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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Get hit and keep moving.

“It ain’t about how hard you get hit.  It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.  That’s how winning is done.”   Rocky Balboa. 

I love this quote, not only because I love Rocky, but Rocky has an extremely good point for all of us in the veterinary profession to consider.  The daily challenges that we, as veterinary professionals face, have a way of knocking us down mentally and sometimes actually physically. (Ever get knocked on your butt by a 90-pound Rottweiler?)   The hits that we experience can cause us to head towards feelings of overwhelm, stress, anxiety and with some even, into depression.  Sometimes we wonder why anyone would ever take on this job, with the long hours, high stress and low pay.  How then, can we take Rocky’s advice and get back up after a hit?  How can we stand and move forward after we take hits from our, clients, patients, families and coworkers?

One of our most common hits is the myriad of increasingly unreasonable client demands.  I see our clients as getting more demanding each day, with their need for instant gratification, maybe resulting from the instant answers they experience on their smart phones, or with Siri and Alexa.    They want fast answers and cheap solutions to their pet’s problems, and demand that we provide.   They make our job difficult by consulting Dr. Google and diagnosing our patient, before we even get a chance to do our exam, and often force us to work under unreasonable budget constraints.

 In order to combat this trend you need to stand up for your unique perspective in the exam room.  After all, you are the one that paid the big bucks for the expensive veterinary education.  Perform a complete examination and verbalize the findings to your client.  If their Google diagnosis does not match with your findings, explain exactly why you do not agree and be confident.  If you can explain your findings in a clear and concise manner with assurance, they will be brought around to your way of thinking.  If their diagnosis is correct, praise them for their clever homework and heartily agree with them as you get them to consent to your diagnostic and treatment plans. When you can agree with them regarding their concerns and address them with a solid plan for resolution, you will gain their respect and make them more likely to follow your recommendations. 

Another daily hit that keeps on coming is your team member’s and coworker’s demands on your time.  This is something that I deal with quite often.  I feel as if I should change my name or wear a disguise some days in order to avoid being pulled in a million directions.  One team member after another stands in line to ask a question or asks me to solve some problem for a client, patient or the team.  Worse yet there is a problem with a piece of laboratory equipment, or the always dreaded, computer problem.  Each situation is urgent and needs my (your) direct attention, but as the questions overwhelm your mind it is difficult to make any rational decision, and being under this kind of pressure to make decision after decision, will drive you to the brink of insanity. 

How do we stand up after this hit?  Stand up for yourself by asking team members to come to you with at least two solutions to the problems that they are trying to “dump” on you.  The solutions must be well thought out and complete and should always have the best interest of the hospital at their core.  If team members can come to you with a solution already in mind it will make your job much easier as you will be able to approve the solution or tweak the solution with a suggestion without having to solve every problem yourself.  Having your team trouble shoot each dilemma will make them ultimately happier, by giving them more autonomy and power in taking care of the clients, patients and in turn the hospital and ultimately their leader, you.

Take time to explore your deepest feelings about these hits that you deal with daily.  Talk to another veterinarian who can understand you and your stress filled job.  Read, exercise, meditate, do yoga or just visit and spend quality time with your family and friends.  You must nurture your soul in order to give your best to your life and in turn your team members, patients and clients.   Above all, keep on fighting like my friend Rocky and you will be rewarded with the rich rewarding and often entertaining life that you were looking for when you went into the healing field of veterinary medicine. 

Dr. Julie Cappel

Why having a pet at your place of business is a great idea.

Having pets at work is a privilege that we as veterinary professionals often take for granted.  Many of us have hospital cats (in our case, often many more than one) that live at our place of work and are always there to happily greet us in the morning.  The Veterinary hospital is an ideal place for a resident pet, and many of us may bring our pets to work when and if needed.  However, the real question is, should your work place have a pet? 

I think that the answer is absolutely yes. 

Pets often promote social interaction between people.  If someone walks into a business with a resident pet it usually brings a positive response and seems to get people talking.  It allows for an automatic point of relation between the team member and the customer.   Introverts will find that small talk becomes easier with the common point of interest in the pet.  We no longer have to search for something to talk about because it is right there in front of our faces.  Automatic icebreaker! 

