Welcome to Success In Veterinary Practice Blog
I appreciate you being here, and hope you’re having a fantastic day!
How to make ends meet
As small animal veterinarians, we sometimes fight to make the ends meet – especially with time. There is a constant demand on our time, and expatriation for us to be better in communication, and still develop our veterinary skills and knowledge.
We see an ever-growing competition and our business have never been changing as much as it is now. We also have to use our valuable time to develop new (and foreign) skills like online marketing and social media.
At the same time, we want to keep the mental balance and be happy with excess energy when we are with family and friends
But there is one good thing: You already have what you need!
You already have what you need to make you feel happy. We just need someone to show us what to focus on.
For example, it is said time is our most valuable resource these days, but we all have the same 24 hours every day. But if we don’t know how and what to focus on, they can feel wasted.
Striving towards success
I’m striving to find an answer to what makes us successful in our professional life. This is not a personal development blog, so I can’t help you with your private life. I also know that you cannot have one without the other. No professional success without personal success
We all define our success in our own way, but as small animal veterinarians it will probably be something like:
“Healthy patients, satisfied clients and a fulfilled work-life” plus “a thriving business” if you are the manager of one.
But nobody will come and give it to you. You will have to be proactive and go get it for yourself.
My journey
First of all, let me tell you: I don’t have the success-thing figured out, but I do feel happy most of the time.
I’m a veterinarian (DVM) from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark since 2008. I started my carrier at a middle-sized general practice for companion animals only.
Like all human being, I make mistakes, but one early in my carrier stands out and have stayed with me.
One afternoon I saw a young french bulldog with hair lost around the eyes and ears. At the time I had no clue as to what to look for. Most of my interests were orthopaedic problems and surgery. Should I look for an infection? Parasites? Allergies?
To find an excuse to get out of the exam room, I plucked out some hair and went for the microscope. Bringing with me a large book with pictures.
And as Danish proverb goes: A blind hen also finds a seed.
“Blind høne finder også korn.”
Sure enough, I found Demodex mites. Not surprising to more skilled dermatology experts, but to me, it was a win. …or so I thought.
I wasn’t prepared for the storm of questions the owner had. Where did they come from? Are they contagious? Is it hereditary? How long do they live?
Of course, I didn’t handle all the answers well. I ended up having to let a more experienced colleague take over. Better for the patient, but not for me as it was a pretty simple case.
The dog ended up being successfully treated for its mites, and the owner was happy again.
What if you don’t know what to ask?
We can’t know everything, and at the beginning (or in areas we don’t have interest in) we need someone to guide us.
Experts tell us to, ask the right questions, and the answer is in the history taking
But what if you don’t know what to ask?
For example in the beginning I didn’t think to ask about GI signs in my dermatologic patient. Now that I do, I catch much more patients with AFR early in the process.
With worksheets and checklists, we can find many more symptoms early. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel in every consultation.
For example, the 4 step worksheet to an effective dermatologic diagnosis will be ready soon.
Join us to get posted.
