Technicians

This toolkit delivers articles, tips, handouts, videos and tools all designed to make it as easy as possible to discuss pain prevention in pets with your team and clients. (With an educational grant provided by Zoetis)

Almost three-quarters of veterinary practice owners and managers think theyve got a clear picture of their hospitals culture -- and roughly half think theyre doing a good job at managing team conflict. The rest of the team? Judge for yourself, but its like the bosses might be digging themselves a hole.

You know the type: the veterinary team members with magical abilities, who know the ins and outs of your clinics software. Here are some top tips weve heard from some of these mysterious heroes.

"I tell veterinary clients, 'If you don't come back for a recheck, even if the animal looks good, then you've wasted my time, your time and your money.'" CVC educator James Noxon, DVM, DACVIM, helpfully but truthfully addresses the real elephant in the room when a dog has otitis and needs medicine at home.

Heres what veterinarians think about difficult pet owners: how it feels when clients lash outand whos willing to show them the door.

Using prevalence maps from the Companion Animal Parasite Council, you can drive home the importance of year-round prevention to your clients.

Are today's veterinarians recommending leptospirosis vaccines for every canine patient? The answer is no, but, boy, are the numbers up. See if your hospital is keeping with the times ...

When conflict festers and communication is angry or chilled, patients, clients and team members suffer. If you dont believe its true, youre in the minority in veterinary practice. Look at the numbers, thoughts from your colleagues in the survey, and insights from our resident emotional intelligence guru Shawn McVey, MSW.

These cat and dog conditions accounted for more than 1.3 million of Nationwide pet insurance claims in 2016, a 23 percent increase from three years before.

Clarke Atkins, DVM, DACVIM (cardiology), says it's the right preventive led off by the right antibiotic. Do you do it every time with your canine patients?

You can't guarantee parasite preventives will work perfectly EVERY TIME. And you can't make pet owners use veterinary approved preventives and use them correctly EVERY TIME. But when a parasite outbreak happens, here's how to ask the right questions and remind everyone to educate clients EVERY TIME.

Candice Hoerner, CVT, VTS (dentistry), shares how her "super hero glasses" stop her suffering.

Short answer? Maybe. In triangulated communication, one person in the veterinary practice refuses to talk to another, forcing a third person (read: manager) to serve as a go-between. Let's take a look at data from the 2017 dvm360 Toxic Teams Survey to see how managers address toxic team environments.

Can these relationships be saved? A choose-your-own adventure.

Face-to-face is the best way to resolve conflict.

Veterinary anesthesia and analgesia expert Tasha McNerney makes a case for kitty magic and describes how to deliver it to particularly peevish cats.

Veterinary team, heal thyself. Are you consumed by your feelings? If you want to improve the medical care you offer, start by fixing your toxic team.

A pet owner coddles her kitty ... to the point of hysteria.

A fight-or-flight response can leave convalescent pets in the lurch

Find out why the block is anesthesia and analgesia expert Tasha McNerneys go-to trick for urethral obstruction cats, plus a how-to video.

Your clients are motivated to give their periodontal disease-stricken pets home care treatment. Heres what CVC speaker and dentistry expert Vickie Byard suggests you tell them.

Mary Berg, RVT, RLATG, VTS (Dentistry), demonstrates her preferred method of obtaining these images.

Look, we cant go home with our clients to make sure theyre following our advice. But we can offer them classes to make sure theyre getting the knowledge to offer the care their pets need.

Technician utilization and Fear Free are in the spotlight in this installment.

The agency says the powder can cause "severe airway inflammation, hypersensitivity reactions and allergic reactions."

Your colleagues this year clicked the most on these easy-breezy tips for improving patient and pet owner care. It doesn't hurt that a lot of them make veterinary team members' jobs easier, right?

Veterinary professionals share their toxic team secrets.

With a predominantly female profession comes babies. And with babies comes breastmilk. How well do you know your rights and limitations?