Benefits of emotionally intelligent euthanasia

At the 2023 American Veterinary Medical Association Convention, Kathleen Cooney, DVM, MS, CHPV, CCFP, DACAW resident, CEO and director of education for the Companion Animal Euthanasia Training Academy, sat down with dvm360^® to outline the benefits of emotionally intelligent euthanasia. She explained that it can help promote your well-being and strengthen your relationship with clients and euthanasia itself.

The following is a transcript of the video.

Kathleen Cooney, DVM, MS, CHPV, CCFP, DACAW resident: The benefits of emotionally intelligent euthanasia are that you get to practice with more intentionality. You get to behave the way that you want to behave, act the way that you want to act. And ultimately, you're going to make better connections with your clients and you're going to have more meaningful experience within euthanasia. And at the end of the day, the more in control of ourselves that we are and the better that we speak, the better we're going to be able to establish rapport during that appointment, and that's going to calm our body that's going to help with that connection. And that's ultimately going to help to stave off something like compassion fatigue. And a big component of that is secondary traumatic stress. So, knowing why we feel the way that we do and moving ourselves to the emotions that we want to be in [is] really good stuff during euthanasia.

Dr Cooney will be delivering lectures at the upcoming Fetch dvm360 conference in Kansas City, Missouri from August 25, 2023 to August 27, 2023. Register here today to lock in your spot! There will be a chance to earn 20 CE Credit Hours per individual attendee and more than 180 sessions will be featured covering an array of tracks, so there is something for everyone.