Episode 207 | TEAM- The Key To Sustainability in VetMed

In this episode, Dr. Cari Wise discusses the essential role of support staff in veterinary medicine and emphasizes the significance of veterinary technicians, assistants, practice managers, and kennel helpers, asserting that the sustainability and success of veterinary practices heavily rely on these team members.

She advocates for a team approach in veterinary practices, where credentialed veterinary technicians can assume more responsibilities. This delegation not only alleviates the workload for veterinarians but also enriches the work experience for support staff, reducing burnout and increasing job satisfaction across the board.

Key takeaways include: 

  1. Emphasizes the importance of support staff, including technicians and managers, for sustainable veterinary practices.
  2. Highlights the underutilization of credentialed technicians and the need for better delegation of tasks.
  3. Advocates for updating veterinary practice acts to align with the skills of credentialed staff.
  4. Suggests effective team utilization can improve workflow and client experiences in veterinary practices.
  5. Calls for a shift from a veterinarian-centered approach to a collaborative team environment.

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RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is auto-generated and may contain typos.

Hi there. I’m Doctor Cari Wise, veterinarian, certified life coach and certified quantum human design specialist. If you’re a veterinary professional looking to uplevel your life and your career, or maybe looking to go in an entirely new direction, then what I talk about here on the Joyful DVM podcast is absolutely for you. Let’s get started. Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Joyful DVM podcast. In today’s episode, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the importance of our support staff in veterinary medicine.

So by support staff, I’m talking about our veterinary technicians, our veterinary assistants, our practice managers, our kennel helpers, everybody outside of the Doctor of veterinary medicine. Because without these people in our practices, our practices won’t thrive and these careers cannot be sustainable. Now, we have national Veterinary Technician Week coming up in the third week of October, as we do every year. And I think this is a great time to celebrate our credentialed veterinary technicians.

As we’re heading into that week here shortly, I can’t help but consider and remember a few things. Number one, whenever we have one of these weeks where we are intentionally celebrating a member of the veterinary healthcare team, it always gives me an opportunity to reflect on what this career would be like without them and to consider what my own experience in this career has been without those very important people on my side and in my team.

And it’s interesting because we have our credentialed veterinary technician Week. We also have veterinary assistant appreciation Week, which is in February. Now, we have approved veterinary assistant week, which is in May. And there are others that I know that I am missing. But the point of this is that as we celebrate these different roles, we are also, at the same time, not utilizing them to the full extent when it comes to sustainability in veterinary medicine.

It is the idea of team that is going to get us there. Now, I know that you have likely heard about this idea of creating a mid level practitioner. It’s something that has been in the news a lot around the state of Colorado, and this mid level practitioner idea is pretty polarized. There are people who are very much for it and people who are very much against it.

And I’m just going to come right out and say that I’m not a fan, but I want to explain why I’m not a fan. This isn’t my ego talking. This isn’t me as a veterinarian getting my feathers ruffled at the idea of adding in a mid level practitioner. Rather, this is, for me, more about the lack of utilization of the support staff and the roles that we already have defined.

We are doing a very poor job of effectively utilizing our credentialed veterinary technicians. And if you’re not sure that that’s true, I encourage you to take a moment to jump over to the AVMA website to look at the CVTEA, which is the committee for Veterinary Technician Education and activities, and take a look at what a credentialed veterinary technician should learn part of their academic program and what they’re required to know in order to pass their VTNE, which is their credentialing exam.

I personally had no idea the extent of the education that a credentialed veterinary technician went through until I had the opportunity to lead one of those programs and then oversee 13 of those programs across the country. And as I was in that role and had the opportunity to dive deep into that curriculum, as I wrote part of that curriculum for our individual colleges and then oversaw that across 13 colleges themselves, I was stunned at how much I just didn’t realize that they were responsible for.

I want to bring this to your attention because you’re probably a lot like me. If you’ve been very busy in veterinary practice, you’ve probably just never had the opportunity to consider what it is they’ve actually been taught. And once you understand what a credentialed veterinary technician’s education has included, you will likely feel much more comfortable in delegating different aspects of your role as a veterinarian to them. And this idea of delegation is the key to a sustainable veterinary career.

Now, this isn’t only meaning sustainable for the veterinarian, but also for the credentialed veterinary technician and the veterinary assistants below them. Because when people have the opportunity to utilize their education and skills to a full ability, then job satisfaction automatically increases. We have done a pretty poor job in utilizing our support staff to the fullest of their capability. Now, I know many of you will say, but you know what, Cari?

