We need a meeting

Q. We never have staff meetings, and no one ever knows what's going on in the practice. How can we encourage staff meetings?

Jane Larson

It's difficult to find time to meet in most practices, says Jane Larson, the hospital administrator at Georgesville Road Animal Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. And asking your doctor to simply hold meetings more often may not spur the desired result. Instead, Larson suggests that you develop team projects that encourage group involvement.

For example, Larson says, you might form a committee to look at the number of dental prophies, ultrasounds, or ear cytologies the practice performs daily, weekly, and monthly. Most veterinary software offers a function to track this data.

"Once you've collected the data, ask your manager if you can present your findings to the whole team," Larson says. "This may start a trend of staff members getting involved and sharing–which is what staff meetings are all about."