Tired of working the 52x52x52 plan?

You know; work 52 hours a week because you just can't find an associate willing to come to work for you for less than you are taking home yourself.

Working 52 weeks a year, because there are no "rentavets" inyour area willing to babysit for less than an appropriate 400 bucks a day.And then having your clients complain when you return, not because of anythingthey did wrong, but just to make you feel guilty for having the audacityto take a break when they needed you.

Working for 52 years because you just can't seem to put enough bucksaway to make a comfortable retirement feasible. So you'll just keep pluggingalong in the guise of "dedication" to your patients, until youdrop dead behind your exam table.

Sick and tired

Are you sick and tired of depending on a job with too little pay andtoo many hours with no personal reward and even less future?

If you are determined to retire in the next 10-15 years with enough incometo have real financial independence and freedom, and are not afraid to workfor it, I can help you earn at least $10,000 per month working for yourselfin your own hospital! This legitimate, hospital-based opportunity can putyou back in control of your time, your finances, and your life! If you havetried other opportunities in the past that have failed to live up to theirpromises, this is different than anything else you've seen. This is nota get rich quick scheme! Read on! Your financial past does not have to beyour financial future.

How many blood samples do you draw daily? How many X-rays do you takeeach day? How many medical histories are you digging out of your clientseach day? How many clients are you advising on nutrition, puppy care etc? Put another way, how many jobs are you stealing away from your technicalstaff?

When you perform a task that should be done by technical staff you shouldbe paid not more than $15-20 an hour rather than the $60 dollars per hourthat today's veterinarian should earn as a minimum wage. ($120,000 per yearsalary divided by 2000 hours is $60 per hour.) * (see note)

Just one properly trained technician per practice can train many assistantsto relieve you so that you can free up more time for income production. But you gotta wanna do it!

The right staff

While this writer retired from 28 years of active practice/ part-timeconsulting into full time consulting, three years ago, I should tell youhow I was able to manage a consulting career and a practice simultaneously.

We opened at 8:00 o'clock each morning. My very competent reception andtechnical staff admitted the drop-offs for medicine and surgery for thatday. I arrived at 9:30 to see outpatients from 10 to 12 and perform surgeriesfrom 12 to 1:00 or so. My staff knew which tests to get for what conditions95 percent of the time.

Any EKGs, lab tests or radiographs for ill patients or patients scheduledfor surgery were ready for my review by 9:30 in the morning. Any relativelylow risk surgical patients would be prepped and anesthetized without myassistance and I was notified 10 minutes before the surgery so that I couldscrub. I used two surgical tables, back to back on busy mornings. Afterthe last suture was placed, I would swing around, change gloves and performa second surgery, while any third surgery was being prepped behind me.

Two hour lunch

I would usually take a two hour lunch, read my mail, dictate the medicalrecords and surgical procedures for the morning cases. Appointments beganagain at three and ended at 5:30. By six, I was on the highway headed home,while dictating my afternoon medical records.

I practiced Monday through Friday only! Saturday was receptionist/tech-onlyday, enabling clients to pick up prescriptions, diets and schedule appointments. One of my very well trained technicians would examine each hospitalizedpatient on Saturday and Sunday, note their conditions twice a day as beingthe same, better or worse. I would be called only when a patient was notresponding well to the course of treatment that I had prescribed for theweekend. Not one patient was ever lost using this procedure.

No associate needed

I always used an exam room tech, with two competent assistants on callwhile working elsewhere in the practice, I could treat 20-25 patients eachday, I seldom felt the need for an associate and the labor costs were thesame or less. I made a very good living. I worked in the practice five daysa week and used a "rentavet" for four weeks a year.

Four very well trained, full time staff per veterinarian and two moreexam rooms than there are veterinarians on duty are needed.

Imagine the physician who walks his/her patient in the hospital, downto the lab for tests, over to radiology and then to surgery. Sound ridiculous?Why? Aren't you doing too much of that now? If motivated and competent nursingstaff works in the human hospital, why must it be different for us?

* (Note: Animal Care Training, 800-357-3182, LifeLearn, 800-375-7994and AVLS 800-895-2269 are excellent sources of staff training programs.)