• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Upcoming dvm360 Conferences
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
Veterinary Heroes
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Get rid of the energy vampire in your veterinary hospital

May 1, 2014
Rebecca Tudor, DVM, DACVS

Negativity can suck the life out of you and your veterinary team. Learn to let that person go.

Energy vampires. That's an awesome term, isn't it? I had never heard it until I read the management book The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon. He describes energy vampires as the people who are gifted at being miserable and seemingly trying their hardest to make those around them miserable too.

I bet you can name an energy vampire or two in your hospital right now. Who do you think about after you leave work? "If only she would..." or "Why does he...?"

Energy vampires will suck the life out of you and the rest of your team if you let them. They can't help themselves. You've probably talked to them many times about their bad attitude and failure as a "team player." You come into work the next day after a long talk with them hoping they've changed, but odds are they're still negative and pessimistic.

Advertisement

The problem, though, is that even though most of you like to fix things and make things better (or you probably wouldn't be in veterinary medicine), you can't fix energy vampires. Some people just like to be miserable, and it's not our job to fix people—only animals. The people need to fix themselves.

Recently, I was talking with a supervising technician, and she told me that a doctor at her practice had printed out a previous blog I wrote about "crazy" being hard to see when you're living in it. (Read it now at dvm360.com/crazy.) After seeing it, she knew she had to let one of her technicians go. This technician was a huge drain on the supervising technician as well as the rest of the team. The supervisor finally realized that trying to fix this person was never going to work and she wouldn't let this energy vampire destroy the morale of the rest of her team any longer.

I had never been so happy to hear about someone losing a job. I knew that the team would be much happier without this miserable person, even if it meant the practice would be short staffed for a while. It's better to be tired from a long day at work than to be emotionally drained from working with a toxic person.

The energy vampires must leave your hospital. It's time to "free" them to find a better fit elsewhere—and let them go far away from you and your team. If they get angry, just tell them I made you do it!

This blog originally appeared on the dvm360 community. Dr. Rebecca Tudor, DACVS, resides in North Carolina. She is the founder of CatalystVETS.com.

Related Content:

Personnel Management
How to be the practice of choice
How to be the practice of choice
Why difficult conversations are the most important ones to have
Why difficult conversations are the most important ones to have
PetVet365 becomes first Fear Free Certified hospital network
PetVet365 becomes first Fear Free Certified hospital network

Advertisement

Latest News

What's new with the "Dentistry Lane" across the veterinary profession?

Meet the BlackDVM Network

Study finds certain canine breeds should be screened for cancer at young ages

AVMA releases 2 videos informing pet parents on pet dental care

View More Latest News
Advertisement