Pets are proven stress relievers and studies have shown that individuals that either brought their pets to work or interacted with a work pet, had lower stress hormones released throughout the day than people that had no pet interaction.  How can you be stressed when you see a soft furry face looking up at you?

Pet friendly workplaces tend to increase employee satisfaction and have higher moral than pet free businesses.   Company pets also help with employee retention; people may want to leave their job, but leaving the company pet may be emotionally more difficult.  They become more attached to their job when it includes the pet. We often have a litter of orphan kittens at our hospital to entertain us with their play during lunch breaks.

Pets can improved your image by softening the corporate boardroom experience.  If someone feels intimidated by your place of business, seeing the friendly face of a pet will often soften that experience.  Meetings will be less combative if the participants are petting the company cat.  Companies often use aquariums full of beautiful fish as an “ice breaker” in their lobby or boardroom and a furry pet can accomplish the same thing.

Pets at work could save the employee money and the company as well.  Employees that are able to bring their pet to work will often work more and longer hours and spend less money in day care and dog walking costs.   The fact that they do not have to rush home to walk or feed a pet allows them to stay longer at work and get more things accomplished.

Is there a downside to company pets?  Yes there can be.  Not all businesses are suitable for pet ownership.  Businesses that serve and prepare food and certain health care facilities may not be appropriate for pets.  Also, customers that fear pets or have pet allergies may not be particularly thrilled to see a pet at your place of business.  It must also be considered that pets can cause damage to carpet or furniture and may also endanger your employees or customers if they are not properly trained or become afraid and act out.

In most cases a well trained and socialized pet will bring rewards that surpass the effort, time and money that it takes to make them a part of your work place.  Try to build some logical company rules around pets in the workplace, talk to your insurance company about liability issues, then get a pet and see how it goes.  It will surely make your workplace more interesting and fun.

Dr. Julie Cappel

What is it about our clients that make us feel bad?

Can clients make us feel bad?  If they criticize, judge, complain, push, ask for discounts, and talk over you, do you get frustrated or discouraged?  If you do a great job with their pet and they don’t notice, do you get discouraged or worse, depressed?

 Yes, clients are often very demanding, but we have a choice to feel any way that we want to feel about it.  What if we were just fascinated and entertained by them?  What if we could just be interested in their behavior?  What would it FEEL like if we chose to think about them differently?

First of all, you are the keeper of your brain.  You have the ability to control your thoughts and the way the thoughts translate into the way you feel about those thoughts.  You get to choose to either find the nasty client entertaining and interesting, and wonder why they choose to act the way they are acting, or let that person get the best of you and cause you to feel upset, angry or dejected.  It is a choice, for sure, 100%.  However, it is a difficult task to think and feel differently.  It takes practice and it takes examining the thoughts that you have in any given moment, acknowledging those thoughts and choosing to change those thoughts. 

Here is a true story example from my own client experience.

Mrs. Hurryup shows up with Vicious, her Chihuahua, over 10 minutes late for her 20-minute afternoon wellness appointment.  As soon as she walks into the exam room with the technician she announces, “I am in a hurry because I have another appointment to get to, and then I have to pick up my son.  Oh, and by the way Vicious has been having diarrhea for a week and has been chewing his feet for a couple days and can I get his vaccines today?”   Fascinating right?  The technician quickly takes a history and sends me into the room with the woman and her tiny frightened dog.  I examine Vicious and decide that he needs some blood work, skin impression and a fecal smear, some subcutaneous fluids and some medication for the diarrhea and itching.  I make up a treatment plan with the prices for our diagnostics/treatments and send the technician back in with the plan.  Mrs. Hurryup signs the plan and looks at her watch wondering why this is taking so long.  I ask for permission to take the dog and attempt to start my diagnostics moving as quickly as possible, so she can make her appointment elsewhere.  Feeling very proud of myself that I got everything done so quickly I smile as I walk Vicious back into the room.  Mrs. Hurryup frowns at me and says, “you know that I have another appointment. I need to leave.”  So, I quickly explain the medications, tell her that I will call her tomorrow with the blood results and send her to the front desk to pay her bill. 