It’s not been identified in the practice acts. What they legally can and can’t do of a credentialed veterinary technician doesn’t necessarily have the authority to do things that are very helpful to us in some cases. In other cases, you’re going to say, you know, it doesn’t actually define that a credentialed veterinary technician has any greater responsibility from a legal perspective than an on the job trained veterinary assistant.

And I’m not going to argue with you in those cases, because every practice act is a little bit different. And by all means, we are way behind in getting these veterinary practice acts up to date so that they accurately reflect not only the education that our credentialed staff has, but also the level of responsibility and skill that they’re able to bring to the table. We need to start there as far as getting those practice acts updated to reflect the value of these people in veterinary medicine.

Until we do that, there’s a couple of things that are going to continue to be problematic, in my opinion. Number one, the credential of the credentialed veterinary technician. So whether it’s registered, licensed, or certified, and just in case you don’t know, the only difference between being registered, licensed, or certified as a veterinary technician simply just depends on your jurisdiction. Some states call it licensed, some states call it certified, some states call it registered.

It’s the same test. They all take the VTNE, and that VTNE then creates a different credential just depending on what state you’re in. So now, when it comes to our credentialed staff, many practices, many states, their practice acts are so far behind in being updated that what they are legally allowed to do isn’t different than an on the job trained veterinary assistant. And so for years, what this has resulted in is a lower pay for our credentialed veterinary technicians than what they’re actually worth.

So what they can actually bring to the table is so much more than what an on the job trained person can bring. Now, please do not get your feathers all ruffled as I say that I am not devaluing an on the job trained assistant at all. And especially if you’ve got decades of experience, yes, you know, a ton. And by all means, like if you’ve spent decades in veterinary medicine, I do hope that your pay reflects the amount of time that you’ve spent in this profession.

However, you also just haven’t had the level of education that a credentialed veterinary technician has had as part of their required curriculum. That is not criticism. That is just factual information. Unless you’ve taken it upon yourself to go and learn everything that’s listed in that curriculum as outlined by the AVMA, unless you’ve done that on your own, you just haven’t learned the information to that degree, and it makes a difference as far as the base of information and knowledge that you’re operating from.

Again, this is not criticism. This is just bringing awareness, because so many people in veterinary medicine haven’t had the opportunity to understand what a credentialed veterinary technician actually brings to the table. Because of this, our practice acts have not been reflecting the value that they bring to the table. And so for decades, we have treated all support staff in veterinary medicine, regardless of credential, pretty much the same.

That does not actually change then this entire top down approach that veterinary medicine started out as, where everything revolves around the veterinarian. It doesn’t support this idea of team. And as we move into a time in our profession where the demand for veterinary medicine and veterinary services continues to expand, where the workflow is changing, where veterinarians themselves are not wanting to work 50, 60, 70 hours a week, where the demographic of veterinarians is drastically different than it was 25 or 35 years ago, we have to look at sustainability across the profession as a whole.

And where we’re missing the mark here is in actually elevating the importance and the responsibilities of our credentialed veterinary staff. This is what really is going to create a that team approach. So I understand this need to kind of fill a gap with an intermediate level practitioner, but I don’t think we need to go out and create an entirely different role. I think we just have to effectively utilize a role that already exists and to create some noise around the importance of defining this role more formally within the practice acts themselves.

As we do that, and we better outline what they are legally able to do, then I think we’ll find that veterinarians are going to be even more comfortable delegating to them. This also helps to create that entire team environment where it’s not just the veterinarian and a whole bunch of other people running around doing things for them. Instead, if we can elevate the credentialed veterinary technician and really clearly outline what they are capable of doing, what they legally can do, then we are going to be able to create a situation where perhaps they can see some lower importance type appointments.

I’m not saying all on their own. I’m not saying set up a practice that’s just technician centered. I’m not saying that at all. But what I am saying is that it makes a whole lot of sense to elevate veterinary technicians to being able to see things like follow up vaccine appointments or recheck ears or things like that, that aren’t going to take the advanced diagnostic knowledge that a veterinarian needs to be interactive with the patient with.

