was unable to walk.  Mr. and Mrs. rushed him right in to see me.  Taffy was in a lot of pain and you could see that the legs were already starting to swell.  I explained that we were going to need to give him some pain medicine and take some radiographs to assess the situation.  When the radiographs finished it was obvious that both of Taffy’s carpal (wrist) joints were completely dislocated.  All the ligaments were torn and Taffy would no longer walk on either front leg unless he had some major reconstructive surgery.  Which is not on my list of talents. 

 I talked to them and explained that I would get him comfortable and wrap the legs for stabilization, but they would have to visit a specialist with Taffy to get the legs repaired.  Once I explained the situation and contacted my favorite orthopedic specialist, we packed Taffy up for the transfer.  We all went out to the reception area to get paperwork together and take care of the charges.  As we were waiting there, Mrs. must have had a revelation of understanding because she called out to me “Doctor!” and as I leaned in readying myself to understand her, she dropped her pants clean to the floor and pointed to her knees.  She obviously understood what her little pet needed.  She was standing in the middle of my reception room, smiling broadly and nodding her head, with her pants at her ankles pointing to the scars on her knees where she had knee surgery.  I smiled back as I looked at her in her underwear now smiling and nodding my head so she would know that I understood, and thinking how much I really love my job.   Communication and trust at its best. 

If you are a veterinary professional, try to remember how much trust and love our clients have for us and treat yourself in the same loving way.  You are their veterinarian, the person that they trust enough to drop their pants.

Dr. Julie Cappel

Why we Love, Love, Love our veterinary technicians

Veterinarians would be lost: No,  we would be nothing, without veterinary technicians.  We would be sad, lonely, tired, overwhelmed, and totally broke. 

I thought about this as I was working today, a very busy Saturday.  I walked out of exam room after exam room to see my technicians scurrying by, handling a mega-pile of tasks.  Draw the blood, catch the urine, run the tests, radiograph the pet, give the fluids, trim the nails, present the treatment plan, count the pills, and call the client.  One crabby gentleman said some rude remarks and threw a stack of paperwork at one of my kindest, most gentle technicians as she was explaining a treatment plan.  She handled the assault with with grace and poise.

How can we honor these rock stars of the veterinary world?

Love and Respect their experience:

Some veterinarians take a superior attitude with their technicians. They do not respect their knowledge base and experience.  Most technician programs are 2-year programs, however much of the technician learning is done hands on.  They learn much of what they do by actually dealing with animals and clients.  Also, sometimes your veterinary technician has more years of experience than you do. Your technician has also worked with multiple veterinarians allowing them exposure to many different methods of  practice and new ideas.  They spend more time with the clients and patients too, allowing them to get to know what the individual needs possibly better than the veterinarian.  When a technician alerts you about  the status of your patient, it would be wise to listen to them with an open mind.  They will help you avoid missing something important.

Love and Respect their teaching ability:

Most of the technicians that I work with are vastly more patient than I am, and much more thorough when teaching a client patient care.  When they are properly trained in nutrition, training, puppy socialization, parasite prevention, and medication techniques they can pass that training on to my clients.   They are friendly, open, honest and able to talk to a client on the level that they need to understand many issues surrounding their pet’s care.  Not to say that we doctors are not great educators, but when we are in the middle of a packed schedule with many patients occupying our time, we are forced to rush through the client education “stuff”.  That is when we can call “super technician to the rescue!”  The client will get a much better education than they will get from the veterinarian (me).

Love and allow them to be who they are:

I work with 10 technicians on a daily basis and each one is unique and special.  I have one that loves inventory ordering and monitoring, one that loves to handle the schedules, one that is a top-notch repair and maintenance woman, one that loves working with the practice management software and one that is a master at social media.  One hates surgery, one hates running exam rooms, one loves exotic pets, one loves rabbits, one loves dog training.  They are all super talented in all areas, but are super productive in the areas that they like best.  The most productive thing that I can do as a veterinary leader is to assign them to the areas in which they excel.   Honoring their unique talents makes for a happier work environment and a more efficient hospital.

So cheers to Shelley, Carolyn, Deanna, Beth, Nicole, Sam, Dawn, Jessica, Jackie and Becky – my amazing technician team.  Thank you for saving me day after day. 

Please share your best veterinary technician story with me in the comments, to honor those who really run our veterinary hospitals.

Call your clients, love your job, better your life.

Consider the client phone call.  That stack of messages that is waiting on your desk at the end of a busy 12-hour day when all you want to do is go home, eat some food and watch something on Netflix with your family. 

So many times I have been guilty of complaining about calling a client at the end of the day about some random issue or question. For instance, Dr. what should I feed Bailey?  (After I spent 40 minutes in the exam room yesterday recommending the perfect diet for Bailey).   The questions that we get are often commonplace and tedious to us, however, we need to remember that the client is concerned about ONE pet, the most important pet in the universe, THEIRS.  Their pet is a precious child, and if we don’t take time to talk to them and show genuine concern we are neglecting our primary duty and responsibility as a veterinary professional.  It is our duty, but I have found that it is more often a privilege.  It is a window into their home life, at the time of the day that everyone is home from work, had their dinner and are more relaxed and eager to talk to me,  their friendly veterinarian.  It is often that phone call that brings me closer, strengthening the bond to my clients as I get to know them better.

When I call clients back with a cheerful attitude it is often the most rewarding time of my day. I get the most positive feedback and appreciation, “Oh, doctor thank you for returning my call, you are working so late. I really appreciate your time.”  I get so many kind words and affirmations from my clients during those calls.  There is something special about calling them back as requested that exceeds expectations in a world of automated answering systems and voice mail.  They are so happy to hear from me and my other doctors, even at some pretty late hours and the call often forms a closer bond than we can get in the exam room alone.  I even have clients that have lost their pets call just to check in with me, say hello and tell me their plans for getting another pet.  Those calls make what I do, even after a long day, well worth it.

Remember to keep a good attitude at the end of the day, or any time, when calling your clients and you will be rewarded with feelings of accomplishment, appreciation and gratitude for the important job that you do.

If you have a good client "call back" story that ended with a positive affirmation, share it with me here in the comments section so we can all benefit from your experience.

Dr. Julie Cappel

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