Next thing I know, the receptionist comes to me telling me that Mrs. Hurryup is complaining loudly in the reception area about the exam fee on her bill.  She tells the receptionist and the rest of the clients in the reception area that the doctor did not really examine her dog, and the doctor seemed “in a hurry”. True story.  The client even threatened to change to another veterinary hospital because she felt like “the doctor was rushed”. 

What do we do in this situation?  How do we keep from getting frustrated and dejected even angry when it seems as if there is no way to make a client happy?  My answer is, choose to think of them differently.  Choose to see her as a fascinating study in human behavior and continue to treat her with kindness.  Maybe she has a sick child, husband or other family member and feels overwhelmed with her situation with the diarrhea dog.  Maybe she has financial troubles and is trying to get a discount by complaining loudly to the receptionist.  Maybe she is just a naturally angry human being.  At any rate, I do not have to have her change my thinking about the job that I just did.  I examined her dog, got his diagnostics, gave him his treatments and got her on her way as fast as I could to try to help her make her next appointment.  I was a rock star!  The fact that she does not understand how great I am has no bearing on my thoughts about myself or my happiness.   

 I did meet her up at the reception desk and calmly happily asked her if there was anything else that I did not address or could do for her and her dog.  Once I was back in her line of sight she did not seem to have any problems with me.  Interesting again.

The next time a client tries to get to you, remember you have the power to turn things around by doing a very simple thing.  You can choose your thoughts.  Choose to be fascinated by the person or circumstance that you are experiencing.  Choose the emotion that you want to feel about them.  Is it, “Wow, that is an interesting take on what just happened here.” or “She is truly a demanding person, I wonder why?” or “I bet she has a difficult life, and just needs some love.”   Choose to remember that you are a rock star and there is no client behavior on the planet that can change your opinion of yourself or the amazing job that you do.

Dr. Julie Cappel

When a patient dies, do people know?

As veterinarians we know all too well about stressful weeks. Multiple difficult cases, emergencies and the unfortunate death of an employee's pet leaves us all asking why?  Why do we do this job that is so difficult that we often spend our evenings sleepless with worry. Sleepless about a sick patient, or what we could have done differently to save a beloved pet.

One incident that occurred recently, happened during a small mammal surgery, when one of my most experienced technicians scheduled her pet rat for a routine surgical procedure. Together with one of our excellent doctors, they performed the routine procedure that went very well until the rat was recovering from the anesthesia.  For no apparent reason he suddenly arrested.  They worked and worked to try to get him back but they were unsuccessful.   The technician and doctor were distraught.   How could this happen so fast and why?    

When I heard what had happened,  I went to console and hug my technician who then looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "Do people know how hard this is on us?   Do they know that we go home and cry and often lose sleep over their pets?"  "You should write a blog about this so people can know."

Working in a busy small animal, avian and exotic practice sets us up for extra difficulty.  Exotic pets are much more sensitive to disease, anesthesia, malnutrition and other health conditions.  Some times the pets get to us when it is too late for us to save them.  When we lose a pet their owners can become angry as they go through the stages of grief and lash out at those of us that are there to try to help them.  This all leads to increased stress that can ultimately lead to depression and burn out.

We want our clients to know that we really do care about all of the patients and even though we look happy when you bring us your healthy pet, we may have just been through something very upsetting and difficult.  We do love our jobs,  and have our fair share of fun puppies and kittens to cheer us up, but sometimes we may just really need a hug. 

So please treat your veterinarian, veterinary technician, animal assistant and receptionist with care and love, because they suffer right along with you when things are going badly and they work long hard hours to be there for you and your pet in your time of need.  

If you are a veterinarian or veterinary technician, reach out to your fellow veterinary professionals.  We all understand your pain and would love to help you get through the difficulties.  This is our calling and the profession that we love, even during the sad days.