The Biggest Red Flags Before Accepting a Job at a Vet Clinic | The Veterinary Roundtable - EP185

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special episode of the veterinary roundtable the podcast where we answer your veterinary related questions While having some fun along the way if you enjoyed today's episode Be sure to leave us a review on your podcast provider of choice And if you have any feedback to offer to improve the veterinary roundtable, make sure you let us know Wow reviews are getting up there We're almost at 450. I wonder how long it's going to take us to hit 450 I feel like we've been riding in the 440s for a little bit I know but this is kind of exciting because It's pretty close to 500. Do you think it'll happen before the end of the year? Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah, I really do I do We have literally haven't thought about what we need to do. Well, we've been so focused on the live show So it's taken a back seat, but don't you worry don't fret We will have it figured out. Yes speaking of If you haven't heard the vert is doing another live show. Yes, wbc nashville. Yeah live show number two Yeah, it is gonna be so much fun. I know i'm so sorry. You can't be there I'm, so sad, but you're gonna have i'll be there in spirit the wonderful baby. Yes, and i'll be in the newborn bubble You're still gonna be loving your life at that point, yeah So it's pretty awesome. Yeah but we're gonna have some so we had to find some special guests to fill in because You're not gonna have you and al you guys fill some big shoes both having babies at the same time So we're like we had to go out there and we had to filter through all of veterinary medicine We really racked our brains to find the best most fun people to have that would fit in Yes, that would fit with the roundtable vibe. And so we came up with walter brown And sarah parsons. So those are the two hosts And our mc is adam chrisman. Yes, so he seems like a funny guy. I'm kind of sad. I want to meet him It's gonna be so fun. He seems like a good time. Yeah He's he's just got such a great personality. Yeah, he'll be able to connect with the audience You know, this whole event is really about celebrating everybody in veterinary medicine And he has a great way of connecting to people. That's good. So he's perfect for the job. Yep Good, it'll be a lot of fun and then we're gonna get a lot of laughs with walter and sarah Yeah, oh for sure. So we have that going for us. Yeah, it'll be really fun and tickets are $5.99 Tickets are $5.99 like we're that good of a time. Yeah, and it's we're two-thirds of the way sold sold out I mean that's crazy already at this point. We were pretty excited about that you get free drinks free food Prizes which we made the list the other day harrison shared which we're not sharing because it's surprises Um, but the list is pretty good Yeah for the giveaways and all the brands that are giving us stuff to give away and the dollar dollar bills Mm-hmm. There's gonna be money too. Not just prizes or that is a prize. That is a prize But yeah themed cocktails, which are a fun surprise, too I'm, so excited for the like all that for five dollars and 99 cents. You can't beat that Yeah, you really can't at a conference. It's a great It's a great way of getting together hanging out with people and having a good time Yeah, and especially if you're going to the conference for ce Then you can like turn your brain off and just have a good time Have a good time and you still might learn something. You're right. You're right. So there's that All right, okay, we also have social media channels we have instagram and tiktok They're both at the veterinary roundtable And we also have a youtube channel where you can watch our video podcast. Um, and that is the veterinary roundtable on youtube So you might notice That the studio looks really weird today. Yeah Because we we have a new studio. This is our third move. This is our third wave. Yeah, that's right Well third studio third second move. Okay, that's true. Yeah, so, uh, we're in a new location And um, you're gonna notice you can see things that you normally couldn't see you can see our beautiful producer You are now privy to what is happening behind the scenes. This is so exciting. I'm, not sure harrison's excited I can come in here go buy tickets I don't have to use my microphone They're cyclospora Don't get diarrhea Make sure you don't get diarrhea before you come to the show. Yeah, don't eat produce right now Oh my god, I can't keep myself from eating produce. I know that's my biggest craving right now is fruit Tell me how you're supposed to keep pregnant lady away from fruit All right, so that's probably we're just i'm just going ahead and getting into my pit because that was my pit Yeah, it's cyclospora. Yeah But like jacob sent me the article and it says stay away from all produce Excuse me all pro. What do you want me to eat the whole week? And they even say like if you clean it, it doesn't matter. I think you can cook stuff But who's cooking who's i'm not gonna cook my strawberries Could make jam in my watermelon Could make jam. Okay. Wait a minute. Okay watermelon. Like how does the crypto whatever get into watermelon? Like the watermelon should be safe. I just I don't get it. But like That I just I don't understand like this like stay away from everything Right, that's wild and for how long I don't know and the cdc says that you can't