Practice Tip: Does your home life suffer from practice stress "strike-through"?

"Strike-through"? Remember that wonderful OR term from your 4th year surgical rotation? It’s (to refresh your memory) that process of fluids moving from a non-sterile area through a barrier and contaminating a sterile surgical area. Not good right? Well, a similar occurrence of “contamination” occurs when practice stress moves over into your family and home life. This is called practice stress “strike-through”. In this case day to day problems and stresses in a practice piggy back home with you and infect your family life. An example is the problem-child staff member (receptionist, Tech, DVM etc…) or client that drives everybody nutty BUT nobody confronts or handles. The result? We go home and complain to our spouses, friends and family and basically dump the problem on them. And the result? Unneeded stress in your family and home life. Not good!

Here’s what to do about it:
1. Handle what you see. It’s what professionals do.
2. People are never as scary as they seem. So confront them.
3. With anyone that is stressing you out sit them down in a private room and communicate. You’ll find that the more you do this the less you’ll take home.

A foundation to teach a train people effectively...

"I really enjoyed learning the Study Skills for Life course because it led me to reflect on the way I talk to my staff and clients. Sometimes I think I am speaking and explaining things clearly, but it turns out that is not true. This course stresses the vital importance of having these types of communication and learning skills in the workplace. It makes sense that it is the first course because it is a foundation to teach and train people effectively. I am very sure that there are applications outside of my practice for these valuable tools."

Dr. Andy Mencarelli, DVM and Owner, Didsbury Veterinary Services, AB
Study Skills for Life

We are well on the way to having a better clinic...

"I really enjoyed doing the course on 'Basic Hat for Employees'. It has shown me numerous ways to organize our business and streamline the flow of clients. The VFP was eye-opening for me, especially when asked what mine was. This has shown me there are better ways to deal with staff requests and staff ethics than the ones I have been using. I am confident that we are well on the way to having a better clinic, production-wise and atmosphere-wise. Communication is a huge part of this, and having everyone know what 'hat' they are wearing will make Kamloops Large Animal Veterinary Clinic an even better place to work and do business."

Nina Ferguson, Director of Administration, Kamloops Large Animal Veterinary Hospital, BC
Basic Hat for Employees

A great foundation for staff...

"The 'Basic Hat for Employees' is a great foundation for staff and managers to set-out how a business should be organized so that things operate more smoothly and efficiently. I think that the ethics portion is very useful because we all have experience with in-ethics and out-ethics and how it has affected our business. Very good overall."

Dr. Colin Mikkelsen, DVM and Practice Owner, Kamloops Large Animal Veterinary Clinic, BC
Basic Hat for Employees