Reset

Reset

Sometimes when I can’t figure out a difficult diagnosis, I stop and reset.  I take a moment, call the client, and go over the history again.  It doesn’t always work but occasionally when I go back to the beginning and ask again, I find a point I missed.  It might be a description of a clinical sign, an exposure they forgot to mention, or a place they traveled. Because I decide to reset and ask again, I am able to find the diagnosis.

Today is the day I hit reset for The Veterinary Idealist. My last blog was in September.  Despite my resolution last January, I am not close to the 100^th blog.  While I spend a lot of time thinking about our industry, distractions from the last year have made it hard to sit down and write the blog.

Reflections on 2021

The last year has been busy for all of us.  Veterinary hospitals, especially those doing emergency work, have seen record number of cases with curbside service, long waits, and understaffed hospitals. Clients are scared and frustrated when they can’t get care.  Staff are tired and frustrated that they physically can’t help more pets.

Even in little Pullman, Washington, we had many days of a full ICU and more cases than we had seen in previous years. COVID also reached our team, which at times, further limited what we could treat.

Life was chaotic in other ways as well and felt like an emotional roller coaster.  I don’t cry often but I was teary watching my teen son finally get vaccinated in the spring – it felt like the pandemic was finally over for our family.

But it wasn’t.

We had a single week at work without masks and then we were back to the KN95s.  My daughter finally got to head back to winter quarter at college yesterday, several weeks late.  My son had days in January where school was cancelled due to staff illnesses.  Like everyone, I just want it to even out.

Being distracted

It is easy in the midst of trying to see cases, finish projects, and keep your sanity in a pandemic to lose sight of why you do it. Like everyone, I spent part of this year languishing.   In the break times, it is too easy to doom scroll on your social media feeds, adding to anxiety and distraction from what really matters.   It is easier to feel discouraged than to pause, listen carefully, look for bright spots, and work collaboratively for solutions.

Hitting Reset

I started this blog in 2018 because I love veterinary medicine and felt our industry was on the wrong track.  Sadly, in many ways, this is still true.  The hospital I co-founded no longer exists despite record demand for veterinary care in Seattle. The vast majority of veterinary emergency and specialty hospitals are owned by three wealthy families and a handful of private equity firms.  Burnout is at record levels.  Ongoing issues around consolidation, non-veterinary control of veterinary practices, and the important gender implications of these changes still need more discussion.

Despite concerning trends, there are bright spots and those stories need highlighting as well.  I am excited and proud of my friends, Dr. Beth Guerra and Dr. Laurie Wieringa, who just opened Arrow Animal Urgent Care, in Renton, Washington.  I am thrilled that a veterinary specialty hospital implemented an ESOP.  I am intrigued by the vet local marketing campaign.

Thus, as I hit reset, I want to go back to my stated why for the blog. I entered veterinary medicine as an idealist.  If our profession is to be truly successful, sustainable, and fulfilling, we need to refocus on those things that in the past have made veterinarians one of the most admired professions – local ownership, community involvement and a firm commitment to our staff, patients, and families.

I hope you will join me for these discussions in 2022.

P.S. Other writings

While I only managed 6 blogs last year, I did write elsewhere.  I am incredibly proud of the 3 part Transfusion Reaction small Animal Consensus Statement (TRACS) (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) that I helped put together with a group of international transfusion and hematology experts.  My hope is that these recommendations will help make transfusions safer for pets.  You can find my transfusion and coagulopathy chapters in Byers and Giunti’s Feline Emergency and Critical Care. I continue to write about patient quality and safety and how to discuss these concepts in veterinary medicine. In Clinician’s Brief, I discussed how evidence-based guidelines can help us to avoid using antibiotics inappropriately. I hope you find something in these publications that helps you in practice.