really like, uh Clean the stuff well enough like they give you some options to clean But they don't they say well it may work it may not work So yeah up to you and then the diarrhea can last 24 hours four weeks Yeah, it's just insane that like it's not like because usually there's like a recall and like lettuce or something in particular But it's everything it's everything. How does that happen? I don't know but I said how does one thing infect that how everything I'm, just going to take some ivermectin if I get it, right we have access to it Ivermectin fixes everything it does Uh, so that's my pit yeah That's pretty stupid. It is. I think that's my pit too because I went to the grocery store this morning Because I was really craving muffins that my mom used to make like it's just like a package You just mix it up put in the oven whatever right and then I went in the fruit section I was gonna buy fruit and I was like Probably shouldn't you know what though? None of the stores have signs up. No, they don't so like Is it even in indiana? I don't know. I haven't looked at the map recently. I just remember Like looking at the map initially when we were talking about this a couple weeks ago and I was like, oh wow That's a lot of states. Yeah, but I don't think indiana was one of them at that time, but it probably is now Yeah, I think that's my pit too. That's just stupid. Yeah, it's like come on Ridiculous stupid. Okay, those darn parasites. Yeah, they're everywhere. They're everywhere um, my peak is that we moved to the new studio and that um We no longer have to pay rent at the other studio. Yeah saving dollar bills um But what else? I really like the hot weather I am I just love it. I love being able to sit outside when you're swimming and you're not cold at all I love sweating when you exercise. I love all that. I feel like i'm like Detoxifying I think I would enjoy it more if I had a pool and if you weren't pregnant, right? 38 weeks pregnant to be exact I had Calvin and holden both in august Yeah, and I just spent all I feel like all of my pregnancy in the pool. Yeah, that sounds nice I haven't swam once this pregnancy and I feel like I would feel as light as a feather I just don't have the motivation to get up and go to the pool because it's too hot Oh my god, that sounds funny All right. Well and you'll notice that it's just courtney and I for this podcast. Yeah, so we wanted to do a special episode That's right, because we were working together the other day and we started talking And I don't know what I was doing. What was I doing? And we were about to do an ultrasound and you didn't have the supplies you needed I didn't have the supplies I needed and I turned around to the shelf and I grabbed what I thought I needed And I was like what the effing heck and it didn't work and so I grabbed the clippers and I put the battery in the clippers and I was like And no didn't come on then there happened to be a second battery Nope didn't work either And I was like, this is one of my pet peeves Yeah, this is one of the things that makes me crazy because I feel like it's so time occupying to have things In the clinic that don't work That then you have to go find something else that works Well, yeah, because then you have to go walk through the entire clinic to find something. Oh my gosh Waste time and the patient's ready and it makes me want just annoying something. Yeah There's very few things that I feel that way about but that is one of them. Yeah So then we were like, you know what let's do a podcast. Yeah, let's talk about some pet peeves some red flags within veterinary clinics Yeah, and see if people agree with us. Okay, so share if you hear this and you're like, oh Yeah, tell us your red flags Yeah, we have so many new graduates when you're applying for clinics. What do you look for? Yes, or these can be some helpful red flags to look for when applying to clinics and to avoid those clinics You know what if you if they have these exactly and you know what you can do go find their clippers and see if you can And that's a red flag if they don't turn on. Okay, that's all i'm saying. Okay Okay, you go first with your list. Okay with one thing or whatever you want to do Okay, my first one that I have on here Oh, no, I think this is from like a client aspect or perspective. Okay a bad smelling lobby. Oh, really? I know in today's world. That's still a thing. I can't believe it I just think like if you walk in I mean, I know it's a building full of animals and gross things all the time But I think that's why you should be even more diligent on cleaning or just like grossness when you first walk in the building Like I feel like we get that comment a lot from clients is how good our lobby smells I agree. And I think the other thing you will notice about our lobby is that it's not cluttered. Yes It's not like chaotic when you first walk in because I think that I'm just a big believer that your workspace should not be cluttered because I think that it creates Like whether you know it or not like disorganization anxiety Like I feel like you don't know where things are. Yeah, you know like when your space is messy your head's messy And it's just you can't work in it. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. That's a great one. Yeah for sure Yeah, turn around and go right back out If it smells like animal when you walk in it's probably not a clean place It's probably not and you don't want to work in a dirty place One of my friends was talking the other day at workout and she was like we were talking about restaurants for some reason But then she started talking about oh, she went my other friend said Oh, I ate at this one restaurant and I ordered a skinny margarita and it wasn't skinny at all And she was so upset that the service and everything or whatever and then my other friend said, oh, you know what? I look at the bathrooms to know whether or not I'm going to be able to sit in here and eat or enjoy my service or whatever And so maybe you should check out the bathrooms did that one probably wouldn't be a bad idea that's true Yeah, I think if people aren't willing to take care of their bathrooms. Yeah No matter where what service industry you're in, right? Yeah, probably not good. Nobody wants a gross bathroom. No, it's disgusting. It is really gross I mean bathrooms are already great. Like you just go in there to do gross things, but then keep them clean Oh my gosh. Okay. Let me see here my first one If you walk into a clinic and no one picks their head up and greets you My second one was no greeters opening the door. Yes, if nobody greets you it's like you're like, hello Hello Yeah, when I walk in somewhere and I don't see anybody i'm like Am I supposed to be in here? Yeah, especially if you have an appointment. I think it's even more dramatic if You're thinking they're expecting you. Yes, and you walk in and you're like, yeah, there's nobody here. Yeah, nobody expecting me um, and that feels really like boom right off the bat that experience and that transaction you're Yeah, yep Yeah, because they don't feel important and yeah, they just feel out of place. Yes Yeah, like they're or they're bothering somebody. Yes, right if somebody has to come from somewhere You feel like you've interrupted them or bothered them or whatever. So that's a good point Yeah, I like that our greeters open the door Especially if you have like a cat carrier or you have a dog pulling you It's just easier for someone to just grab the door for you and then help you get situated help you get you in a room And then go from there. Yes I think that you know, there's not enough clinics that have I I'm still amazed that people still answer the phones in the front lobby I still find that very interesting. I don't know how and that they have these big desks Yeah, like really tall desks like you're shut off to the world and it's not welcoming and so then they're like, yeah Can we help you like, you know, like Um, it's just such a barrier to um relationship building And it's so easy to answer a phone someplace else. You don't have to do it there yeah, and we've said this time and time again on this podcast that is just You are setting the receptionist up for failure. Like they have to choose who they're going to disappoint Yeah well And plus if you have like in your lobby if you have reception in there And you don't have a designated person to like greet clients and bring them in and bring their pets in Then I feel like you're also at risk for more dog fights or something because then The lobby gets jammed up and then there's dogs everywhere and then they're going crazy and then that just creates chaos and it's just too much then dogs are barking and So I like that we swiftly get them in a room Yes, and that's like literally their only job is to greet the client bring them in put them in a room Yeah, and i've said before like I think it's funny people would never realize The amount of work we do in that practice looking at the lobby. Yeah Oh 100 you know what i'm saying? It's like it's like a tornado happening in treatment in the front Yeah, like it is quiet and there's nobody up there there's no dogs running around yeah, there's nobody trying to be checked out There's nobody like, you know what? I mean? Like and then you walk back to treatment. It's Yes, exactly. Exactly. It's like oh wow. Okay. Yeah, it is busy here. You know, I think people think it's dead there It's not no, it's not we just have a really good system Okay, what have you got what's what's um a high turnover rate. Ooh Yeah, you're applying Yeah, I put in there. I was gonna write if no one's been there like tenure, right? If no one's been there for longer than three years or something. Yeah, but then I reversed it and I said If you go there and someone has been there for 30 years and they're a family member you should leave Yeah Like somebody working there. Yes is a family member of the owner. Oh, yeah Like that's probably Gonna be an issue. Yeah, I would agree and especially if it's like the aunt the Whoever yeah, typically they're just not able to fire them. Yes, you know because it's family Yeah, so it makes it really hard. Yeah so to To the opposite side of what you're saying is you need to walk into a clinic Uh, if you're interviewing or whatnot and see some longevity, yes see some staying power Yeah, not every tech that's there has been there for like six months to a year And that's it. Yes. Yeah I think that's really important. Yeah Um, okay. What else you got? um poor communication Okay, like if everybody just like if you're doing a job shadow or something and everybody just seems like they're on different pages throughout the entire day and it's just like or between departments Or even poor communication with clients and clients seem dissatisfied because they don't know what's happening with their pets Things like that just not keeping anybody