Technicians

How to respond to "Can I buy this elsewhere?"

Consider the five senses and create a peaceful practice environment for your stressed-out patients.

Use these scripts to turn phone shoppers into clients.

Are you a successful veterinary technician who is considering tackling a new position in the veterinary field? Or are you a technician who has been recently promoted into a management or supervisory position?

How often do you sit back and really think about what amazing things you do every day as a veterinary technician? How frequently do you pat yourself on the back acknowledging your education, training, and skills? Do you ever reflect at the end of the day on what you accomplished during that day?

You all know the feeling of walking into an exam room, proud of your skills as a veterinary technician, confident that you know what is best for the patient, happy to be greeted by that wagging tail, and excited to work together with the client to keep their family member at his healthiest.

Disease caused by parvovirus in dogs (destruction of intestinal crypt epithelium, lymphocyte depletion, neutropenia) is generally more severe than that caused by coronavirus (destruction of intestinal villi). Coronavirus enteritis is often characterized by mild and self-limiting clinical signs.

Chronic diarrhea (i.e., that which persists > 2-3 weeks) usually necessitates a systematic diagnostic approach (which may mean classic tests and/or therapeutic trials). The first question in the patient with chronic diarrhea is whether the patient has an obvious problem such as parasites or an obviously inadequate or poor quality diet.

All patients should be stabilized prior to attempts at decontamination. Once stabilization has been accomplished, decontamination should be considered to prevent systemic absorption of the toxicant.

Perform urinalysis within 30 minutes of collection or refrigerate. Allow urine to warm up to room temperature before analysis if it has been refrigerated.

Individualized drug therapy increasingly is being recognized as an important aspect of health care for both human and veterinary medicine. Consequently, veterinarians must reach beyond FDA-approved veterinary products to provide the current standard of veterinary care to their patients.

It has been stated that: Systemic hypertension associated with kidney disease is a very real problem, and has been diagnosed in over 60% of cats with chronic renal disease.

A complete blood count (CBC) is a useful and very often-used method of screening and diagnosing patients who present for a wide variety of conditions. It may include both quantitative information about cell numbers, sizes, variability, etc. as well as descriptive information based on evaluation of a blood smear and description of any morphologic abnormalities or infectious agents present. A CBC is probably the most useful when both types of information are reviewed.

Practicing veterinary dentistry is beneficial for clients, pets and you.

Your patients didn't cause the recession, and they're not responsible for your clients' money woes. But they still need essential veterinary care. It's up to you to help your clients figure out how to pay for these services̬and sometimes that means thinking outside the box.

Here are vaccine recommendations made easy.

Not everyone is good at everything. Here's how to get additional team members on board with training others

If your trainer-trainee relationship isn't working, consider the following advice and get back on track.

Follow Pollux's tale, and discover more about disk disease in cats.

Update your lost-and-found.

Q: Should my boss pay me for paid time off (PTO) hours even if I didn't work full-time during the pay period?

A trip to buy shoes demonstrates the meaning of value ... in retail and in veterinary practice.

Your clients know these bloodsuckers are gross, but do they know how to protect their pets? Become a tick expert and educate your veterinary practice clients.

Image Quiz: Can you clue in on canine anxiety?

Use these resources to communicate to communicate to clients about the disease.

Gossip can strengthen relationships at your veterinary practice ... or tear them apart. Do you know when to talk and when to stay silent?

Stats show that a toxic team loses revenue. Shawn McVey and Firstline Live can help you bring back harmony-and profits.

Firstline and Banfield partnered to survey more than 2,000 veterinarians, technicians, and other team members. Here's a peek at some of the results.