In today’s episode, I want to bring you some of the podcast highlights from the 2022 The Business of Practice podcasts. I hope this will encourage you to go back and listen to some of the podcasts you might have missed. Don’t forget that we have short articles summarizing each podcast on EquiManagement.com.
2022 Podcast Highlights
- Episode 51: Vet Hiring
- According to statistics reported by The Vet Recruiter’s Stacy Pursell, the veterinarian shortage is going to become even more severe in the years ahead.
- Episode 50: Medical Records
- Dr. Cynthia MacKenzie, a Trust veterinarian with the AVMA, said there are medical, legal, ethical and regulatory reasons to keep good medical records.
- Episode 49: Planning for 2023
- Dr. Mike Pownall said, “I think the pervasive challenge we are going to have is with our ‘people power’—the veterinarians and support staff.”
- Episode 48: Veterinary Telemedicine
- “Veterinary telemedicine is a natural evolution of equine care in a digital world and expands a practitioner’s reach to serve more clients,” said Dr. Eleanor Green.
- Episode 47: Veterinarians Shopping at a Trade Show
- “Veterinarians should do their homework ahead of trade show shopping in order to make the best use of their money,” said Dr. Bob Magnus.
- Episode 46: Teach Owners to Keep Veterinarians Safe
- Dr. Amy Grice reminded practitioners that it is not the veterinarian’s job to train a horse. Veterinarians need to teach owners how to keep them safe.
- Episode 45: Tips to Attract and Retain Equine Veterinarians and Staff
- Dr. Mike Pownall said practices need to “take care of the staff we have instead of having to replace them. We are fighting over scant resources. The profession is going to have to make structural changes. We need to look in the mirror as a profession and recognize we need to do things differently.”
- Episode 44: How to Use a Line of Credit
- Jennifer M. Braid, CPA, EA, reminded veterinarians that “the best way to use a line of credit is to not use it.” However, a line of credit is very useful to purchase something now with the plan to pay that loan off with income from the purchase or by transitioning the loan over to one with more favorable long-term rates.
- Episode 43: Lincoln Memorial University Equine Veterinary Education Program
- Dr. Eleanor Green explained that the basis of the LMU program is to recruit students before their freshman year of college into an equine-focused pre-vet curriculum and allow them to graduate in 6.5 years.
- Episode 42: Tips on Veterinary Inventory Control
- Equine veterinary inventory control means having “the right amount of the right stuff at the right time at the right price, said Dr. Amy Grice.
- Episode 41: Using Equine Vet Techs Fully
- Veterinarians need to better utilize the skills of their vet techs and assistants and need to compensate them for those skills, said Deb Reeder, a registered vet tech and former Executive Director of the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians and Associates. In this episode she talks about State Practice Acts, why vet techs are leaving equine veterinary medicine, and how to create a job posting to find a tech or assistant.
- Episode 40: Transforming Equine Practice
- In this episode, 2022 AAEP President Dr. Emma Read talks about equine veterinary practice and the AAEP’s new Commission on Equine Veterinary Sustainability.
- Episode 39: Veterinary Ethics
- Dr. Ernie Martinez said equine veterinarians face ethical dilemmas frequently in practice. He advised practitioners to think about different scenarios that could face them before they are actually put in an ethical situation.
- Episode 38: Generational Differences
- In this episode, Dr. Amy Grice helps veterinarians and their staffs of all ages understand why there are generational differences, the largest factors that shaped the generations, and how to communicate better between generations.
- Episode 37: Courageous Conversations
- Dr. Colleen Best helps us understand how to share difficult news as ‘courageous conversations’ rather than as a delivery of ‘bad news.’
- Episode 36: Veterinary Compensation
- Practice owners need to keep the work/life balance in check for veterinarians and staff, sometimes at the expense of giving up some services or income, noted Dr. Mike Pownall. “We aren’t the only game in town,” he said.
- Episode 35: Protecting Yourself Against Malpractice in Equine Pre-Purchase Exams
- Pre-purchase exams generate the highest number of malpractice claims for equine veterinarians, according to Nina Mouledous, DVM, a Trust Veterinarian for the AVMA. When veterinarians are sued, “Your feelings get hurt, but that is why you have insurance,” she reasoned.
- Episode 34: Leverage Your Veterinary Team
- “The first task with a team is to let them know what they are responsible for and what they have authority for,” noted Mike Tomlinson, DVM, MBA. “Authority and responsibility must match, and everyone on the team needs to know what everyone else is doing with no holes unfilled. Don’t try to pound a round peg in a square hole.”
- Episode 33: How the Pandemic Helped my Practice
- Research and studies showed that in hindsight, the COVID-19 pandemic was actually a financial boon to most equine veterinarians. However, living through the pandemic was not always easy or pleasant for equine vets, their practices or their clients. Drs. Monty McInturff and Erin Denney-Jones talk about how the pandemic affected their practices. McInturff said the level of care rose for client horses. Denney-Jones agreed, saying client energies “went to prevention.”
- Episode 32: Veterinarian Burnout
- “The demands [on equine veterinarians] are increasing in the face of no resources to keep up,” stated Colleen Best, DVM, PhD, CCFP. “That leads to increased burnout at a time when the equine veterinary industry can ill-afford to lose more practitioners.” She said this podcast for equine veterinarians is “an invitation to you and an opportunity for you to take more control and to shift your perceptions of what you do.”
- Episode 31: The AAEVT
- Find out what the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians and Associates (AAEVT) is all about.
- Episode 30: Veterinary Staff Communication
- “Everyone thinks they communicate well, and that’s not the case,” said Mike Pownall, DVM, MBA. He recommended practice owners find out how staff wants to be communicated in order to keep them engaged.
- Episode 29: Solo Practice Tips
- Dr. Caitlin Daly, warned that being by yourself every day is hard and lonely. She hired a part-time tech, and she keeps engaged with friends who are also solo practitioners. She pairs up with a colleague in the area when she needs time off, and she relies on technology to help her succeed. She said one of the hardest parts is respecting her own boundaries.
- Episode 28: Equine Practice Trends
- Dr. Amy Grice discusses results from a late 2021 survey of 312 equine veterinarians on topics ranging from income to veterinarian wellness.
- Episode 27: Alternative Work Schedules for Equine Veterinarians
- Dr. Kelly Zeytoonian shares her practice’s success at creating veterinarian work schedules that serve the vets, the business and the clients. One item she mentioned is not “bugging” coworkers when they are off. “When the day is over, the day is over,” said Zeytoonian.
- Episode 26 Key Business Takeaways from the 2021 AAEP Convention
- Dr. Amy Grice said those at the 2021 AAEP Convention felt “the tide was turning” in how equine veterinary practice is conducted. “We’re having honest conversations about problems in the industry,” she said.
About Kimberly S. Brown
Just a little about my background—I’ve been an equine journalist for more than 42 years. I graduated with a degree in Agricultural Communications from the University of Kentucky—the first person to graduate with that degree from UK’s College of Agriculture.
I worked at The Blood-Horse magazine for nearly 30 years—the first 15 in the Thoroughbred side of the industry and the second 15 founding and developing The Horse and TheHorse.com. I then retired from publishing to work in the private sector. A few short years later, I was tempted back to publishing to work with the EquiManagement brand and the Equine Network.
I’m the Group Publisher of the Equine Health Network, which includes EquiManagement, The Horse, EQUUS and Stable Management.
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