Boost your flea control compliance

Consistency counts. To increase parasite prevention and control compliance, make sure the doctors are in agreement about the standards of care and team members know what to say to clients.

It's key that all the doctors in a practice use the same standards of care for parasite prevention and control. If several doctors are making different recommendations, clients and team members become confused—and compliance suffers. To boost compliance and minimize confusion, doctors need to decide as a group what's best for pets in their practice and make sure that message hits home. "Once the team knows what the doctors want, they can support their recommendations," says Karyn Gavzer, CVPM, MBA, owner of KG Marketing & Training in Springboro, Ohio. "Clients will hear a consistent message from everyone they talk to at the hospital."

Gavzer says these standards of care should be simple, bullet-point statements about what the doctors believe is best for pets. For example: All adult dogs and cats should be on monthly flea preventives.

The doctors should also decide which products they want to recommend to clients. "There's rarely a need to stock more than one or two products to accommodate pets' needs and client preferences," Gavzer says. "And limiting the number of products makes inventory management easier."

Team training

Once you've put your standards of care in writing, team members should receive copies and the doctors should explain the standards thoroughly, Gavzer says. Team training might also include information from the Companion Animal Parasite Council (capcvet.org). Gavzer says this helps team members understand how their recommendations fit into the bigger parasite control picture.

She also suggests incorporating real-life patient stories about the consequences of not following the recommendations—flea infestations in the home, flea allergies in pets, and more. This helps team members talk to clients about the issue and make strong recommendations. "Flea product manufacturers are usually happy to provide in-service training on their products and they often have helpful ideas for talking to clients," says Gavzer. Your training should teach team members to talk to pet owners in client-friendly language and to reinforce the benefits of following the doctor's recommendation. For example: "My dog sleeps with me and I don't want fleas in my bed!" and "This is the best way to keep fleas out of your home and protect your pet." Team members should also demonstrate how to use the products and send written instructions home with clients.

Follow through

The entire team should follow the hospital's standards of care. "Clients will ask everyone on the team if they do this and that for their own pets," Gavzer says. "It's embarrassing if a team member says, 'Well, I don't do that but you should!'" This creates a credibility gap and undermines the clients' confidence in the recommendation, she says. "Contrast that with a reply like, 'Yes, I've used this product myself and here's a tip I learned that might help you when you give it to Max.'"