The power in being Present - When clients bring frustration

Let’s face it; people can be annoying and frustrating.  For those of us who work in the veterinary world, where people come attached to each patient, our frustration and stress can build throughout the day.  Each client’s idiosyncrasies piled one on one, combined with the eternal love and concern for their pets, can cause us to reach the end of our day totally drained. 

 I had one of these challenging client situations last week.  It is a perfect example of turning an annoying client experience into something wonderful if we can just remain present.   Amy Cuddy defines presence as “bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges.”  Presence allows us to listen with an open mind and convey to people that we truly care about them.  It allows us to avoid giving up on a difficult client encounter and makes us work for the pet.

The short version of this story is that a client brought her adult terrier to me because the dog had been vomiting and having diarrhea for at least 3 days.  The terrier was sweet, but appeared to be depressed and somewhat dehydrated.  I proceeded to do my job as I normally would, getting vitals, asking questions and getting permission to do testing to try to diagnose the illness and choose the appropriate treatments. 

The annoyance started when the client kept referring to her cell phone to look up different diagnoses and asking me if I knew what the various diseases were.  She was also texting her friend who was apparently telling her about ways to save money in this situation and asking her to challenge me about the things that I was explaining. 

I attempted to remain kind and patient, but in my head I was getting annoyed. “Yes, I do know what gastroenteritis is.”  “ Yes I know about Parvo virus.”   (Me thinking - Yes I am a licensed veterinarian and I think that is why you are here.)

Well this appointment went on and on with the client declining my proposed plans and her reading about the things I should be doing on her phone.  After over an hour of this back and forth, she declined almost every test, asked me for a prescription for the medications, and almost denied treatment.  I say “almost” because that is when I decided to be more present and become my boldest self.

I used my most patient kind doctor voice to insist that she allow me to at least give the dog some fluids and an anti-vomiting injection to try to get her on the path to healing.  I would be happy to write her a prescription for the medications and bland diet to appease her frugal friend.  I knew that if I totally lost my cool the dog would be the one to suffer, so I accepted the reality of my situation and worked to make it the best that it could be.

Because I remained present I was able to convince her that her pet needed treatment and that I was the one competent enough to help her.  She left the office with a budget friendly bill and a dog that is on the road to recovery. 

So when you are faced with a challenging person, remember to not take it too personally.  Remain present and bring out the boldest, best version of yourself.  It will get you beyond the frustration and bring you through to a successful, albeit not perfect, outcome.

Dr. Julie Cappel

“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.”   Eckhard Tolle.