• Hero 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
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital 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
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
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
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Buying or Selling a Practice
Hospital Design
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Technology
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Live Conferences
Conference News
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • 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.

Navigating the flow of clinic culture

August 11, 2022
Sydney Yankowicz, Assistant Editor
dvm360, dvm360 September 2022, Volume 53, Issue 9
Pages: 44

Conference News | <b>Directions in Veterinary Medicine/Indianapolis</b>

How to steer your clinic to flow in the right direction for a positive workplace culture

The environment you work in can greatly affect your job satisfaction. Workplace culture can be based on the overall environment of a clinic but can also vary depending on the individual. Specifically with health care cultures and veterinary medicine workplaces, the service provided by staff and the patient outcome can also affect the clinic culture.1

Aaron Smiley, DVM, discussed clinic culture in his lecture at the 2022 Directions in Veterinary Medicine Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. In his lecture, he compared clinic culture to being in a river: “Can you think about what your clinic culture is? Sometimes it's all around you [and] you forget that you're in the river, you're just doing things instinctively [and] you don't even know why. It's a lot to do with the culture. So, with that definition of the culture, we want the culture of the river going the correct way. We want to float downstream. We don't have to get to a specific destination [and] we don't want to float the wrong way. So how do we create a clinic culture to cause us to float in the correct direction?”2

Smiley used this metaphor of a river to show how practice managers can redirect clinic culture if it seems to be “flowing the wrong way” or simply not working for its employees. It is important to make sure the culture of the clinic is affecting its employees positively instead of adding another level of daily stress.

Advertisement

Four components of clinic culture

Smiley noted that implementing these 4 concepts can help improve clinic culture2:

  • Work together. Use collaborative efforts and support team members when someone needs help. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by large responsibilities if there is a lack of support from team members and a lack of working together.
  • Listen to understand. It is important to make sure that you are listening to understand the other person’s perspective and opinion, rather than just listening until it is your turn to speak. Feeling like you are heard and understood when expressing certain challenges or frustrations can allow employees to feel appreciated.
  • Assume good intention. If a colleague is in a bad mood and gets angry with you, it is common to have an initial reaction of taking it personally. However, Smiley suggests to assume good intention from people to ensure that you are not acting rashly to situations and escalating problems. A colleague’s bad mood could reflect their personal life and not anything to do with your job performance.
  • Talk to people not about people. To solve a miscommunication, it is best to talk to the person in conflict rather than talking about them to others. This might seem obvious to some, but it often feels safter to avoid confrontation and not talk to the direct source of the issue. However, this can prolong the issue and can lead to a passive aggressive clinic culture.

With staff shortages on the rise, creating a positive clinic culture is more important than ever. According to Smiley, it is crucial to make sure everyone in the clinic feels safe and happy in their work environment.

References

  1. Tillott, S. The importance of staff engagement to the development of positive workplace cultures. Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B. Published 2013. Accessed August 10, 2022. https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2354&context=smhpapers1
  2. Smiley, A. The river of clinic culture. Presented at: Directions in Veterinary Medicine Conference; June 24-25, 2022; Indianapolis, Indiana.
download issueDownload Issue: dvm360 September 2022

Related Content:

Directions in Veterinary Medicine/IndianapolisBusinessPractice ManagerPractice OperationsWellbeing & LifestyleLeadership & Personal GrowthPersonnel Managementdvm360 September 2022
CityVet names new chief strategy officer
CityVet names new chief strategy officer
Workplace bottlenecks in the LGBTQIA+ community
Workplace bottlenecks in the LGBTQIA+ community
The importance of safety, trust, and equity in the practice
The importance of safety, trust, and equity in the practice

Advertisement

Latest News

Partnership to promote diversity in veterinary medicine and more

Morris Animal Foundation accepting canine cancer research proposals

AI-enhanced MyLabX90VET ultrasound system unveiled

The Brady Hunter Foundation teams up with Humane Society of Greater Miami for Clear the Shelter event

View More Latest News
Advertisement