Owners: Prepare your relief doc for success

Dr. Bruce Silverman

Get your money's worth and satisfy clients while you're gone with this advice from Dr. Bruce Silverman, MBA, a Chicago-area relief veterinarian:

Build a binder. If you frequently hire relief veterinarians, it's worth the effort to put together a binder of materials for them. Include details on vaccine and anesthetic protocols, hospitalization and surgical policies, contact information for preferred referral centers, and anything else new locum tenens doctors need to know.

Tour the facility. Ideally before the relief doctor starts, take him or her around for staff introductions and explanations on how the hospital functions. Explain a usual day's schedule and the length of appointments, breaks, and lunches.

Talk about nonroutine visits. Let the relief veterinarian know if you're planning to schedule challenging surgeries or special-needs cases during your time away.

Establish authority. Emphasize to your team members that the relief veterinarian should be consulted on all medical and surgical decisions. This doesn't mean team members can't remind the relief doctor of hospital policy. But the relief doctor—with the legal responsibility for all medical actions that day—is the final decision-maker until you get back.

Reinforce enthusiasm and respect. Your team members should speak favorably and enthusiastically about the relief doctor when making appointments on the phone or personally greeting clients and pets. Refer to the relief veterinarian by name, not just "the relief doctor." And to keep clients confident, make sure team members' questions about a relief doctor's work—or deviation from typical hospital procedure—are done behind the scenes and in a nonaccusing manner. Maybe the relief doctor forgot that you do things differently at your hospital. Or maybe the team member doesn't know something about the medical particulars of a patient's care. Don't forget, though, that learning can be a two-way street. Your relief doctor may be brimming over with good ideas from previous jobs. There's room for learning on both sides.