in the loop, right? Because if you don't have communication, you can have a good business anywhere. It doesn't matter where you work no, and I think communication is one of the biggest things that Everybody goes back to when they say there's a problem. Oh, it's poor communication Like it's one of the talked about most talked about topic causes so many issues It really does and balls can be dropped and things can go really south really quickly Yes, I think people think they don't have time Yeah to communicate and when you don't when you don't take the time to communicate people fill in the stories themselves Yep, you know because their brains don't stop working. They're still thinking about it. And so they just fill in the blank spots And so without communication that happens and then that creates a lot of issues. Yep Across the board. Yep. That's a good one um You called a clinic and you get put on hold right away Mm-hmm. I like that one. We did a with vet practice pro we did a market analysis For one of our clients and it we called seven other clinics and around them their competitors and somebody put Kayla on hold for literally seven minutes They answered said hello and then put them on and then she said hi i'm moving to the area and then they said Can you hold and then didn't come back for seven? That's I say that to jacob all the time anytime I call any business because you can't talk to a real person anymore Like the phone trees and automatic system, whatever But i'm like, I wish everybody was like all still like i'm not trying to toot our own horn But I think it's a really awesome thing that we do Our whole time so if you put a client on hold it'll ring back after a minute And then if you don't pick it up it hangs up on the client because we don't want that client to sit there and just Wait, because we'd rather say I don't know the answer. Let me call you back. And so you're both not wasting time and so Like I just yeah for I get put on hold like when I call their clinics Or I'll call referral practices to get records or something and i'm on hold for like 15 minutes sometimes Yeah, and like that's such a waste of my time such a waste of time and it's yeah And she was like I would have hung up if I didn't need to get some data, right? Like I sat there waiting because I knew I had to ask some questions but like that is like Killer a relationship killer. Yeah, you know, it's annoying and then it just makes you mad and you're like, I don't even talk to you anymore Yes, so if you're interviewing at a place call them and ask for directions Maybe you already know where you're going but call and talk to somebody there Tell them you're moving there Does every does anybody one out of the seven people when they said when she said hey i'm moving to this location only one person said We're so excited to have you in City, yeah, you're gonna love it here Oh, that's nice. Everybody else was didn't bad and didn't say anything didn't well, you know, i'm like, oh my gosh You know, wow, that's the service and so like, you know call if you're interviewing someplace call and get directions call And and see what it feels like a good idea Because your clients that you're going to be working for at said practice Will be experiencing that it starts at reception. It starts in reception the clients like Outlook on the clinic. Yep Absolutely. They have a big job. They have a big responsibility and a big job I know absolutely. Yeah wait times on the phone is really long. Oh, yeah Um, I said another one is no designated cat treatment area Because i've seen how important it is for cats to have their own quiet space I didn't even think of that one, but you're exactly right Like having a quiet area to take a cat Because if there's a stressed cat, it's I mean the whole appointment is just long because yeah They're too stressed, you know, we ended up starting with just the cat hospitalization Like where the cats are kept separate than from the dogs, which like where the cages are and which is great I mean that's also equally as well like when they're waking up from surgery or you have a sick patient It's great because we have a whole separate area for them And then we because i'm sure people are sitting there listening going well, we don't have space, you know, um, And then we just transitioned an office. It's literally an office. Yeah, so we have two cat rooms So we have one for hospitalized patients mainly and then one for treatments for like rooms. Yeah Which yeah, and it's great because all the supplies for cats are in there You just you take your cat from and one of our cat designated exam rooms is like right there. Yes, it's literally maybe 30 feet Yeah, something like that. Yeah, so you're not walking the cats very far at all, right? You know, um, but everything's in there that you need. It's quiet. You can shut the door They can't get away from you. Yes, I mean yeah, I will say too one thing I love about our cat room because it was an office that was transitioned into a treatment area Is that because our other cat room has cage banks? Um, but there's cats get under the cages So one thing I do like about our cat treatment room is that there's nowhere for a cat to hide That is so like because if you have a really fractious cat you have to let go of them Like sometimes you just have to let go because they're just losing their mind And so in this cat room I can let a cat go and there's nowhere it can hide from me Unless