Business

Dr. Karen Overall prepares practitioners to handle common behavior problems of pets so they can offer training advice to clients.

Sarah, a certified veterinary technician, enters the room to a hackled and uninterrupted display of aggression.

In ancient China, a favorite form of slow execution was called "the death of a thousand cuts."

General practitioners launching their own practices often start small, hoping to afford a larger space eventually. Not so with specialty/emergency practices, say Drs. Gary Block and Justine Johnson, husband-and-wife owners of Ocean State Veterinary Specialists in East Greenwich, R.I.

President George W. Bush signed a long-sought-after economic stimulus package March 9.

Compassionate care in the veterinary hospital setting would seem to be a given fact of everyday operations.

I rewrote my original column for this month. Originally it was written as a blueprint to prepare for the credentialing processes of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.

Have you ever been bamboozled by an embezzler? Dr. Alice Villalobos of Hermosa Beach, Calif., planted the thought in the minds of about 75 practitioners and practice managers during a management conference hosted by the American Animal Hospital Association in Boston.

"Just the facts, just give us the facts." That is my best recollection of one of the favorite phrases of Sergeant Joe Friday, on the TV series "Dragnet". I am not showing my age too much, am I? Anyway, there are many times in dairy practice when we really need facts to back up the suggestions we give to our clients.

Providing estimates on veterinary procedures can often tip the scales on acceptance or anger about fees.

Ask any number of our colleagues to tell us the most challenging part of their practices.

President George W. Bush signed a long-sought-after economic stimulus package March 9. The "Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002" (H.R. 3090) is a combination of business economic stimulus provisions, relief provisions for lower Manhattan businesses affected by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits, extensions for expired or soon-to-expire tax breaks and technical corrections.

Drs. Buddy Smith and Benet Sandell started their building project reluctantly. Although they had contemplated renovating or rebuilding before relocating, a big push from a road project forced Hill Country Veterinary Hospital to build on a new site on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, 1/2-mile from their previous site. Today they practice in a 3,100-square-foot, award-winning facility.

Many dairy veterinarians benefit by being skilled at training lay people to do appropriate tasks. This is true for in-house practice procedures, and also for things done by lay people on client farms.

Handling stress is difficult for anyone. But as veterinary students or recent graduates, the mounting demands of disgesting and understanding volumes of medical facts, finding a job or internship, managing finances and keeping viable relatioinships, are enough to make anyone boil over once in awhile.

Las Vegas-If you ask Dr. Paul Hobson, setting up a simple intranet can save you and your staff the most precious commodity of all - time.

Remember the marketing principle that 20 percent of clients make up 80 percent of your revenue

DVM Newsmagazine knows that eating right is never easy for anyone -- especially if you?re a pet owner with a dog or cat suffering from renal disease.

Architect hands down hard lessons in building veterinary practices from the ground up

Las Vegas-A syndicated pet columnist says more and more pet owners are complaining about veterinary fees, whereas veterinarians and management experts dismiss the argument but say it signals the importance of improved communications in practice.

Drs. Tia Greenberg and Heidi Tschauner admit that patience is not one of their virtues. With a bit less than 10 years of practice experience, the doctors joined forces to start their own veterinary hospital in a brand-new, 8,815-square-foot facility. "Our experiences working in other practices taught us how important it was that our floor plan to promote an efficient flow of traffic and that we wanted a facility that felt warm and welcoming," Dr. Tschauner says. The product of this vision, Westminster Veterinary Group in Westminster, Calif., earned the 2002 Hospital of the Year award in the 37th annual Veterinary Economics Hospital Design Competition.

“Practice owners want to put their best foot forward, which makes the hospital foyer, reception area, and waiting area the most popular for remodel projects,” says Dan Chapel, AIA, NCARB, owner of Chapel and Associates Architecture in Little Rock, Ark., and a Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member. “Luckily, those areas are the easiest projects to tackle.”

"Most dairy producers tend to fall into one of three categories; those who are interested in maximizing profit, those who are interested in achieving excellence, and those who are pursuing a way of life."

I find myself reluctant to do performance reviews, and feel almost apologetic to employees when I schedule them. Perhaps it is the formality involved, or the fear of criticism that makes performance reviews take on an atmosphere of tension.

Dr. Nan Boss shows how client education programs can lead to practice growth by offering new services and products.

Fee setting in veterinary medicine is chaos personified. For lack of a better term, I call it transition theory.

When he moved his practice from the converted home it had occupied for 42 years, Dr. Rickey Broussard wanted to maintain the comfortable feel of the practice by building a facility that resembled Grandma's house. And judges of Veterinary Economics' 2001 Hospital Design competition agree that the homey front porch with brick accents gives the facility's dramatic entrance and lofty ceilings the warm appeal Dr. Broussard strived for.

Whether it is an unexpected accident or a planned euthanasia, veterinarians need to be trained on how to deal with the intensely emotional experience of death, experts say.

Fort Collins, Colo.-Colorado State University (CSU) has taken an innovative step in handling euthanasia. In fact, the Argus Institute for Families and Veterinary Medicine has taken the study of facilitating euthanasia and grief to a whole new level.

Equine wound care has often been based upon the premise of keeping the wound clean and dry, requiring frequent bandage changes