Earlier this month, I closed a big chapter of my career when I sold my shares in the emergency clinic I started almost a decade ago.
Any big change lends itself to a period of reflection, and I’m enjoying looking back at what I’ve learned from the experience as an emergency veterinarian and team leader.
Clinical challenges
One lesson I was taught and retaught – and taught again until I finally understood – is that the biggest challenges we face in clinical practice do not come from the animals.
Clinical error or poor patient outcomes will happen, of course, but these account for a fraction of the stresses and misery we deal with. We’re pretty well equipped to deal with those.
Miscommunications and complaints, on the other hand – that’s what will keep you up at night.
Communication challenges
The nature of the work in emergency practice tends to amplify many of the challenges we face in general practice: unpredictability, potentially life and death cases, long shifts, and, of course, highly emotional people.
The majority of clients who present to you in an emergency setting are first-time clients. You don’t have pre-existing relationships and established trust to build on. Add to this the fact people who come to you at night are usually not there because they planned to be, but because something bad has happened. This means they are often frazzled, scared, worried, angry and tired. It’s a recipe for conflict.
So, you learn the skills needed to deal with it, or you don’t last. What follows is what I’ve learned.
Acronyms
Doctors love acronyms – and nowhere do we love them more than in emergency practice: GDV, MVA, MLK, CPR, the ABC (or CAB) of resuscitation…
When the shit is hitting the fan, you need all the brain space you can get.
I love any tool that makes it easier to remember what you need to be doing. With this in mind, I’ve made an acronym to help me remember what I need to do for problem-free client interactions.
Rather than relegate these as secondary “soft skills” with vague guidelines, I put these up there with those other critical acronyms. It should be part of our first principles of practice. I call it CTR-C.
What is CTR-C?
From dealing with client feedback and complaints during my time as team leader, I’ve realised most complaints are preventable if you tick a few boxes. CTR-C lists those boxes. It’s not so much the information we give to to our clients in our dealings with them, but more about how we make them feel.
The vast majority of complaints I deal with arose from situations where the following client needs were not met:
- connection
- trust
- reassurance
- clarity
The order of these four needs is important, as each builds on the one preceding it.
When someone feels a connection with you, he or she is unlikely to criticise your decisions – even if your decisions turn out to be wrong.
He or she will also be emotionally receptive to trusting you, despite the fact he or she hardly knows you. Without trust, your job of caring for his or her pet will be exponentially harder – and feelings of connectedness greatly facilitates feelings of trust.
Many situations in veterinary practice bring with them a lot of uncertainty and some very powerful emotions. It is vital clients feel reassured that you have their best interests at heart, and that they made the right decision to trust you.
Finally, clarity – I put clarity slightly separate from the others as it does not build on the other three, but, rather, circles back to re-enforce them.
Series
I can (and possibly will) write a book about each of these, but the next few posts will cover some tips on how to achieve each of these in a limited time period and under less than ideal circumstances.
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