Practice Management

Ask any number of our colleagues to tell us the most challenging part of their practices.

Many dairy veterinarians benefit by being skilled at training lay people to do appropriate tasks. This is true for in-house practice procedures, and also for things done by lay people on client farms.

Handling stress is difficult for anyone. But as veterinary students or recent graduates, the mounting demands of disgesting and understanding volumes of medical facts, finding a job or internship, managing finances and keeping viable relatioinships, are enough to make anyone boil over once in awhile.

Las Vegas-If you ask Dr. Paul Hobson, setting up a simple intranet can save you and your staff the most precious commodity of all - time.

Remember the marketing principle that 20 percent of clients make up 80 percent of your revenue

DVM Newsmagazine knows that eating right is never easy for anyone -- especially if you?re a pet owner with a dog or cat suffering from renal disease.

Architect hands down hard lessons in building veterinary practices from the ground up

"Most dairy producers tend to fall into one of three categories; those who are interested in maximizing profit, those who are interested in achieving excellence, and those who are pursuing a way of life."

I find myself reluctant to do performance reviews, and feel almost apologetic to employees when I schedule them. Perhaps it is the formality involved, or the fear of criticism that makes performance reviews take on an atmosphere of tension.

Fort Collins, Colo.-Colorado State University (CSU) has taken an innovative step in handling euthanasia. In fact, the Argus Institute for Families and Veterinary Medicine has taken the study of facilitating euthanasia and grief to a whole new level.

Equine wound care has often been based upon the premise of keeping the wound clean and dry, requiring frequent bandage changes

How to hire without all the headaches

Train: To make proficient with specialized instruction and practice. This DVM Newsmagazine exclusive series on Training includes stories on "How to train your staff to deal with grief-striken clients", "What to look for beforing hiring a person to help ensure employing an individual willing to learn and embrace continuing education", "Ways to retain good employees" and more.

"Where were you when the terrorist attacks occurred in September?" I imagine that question will come up often in the years to come, much as it does regarding the assassination of JFK or Pearl Harbor for previous generations. I think I will always remember being in the fitness room of my hotel in Vancouver, B.C., while attending the annual meeting of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners.

Gauging training benefits isn't simple task; gut feelings rather than numbers sometimes best tack for measuring outcomes

Medical lawsuits might be a declining trend if communications were strengthened between practitioner and client, says Thomas E. Harris, Ph.D., veterinary consultant and professor at the University of Alabama.

Editor's Note: The following companies and organizations are now offering some form of staff training in a specific area of veterinary medicine. (This is by no means meant to be an inclusive list, but rather a starting point for practices in need of training information.)

Violence in the workplace is a much greater threat to your hospital than most practitioners realize, experts say.

Employment manuals: Are they the glue that bonds the relationship between employer and employee? Or are they the grim reaper of future litigation?

Washington - Of the nation's 114 licensed veterinary laboratories, only two house anthrax cultures and both microbes are harmless, federal officials report. In the wake of the Florida anthrax-induced death, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandated that all laboratories provide an inventory of their anthrax cultures. USDA officials add the sources of anthrax that have infected people in Florida, New York and Washington could not have been from the labs.

Milwaukee - Republican veterinarian J.A. "Doc" Hines, DVM, who is running for the 42nd Assembly District of the Wisconsin legislature, says, let the debates begin.

Veterinarians are advised to take precautions against the bacteria Pasteurella multocida as a New England Journal of Medicine article reveals the microbe can be transmitted through somewhat casual contact with pets.

Cleveland - Miami's tropical locale is a hot spot for tourists, but when it comes to overall pet health it's a much chillier place according to consortium ranking "pet-friendly" cities.

Everything you read today indicates an overwhelming opinion consensus that veterinarians are paid abysmally as compared to other professions and even occupations.

Title familiar? O.K. Maybe you have a life. For the rest of our readers, this Swahili mistranslation says basically no worries!

Minnesota and Wisconsin state organizations are in the preliminary stages of teaming with dairy veterinarians to better define the best role and best practices dairy veterinarians should follow in dairy practice, following the recent passage of a Minnesota resolution.

Lexington, Ky.-In mid-June, equine practitioners say cases of pericarditis and unilateral eye problems are still impacting a wide range of horse breeds.

Relationships fascinate me. They contribute much to the satisfaction and happiness we derive from life. They are also the source of much pain and sadness.