Roles

The toughest professional decisions are made with compromise for practice owner Dr. Abby Snyder. She generally reduces the pile of medical charts on her desk by half before going home to her husband and daughter.

What's fair compensation one year out of veterinary school? I'm currently working at a two-doctor practice. What do I need to know to make an educated decision about whether to renew my contract?

On average, veterinarians say they would prefer to devote more time to personal activities than work.

What do I do with a relief veterinarian who doesn't stick to my fee schedule?

How much am I expected to contribute to my associates' retirement plans? Does this count as part of the compensation my associate earned based on production?

Set a date for your associate's buy-in, then use this timetable for a smooth transition.

Workers covered under the Federal Labor Standards Act are entitled to the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. And, should you be paying that low in your practice, you can't deduct money from wages for such items as cash or merchandise shortages, uniforms, and other tools of the trade if those reductions put the employee's wages below the minimum wage or reduce the amount of overtime pay due.

You're a dedicated doctor. You spent eight years preparing for and enduring veterinary medical school. For the past six years as an associate, you've lived your dream.

Recently, a veterinarian in the process of hiring a new practice manager asked me "What are the 10 things a practice manager needs to know to be effective?" What a great question! It took a little thinking to narrow the "must-know" list to just 10 items. But whether you're an owner-veterinarian, a practice manager, or the owner's managing spouse, I think you need to apply these strategies to manage the practice effectively.

You're a dedicated doctor. You spent eight years preparing for and enduring veterinary medical school. For the past six years as an associate, you've lived your dream.

How many hours should I schedule for my receptionists in relation to the number of veterinarians on staff?

If you hire a practice manager, what would be your role as a practice owner? What guidance should you provide the manager? What type of supervision is required? In short, how do you manage a practice manager?

Owners in Well-Managed Practices look for the same talents and competencies in a long-term associate as those they seek in an associate who will become an owner. The difference lies in the focus of those talents and competencies.

After we hired an associate, my partner started cutting back on the number of patients he sees without consulting me. How should I handle this?

Speculation, rumor, and stubbornness abound regarding such issues as paying employees for overtime and granting maternity leave.

You're a dedicated doctor. You spent eight years preparing for and enduring veterinary medical school. For the past six years as an associate, you've lived your dream.

The trite phrase, "personality conflicts," allows key issues to be ignored or defined out of existence in daily operations. The term could mean the practice did not hire for "team fit," or they did not establish a "safe-haven" environment when establishing behavior expectations.

You know that finding the right associate is an investment in the future. After all, the associate will represent you in the exam room and in the community, will reflect your practice philosophy, and may eventually be a candidate for co-ownership. But we regularly hear practice owners say it's not that easy to find a great associate.

The hard truth: You've been your own worst enemies when it comes to vaccinations. (And the only reason we can say that is that we lived those days in practice, too.) In the 1970s and '80s many veterinarians derived a substantial percent of their total incomes from vaccinating dogs and cats. They marked vaccinations up tremendously over their costs and, at the same time, didn't charge clients a separate exam or office call fee. Practices told clients that the exam or office call was "included in the cost of the vaccines."

Several years ago I attended a seminar entitled "Employee Discipline and Performance Mistakes." Afterwards, I wrote up a simple, step-by-step plan for dealing with common employee discipline problems, like tardiness, not following the dress code or standards of conduct, failing to compete tasks or checklists.

Teaching proper dental care is part of the program at Pet Crossing Animal Hospital and Dental Clinic in Bloomington, Minn. And they aren't just teaching their staff members. Co-owners Drs. Katherine Knutson and Stephen Barghusen are using a dental lecture series to help practices statewide improve their standard of dental care and improve client compliance.

As a management consultant, Dr. Karen Felsted is no stranger to controversy. Yet, even she was surprised by the emotion owners and associates showed during a discussion about the role associates should play in attracting clients. Dr. Felsted, CPA, MS, CVPM, was one of four moderators for the session, which took place during the Central Veterinary Conference last August.

Looking to get more out of your veterinary practice experience? I know I once dreamed of becoming board certified in surgery, internal medicine, or another specialty. But somehow my plans changed when I entered the real world. Happily, I learned that the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) rewards committed practitioners who wish to attain a new level of patient care and professional satisfaction by giving them an avenue to attain board certification that doesn't involve the traditional residency programs.

The conflict over who should develop an associate's client base runs deep. To find a solution, you'll need to discuss the issues openly, clarify your expectations, and find the middle ground.

When you know what goals you really want to accomplish, the path to your dreams becomes clear. Here's how to harness the power of goal setting for your practice.

Your top priority is to give pets the care they need, right? So one of the first questions to ask yourself is, does your record-keeping system reflect your practice's standards of care?

For more than a decade, I've practiced emergency medicine in small metropolitan emergency clinics. According to several colleagues, I practice good medicine and am a competent surgeon. Although I haven't reached a point in my career where I feel like I am an excellent veterinarian, I'm usually competent. Despite all this, I messed up. But, under the same circumstances, I believe this episode could have happened to almost anyone. Here's how my story unfolded:

Seven years ago my mother and I saddled our horses for a relaxing trail ride. But as I swung my leg up to mount, something spooked my horse. He reared, threw me, flipped backwards, and crashed on top of me. My horse got up, but I didn't. My pelvis was broken in five places, I had ruptured blood vessels in my leg, and I would later sustain a life-threatening blood clot. In just an instant my life changed; doctor became patient.

Some of your clients see their pets as children. Citizens in some areas have pushed for a legal change that retracts pet ownership in favor of pet guardianship. And other people say, "It's just a dog." Yet when conflict arises over the suffering or death of a pet, our court system has to stick to one set of rules that defines the relationship between people and animals. What's the right definition?

The first year in practice can feel like a mountain climb at 70 miles per hour to a recent graduate who suddenly needs to deal with all manner of practice chaos and the patient that presents with lameness or disease. An associate who joins the practice in mid-career still likely feels that the highway runs uphill as he or she adapts to the new team. But with more experience under the belt, he or she faces fewer unexpected twists and turns. For both doctors, the road eventually levels out, their careers kick into fourth gear, and practice life begins to roll smoothly toward the horizon.