The Vet Vault: Veterinary Career, Clinical Skills & Wellbeing

By Dr. Hubert HiemstraScience

The Vet Vault: Veterinary Career, Clinical Skills & Wellbeing episodes

April 14, 2020 #26: Teaching to learn, with Dr. Dan Phillips.
Dr. Dan Phillips earned his veterinary degree from North Carolina State University in 2011 and then completed an internship focused on small animal emergency and internal medicine at Tufts Cummings College of Veterinary Medicine.
Since then he’s been working as a small animal practitioner near Chicago, and for the last 4 years has served as the primary extern and preceptor director for his group of practices. I had to look up what a preceptor is, and google summarises it as someone who teaches, supports, counsels, coaches, evaluates, serves as role model and aids in the socialization to a new role, which is a pretty good description of Dan’s passion. In fact, he feels so strongly about the importance of mentoring that he partnered with Drs. Dan Markwalder and Adam Conroy from Markroy consulting and the 7S society to create a new venture called Vet Mentor Solutions. With VMS they aim to mentor confident, effective and productive veterinarians through a comprehensive video library of practical small animal techniques and client communication skills.

In this episode Dan demonstrates why he’s qualified to help guide the next generation of vets into the profession: we cover topics like how to effectively give feedback, how to avoid worrying about being judged when you put your opinions out there, teaching to learn, and why goal setting is one of the most important skills you need to develop. We put Dan’s mentoring skills to the test when we ask him how to ask for a pay increase, and Dan gives one of the best summaries we’ve ever heard of how to select the practice you want to work in, and how to interview for culture. His explanation, like all of the content in this episode, won’t just resonate with young vets, but also serves as a useful reminder for practice owners and managers about what to keep in mind when creating positions for less experienced vets.
1 hr 17 min
April 04, 2020 Staying in the black during the pandemic, with Paolo Lencioni.
We talk COVID government bail-outs, financial strategies and HR do’s and don’ts in another business and leadership episode, with Paolo Lencioni - vet turned accountant and veterinary financial management guru. Paolo’s company - APL accountants, helps veterinarians manage every aspect of their business through through careful financial monitoring and tailor-made advice, so he has his finger on the pulse of veterinary business and has a wealth of knowledge to share. He gives us his insights into how to plan and react to save your practice during these tricky times.
Some of the information relating to government financial support is specific to Australia, but a lot of the thinking and strategies discussed in this episode are universal, so there’s definitely still value here for our non-Australian listeners.
If you need some guidance for you business get in touch with APL accountants at https://aplaccountants.com.au.
46 min
March 31, 2020 Covid 19 and your business: Business and Leadership Series with Dr. Shibly Mustapha, episode 1
Welcome to the Vet Vault business and leadership series with veterinary practice owner and business coach Dr Shibly Mustapha. In this series we’ll explore ways to make veterinary practice sustainable and profitable.
Shibly is an owner of a multi-practice group in Australia. He is actively growing his business, and shares with us the same up-to-date lessons and a no-excuses approach that inspires his own coaching clients.
In our first episode of this new series we start with the elephant in the room: Covid-19 is disrupting businesses everywhere, including veterinary practices. But is it as bad as it seems? Will it affect your business? How do we respond to it, and are there potentially things to be gained from all of this? To check out the show notes click on the webpage link on the episode page wherever you listen to us, or visit the podcast website at https://thevetvault.com/.
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer you can leave us a voice message by going to our episode page on the anchor app (https://anchor.fm) and hitting the record button, via email at [email protected], or just catch up with us on instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/thevetvault/) We’d love to hear from you!
If you like what you heard, then please help us to spread the word by subscribing to the podcast (it’s free!), and by telling your friends about us.
46 min
March 17, 2020 #25: Facing your inner critic, with Dr. Katie Ford
One message that we hear time and time again from our guests here at the VetVault is that success, or happiness, or fulfilment or performance or whatever you want to call it, starts in your head. In this episode we explore what’s happening inside that head of yours, and how we can influence it for the better.
Veterinarian, public speaker and coach Dr Katie Ford graduated from the University of Liverpool in the UK in 2012 and gained her certificate in medicine in 2016.
