3 reasons why every practice should run medical nurse clinics
Do you want to run nurse clinics for your medical patients, but your practice sees it as ‘the vet’s job’?
You’re not alone - this is something I hear all the time.
The truth is, there is no reason why veterinary nurses can’t run these clinics, and in fact, by doing so, we can really help our practice and our vet team, whilst finding more job satisfaction.
But convincing your practice that setting them up is worth it can be a challenge - especially if your vets don’t realise just how much we can help these patients.
In this post, I’m going to share 3 reasons you can take back to your practice and use to convince them that setting these clinics up is not just a worthwhile investment - but that it’s vital to support their clients and patients!
And don’t forget - if you want the tools to build your confidence and help your clinic set up these clinics, join me in May for 3 days of free live training and daily action steps to make this happen!
#1: It’s an additional service for their clients
Let’s talk business (just for a second, I promise!). In order to keep their clients happy, veterinary practices need to be able to offer them a comprehensive range of services.
Our clients want to feel supported - not just by the vet team, but by the entire practice team. They want to know they have a whole team of cheerleaders working to provide the best care for them and their pet - not just when their pet is admitted, but at every visit to the practice.
By offering a wider range of nurse clinics, we increase the support we provide our clients. Why is it normal to offer things like puppy and kitten clinics, weight clinics, dental clinics, etc - but not diabetic, renal or cancer clinics for example?
Why do our ‘healthier’ patients benefit from veterinary nurse support, yet our patients with chronic diseases, who arguably need our support even more, do not always get the same benefits?
That’s not to say they don’t get any support, of course, because we care for them in the hospital, and our vets see them regularly. But we can enhance the care we provide even more by adding in nurse consults for our medical patients.
And if they don’t feel it’s worth it financially - these clinics should absolutely be charged! We provide a vital service to these patients and our clients should definitely expect to pay for our time, care, knowledge and experience.
#2: They work their vets smarter, not harder
We all know that the veterinary profession is in a difficult place, with vets, nurses and support staff members all feeling the struggles that coronavirus, lockdowns, and the puppy and kitten boom has brought - and let’s face it, we were struggling to begin with before all of that happened!
By shifting some of the consults away from the vets to the nursing team, we’re able to free up consulting space for patients and tasks only the vets can perform.
As well as making us feel valued and trusted as veterinary nurses, this also allows our vets to work smarter, using their time more efficiently and seeing cases only they can, safe in the knowledge that their amazing team of dedicated nurses will assess their patients, collect their samples, and come and speak to them with any concerns.
#3: They build a stronger, more passionate nurse team
We know that veterinary nurses are the backbone of any practice. If you’re ever feeling unappreciated in your role, your practice only needs to imagine a practice without nurses to realise just how much we do!
Nurturing the nurse team should therefore be something practices really prioritise - it drops staff turnover and helps them provide the best possible care to their patients and clients.
By encouraging nurses to use more of our skills, we’re more satisfied in our roles, we feel trusted to do more, and we embrace niche interests.
Embracing a niche is so important, as it really allows you to get the most from your career, hone in on what you love, and the whole team benefit - as nurses will all have different interests, we can then share those passions and the things we’ve learned with each other, elevating the knowledge and skill of the whole nursing team.
Where do I go from here?
So if you’ve got a passion for medical patients, or for consulting - cultivate it! Do CPD in that area, speak to your vets and your practice managers about what you can offer your clients, and put that passion to use planning and championing medical clinics in your practice!
Here are my suggested next steps for approaching your practice and setting up medical nurse clinics:
Get clear on your clinics
First, get clear on what you want. Which clinics aren’t you offering currently that you’d like to? How do you feel this would help your clients?
Then identify what blocks there may be to setting these up. By figuring out what might get in the way of starting these clinics, you can then draw up a list of solutions to any of these potential problems.
Get everyone on board
Speak to your vet team. Share with them what you want to offer and why - and work with them to create a list of diseases that everyone would be happy for nurses to see. This may include coming up with a list of questions the vets want you to ask, or things they want you to look at when examining the patient. By working together, you can create a structure (or even things like SOPs) for how each clinic type will be carried out - making sure your vets are happy and they have no reason not to delegate these to nurses.
Remind them regularly
We all know that there is a lot to think about when working day-to-day in practice. That mental ‘to-do’ list running in the background is very long (especially for nurses!) and it can be all too easy for something to fall off of it.
One simple reason why vets may not refer patients to us for clinics is that they simply forget because their mental to-do list is so long - so remind them! Pop notes on the computer, and give a list of clinics to reception so they can book them in, too.
You can even create a reminder system so that your practice management system automatically sends clinic invitations to patients with certain conditions - taking the responsibility off of your team entirely!
So as you can see, offering medical nurse clinics has so many benefits to our practices, they really should be something we offer to our patients - and there’s no reason nurses can’t do these with the right training, and support from their practice.
If you want to learn more about how to set up and run these clinics in your practice, join me in May for 3 days of free live training on how to Consult with Confidence, plus support in a private facebook group and daily action steps! To save your spot, simply pop your email address below and all the information will be sent straight to your inbox!
