• 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
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
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
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
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
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.

The Difference Between Being Empathetic and Apologizing

July 2, 2018

One of the things that clients are looking for in in their apology, in addition to compassion and understanding that they've been injured, is honesty.

Advertisement

John Owens, veterinary attorney at the Law Offices of John Owens, LLC, explains the major differences between being empathetic toward clients when an incident occurs in your practice and apologizing to clients for the incident.

"When using empathy in your practice, one of the first things that people want to do is apologize for everything. There's a difference between apologizing and being empathetic. When you're empathetic, if an incident occurs the first response is to say that you're sorry — to relate to your client. More than likely you are just as affected as your client is that something went wrong. The problem often is jumping into apologies too early, and the difference between being empathetic and an apology is, empathy you say, 'I'm sorry this happened.'

In an apology, there's two extra parts that show up. You say, 'I'm sorry,' the second step is you admit that it was your fault and then the third step is you find out what you can do about it and you assist your client in solving the problem. Veterinarians often are much too eager to say, 'It's my fault,' before they find out if it really is their fault. So, a structured system for developing apologies is a great tool. Having a pre-planned script tends not to work as well.

One of the things that clients are looking for in in their apology in addition to compassion and understanding that they've been injured is honesty. And if it comes across as pre-scripted or pre-planned, an apology tends to lack that honesty, and it actually can do more harm than good."

Related Content:

Expert Interviews
Evaluating liver enzyme elevation
Evaluating liver enzyme elevation
Proper praise for a flourishing team environment
Proper praise for a flourishing team environment
Traditional and holistic treatments for giardia
Traditional and holistic treatments for giardia

Advertisement

Latest News

Viticus group seeks applications for veterinary boot camp scholarship

Unusual parasite strain kills 4 California sea otters

Q&A with a keynote: Jan Bellows, DVM, DAVDC, DABVP, FAVD

Evaluating liver enzyme elevation

View More Latest News
Advertisement