they got in the ceiling, but that's only happened once and it wasn't even in that room We'll save that story for another day. Okay. Um, but yeah, I just like it. That's a great way I didn't even think of that I think that also goes back to our lobby and not keeping people in the lobby like right cats You know not having them wait there for an exam, you know, so moving them out you know, then I think the way that our flow works does work because The checkout occurs in the exam room So again owners aren't holding pets just out in free space where they can come in contact with other animals Yeah, you know we have a separate a a single door that people can go out of instead They hadn't go through the double door if another pet's coming through So there are certain things about the flow that just make it less traumatic. I feel like for the owners and the pets. Yeah Yeah, and I will say the other day I had Um a client who they it was a older couple and they couldn't drive themselves They used like public transportation And they were in um, well, they got done with their appointment. They had a kitten They think the kitten was it was older. It was probably like five six months old Um, but I kept walking to the front and I kept noticing they were there And so I asked them like does anybody know what these clients are doing? Then they told me they had to take public transportation. So they're waiting on the bus. Whatever Well, they had their kitten just sitting on the ground in the carrier And after like five minutes passed or it's like 10 minutes i'm like, okay They're still here and we just had the cat sitting on the ground And so I was like this is very stressful like there's dogs coming in and out blah blah blah So I ended up taking the cat back to our cat room And put it in a cage like in its carrier and just let it sit and actually it calmed down a lot Yeah, because every time I walked past the cat was just like up and moving in the carrier And I was like, oh my god This cat's gonna hate coming here for the rest of its life And so I put it in our cat room and that's where the cat room came in handy because then it just Hung out in there and they ended up waiting an hour For the bus. Oh my god, and the cat would have just been sitting in the lobby stressed. Yeah, and it's a baby Oh my word. Wow, so Good job. Yeah way to go Um, my last one is social media if the clinic is not doesn't have any presence on social media you know, I think that they are Doing a disservice that might be I don't know what the right word is to their clients Do what would you call it a disservice Harrison? or just like I call it a disservice because i'm thinking like you have a chance to educate you have a chance to Go back to the communication. Yes, you have a chance for people to know you You know what? I mean? So they're comfortable with you when they come in like i'm just talking about for your community Yeah, you know, um, I think that you're the majority of your pet owners are finding information that way So making sure that they have accurate information. Yeah, that's a good one Yeah, it takes some time, but it's worth it Yeah, get your name out there too And you can boost morale and have fun with it exactly and make fun videos Okay, do you have any more? Not really? No, that's I think I don't know if this is more of a pet peeve or red flag Okay still using staples to close surgical A lot of people use staples, I think staples are not good. I think staples i've seen are bad, you know I don't like staples because they are for whatever reason they seem to form A more intense tissue reaction. Yeah, like they make they make the suture site look really really angry. Yeah Um, they're very frankenstein-ish. I know why people probably use them from a speed perspective Yeah, I was gonna say yes, but then they get twisted. I know how they get twisted Yes, and then taking them out is the worst because then you like pretty much reopen it in a whole incision Yeah, it's really annoying. Yeah, it is annoying. Yeah. Yep. I'll give you that. Okay. That's a good pet peeve Yeah, all right Harrison do you have any before we close that you would like to share? No, he's not. Oh, okay That's unusual for him. Yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna look through my list and make sure Uh, okay. The last one I have is when a client comes in for a second opinion and No one and say they're here for bilateral otitis or four They're itching all four of their feet licking all four of their feet And no one and when you talk to them and you say has anyone talked to you about allergies and they say no That is one of my biggest pet peeves That's crazy. Yeah And you'd be surprised how often it happens. Wow back to again communication Okay Yeah, it's crazy. I have so many pet peeves I could talk about. Oh, yeah We won't go. I think i'll just get mad My pregnancy rage is really bad Oh, gosh, all right well if uh our topic today generated any ideas for you guys, make sure you share them because we always like to uh, get a good laugh and commiserate so make sure you Send them in you can either voice text them which we like we do voicemail them whatever or email them to us. Yeah Okay Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the veterinary roundtable Remember send in those questions and leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode or previous one We'll see you next week for another episode of the veterinary roundtable