Why invest in communication (Part 1)

In the US, there are 3 times more suicides in the veterinary profession than in the average population and the ratio is even worse for women. That is why it is so important to look at how certain communication techniques can prevent this phenomenon. Let’s begin this chapter with a clinical case involving Maria.

Introduction: Maria’s story

Maria just got out of a feline medicine course with other colleagues from other clinics. They’d decided to have a soft drink before going back to their respective clinics. And like always, they spoke about medicine, surgery, difficult clients, complaints, objections and how thankless it can be to run a clinic.

That’s when the clinic’s emergency mobile phone rang. It was a very angry client whose cat had been seen by a colleague on Saturday morning. The cat had gotten worse and had to go to an emergency hospital early Sunday morning. Without knowing exactly what was happening, Maria’s colleagues watched her in astonishment. They saw her listen with full attention to what the client was saying, ask for permission to take notes to make sure she understood well and didn’t miss any details, ask questions to clarify what she did understand, summarize everything she had understood, and ask if she had really understood the reason for the complaint.

Finally, they saw her make an appointment to see the client the next day, and they thanked each other for the conversation.

• “Maria, what happened?” her friends asked her.

• “Nothing, it was an angry client, but it’s all worked out now”.

• “Maria, we meant what happened to you? We’ve never seen you so calm and secure with a client complaint. You were beaming with confidence and you even seem happy after the call. Tell us how you did it, that’s what we want to do too”. [...]