Now, this isn’t trying to get into a great big debate. My whole point of this podcast tonight is for us just to recognize that the team approach to veterinary medicine is the way to a sustainable career for every single member of the veterinary healthcare team. Not only does it help us to distribute the workflow in a way that makes it manageable for everybody, but it also makes the experience of working in this career field more fulfilling for everybody involved when we are utilized to our fullest potential.

That is one of the things that really leads to burnout and lack of satisfaction in veterinary medicine is simply not being allowed to do your job. And I don’t care if you’re a veterinarian or if you’re a veterinary assistant, or if you’re a kiddle worker, if you aren’t being trusted to do your job, if you aren’t being encouraged to expand your knowledge base and your skill base, then it’s very normal to start to feel frustrated and to feel underutilized and underappreciated.

This happens right now at every level of veterinary healthcare. And the way that we move forward with that is by starting to empower the members of our teams. We live in an interesting time. So just as we have this opportunity to improve our veterinary practice acts, we also have a lot of flexibility in those practice acts as they are. So we don’t have to wait for those practice acts to change to start utilizing our staff more efficiently and effectively.

Those practice acts, as they are written, already give you an immense amount of flexibility on how to use your team. Now it’s up to you individually on how you want to set up the hierarchy within your practices. And I would encourage you to set up the hierarchy within your practices so that you do celebrate the credentialed staff that you have. So whether those are credentialed veterinary technicians or they are approved veterinary assistants who have been through their own education.

So, yes, there is education available for veterinary assistants where they can also become certified or approved. I encourage you to celebrate the efforts that our colleagues have put in to earn those credentials and to give them more responsibilities and perhaps even put them as part of your management team so that people within your organizations, you have multiple levels of management. If you are, leadership is a better word, multiple levels of leadership that can help to distribute not only the workflow, but also the culture and the responsibility for the culture as a whole.

As we start to distribute that responsibility, everybody starts to enjoy their work more and they feel more valued, rather than just feeling like they’re running around just kind of being task managers, just getting stuff done for one person. The veterinary experience does not revolve around the veterinarian. Yes, you need a veterinarian in order to practice veterinary medicine. You need a veterinarian in order to have a animal hospital that can see patients.

I’m not disputing that at all. But what I’m saying is if you want to be able to help a larger amount of people to do a more effective job at practicing veterinary medicine and creating a customer experience for your clients, that’s going to take your entire team. We live in a world now where just the one veterinarian with a few people helping them doesn’t really create a sustainable experience for our veterinary clients.

Veterinary clients are more savvy than they’ve ever been. They’ve had. They have the opportunity to get on the Internet and to research what’s going on with their pets. They’re more educated than they’ve ever been. And this is actually a very good thing because that can take some of the pressure off of trying to teach them all the things all the time. You have other places that you can send them.

But unfortunately, many of us are still getting caught up and feeling offended when somebody comes in and talks to you about what they’ve learned on the Internet. And we believe that we should be their only source of information. We can’t possibly be their only source of information because there’s just not enough of us and there’s just not enough time. Now you can start to bridge that gap to some extent when you effectively utilize your support staff.

So deciding who’s going to be the ones to educate your clients on vaccination schedules, on heartworm disease, on zoonotic potential of intestinal parasites, on the causes of ear infections, like you can absolutely educate your own staff, your own team to be the one to go in and have those conversations. But if you don’t take the time to develop your teams in this way, then it will continue to be a one person show.

The veterinarian will feel like they were the one that has to do all of the things. The veterinary support staff is going to feel like they aren’t trusted to take on these pieces that they absolutely can help take on. And job satisfaction overall is going to be lower. If instead, we start to effectively utilize the entire team in this way, everybody’s job satisfaction goes up and the experience that our client has, the clients have actually also improves.

So I know that I’ve kind of been all over the place here in talking about this idea of support staff, but to bring it all back home, the way that we create a sustainable career for any member of the veterinary health care team is to approach veterinary medicine and the practice of veterinary medicine as a team, recognizing that we need all components in order to function effectively and when we embrace all components and celebrate all components, and we empower all components of the veterinary healthcare team to do their part, not only do we have more fun during the day, but our clients get a better experience and our patients get better care.

So, my friends, as you go through the next few weeks, and as we’re celebrating our credential veterinary technicians, I hope you’ll take a moment to consider how can you empower the people that you work with? How can you show them that you appreciate them? And how can you let go of a little bit more control to give them a little bit more responsibility so that they feel valued and the entire team functions more effectively?

Have a beautiful weekend. I’ll see you soon. Bye for now.

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