Externally she was very successful: she had a great career, she was a successful clinician who was loved by clients, she was one of the youngest vets ever to pass the certificate synoptic exam. The future looked bright, but internally things were a bit more complicated. She was at the mercy of her perfectionist imposter brain. That voice inside her head, the one that keeps you at work hours and hours after your shift ended while you double and triple check everything, was telling her that she was a fraud, and that she would never be good enough.
With the power of mindset, consciousness and an understanding of the internal workings of her brain, Katie turned her life around. She has trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Broadband Consciousness and also completed programmes under the father of personal development himself, Bob Proctor of the Proctor-Gallagher Institute.
Katie is passionate about positivity in practice, awesome workplace culture and career fulfilment. She currently practices as a locum veterinary surgeon across the North West, finding joy in meeting and influencing her colleagues in practice and though official coaching for vets and nurses on a 1:1 and group basis.
Join us as we talk to Katie about imposter syndrome - what it is and how to identify and deal with it, about ways to train your mind and trick your body through visualisation, why we should be happy to sometimes be a failure, how to celebrate your wins without depending on them for your self-worth, and much more.
For the show notes or to check out our guests’ favourite books, podcasts and everything else we talk about in the show, click on the webpage link on the episode page wherever you listen to us, or visit the podcast website at https://thevetvault.com/.
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer with the help of our guests you can leave us a voice message by going to our episode page on the anchor app (https://anchor.fm) and hitting the record button, via email at [email protected], or just catch up with us on Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/thevetvault/) We’d love to hear from you!
If you like what you heard, then please help us to spread the word by subscribing to the podcast (it’s free!), and by telling your friends about us.
1 hr 17 min
March 06, 2020 What is balance? Vet Vault Quickie with Nigel Marsh
We strive for that elusive 'work-life balance', but are you sure what exactly you're chasing? Nigel Marsh points us in the right direction in this week's quickie.
7 min
February 28, 2020 #24: Mindset and Connection, with Dr. Charlie El-Hage
The first time you meet Dr. Charles El-Hage, you’ll think to yourself: “who the heck was that guy?! There’s something about him that makes me want to speak to him a some more.” And then, when you ask someone about him you’ll see their face light up with a smile, and they’ll say, “oh that’s Charlie, he’s great. Let me go introduce you.” So, let’s introduce you...
When he’s being Dr. Charles El-Hage he is a Lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Medicine and Surgery at the University of Melbourne. After decades in large animal practice he returned to the Equine Centre where he worked as a clinician for three years, and then later as a lecturer whilst completing his PhD.
He has a range of equine interests including virology, immunology, toxicology, endocrinology, parasitology and theriogenology. He is currently researching infectious conditions of horses and immunological responses. In 2016 he completed a PhD, and he has published original research and reviews on multiple equine diseases.
When he’s being Charlie he’s an inspiration to scores of students, a front-line charity worker and champion for animals in developing countries around the globe, more recently in Indonesia, he’s a traveller, adventurer, father, competitive long distance runner and friend to many.
Travel with us through Charlie’s career as we talk about bad bosses, great clients, creating connections, his charity work, his thoughts on finding the best place to give your gifts to the world, mindset, and much much more.
1 hr 8 min
February 20, 2020 The Paradox of being exceptional: Vet Vault Quickie with Dr. Oliver Liyou.
Today we're digging deep into the Vault to bring you this slightly alternative view from Dr Oliver Liou. We can get very focused on being high achievers and all round awesomeness, but is that always good for us? In this Vet Vault quickie Oliver talks about the flip side of being exceptional, and how to deal with the fallout of becoming 'too good' at your job.
10 min
February 13, 2020 #23: Vets for Climate Action, with Ben Cox.
In this episode we tackle a subject that is not necessarily directly veterinary related, or is at least not limited to our profession, but still a critical topic to discuss because of the impact that it will have on all of us, and more importantly, because of the impact that veterinarians can have on it: climate change.
If you’ve ever looked around your workplace and thought to yourself: “ This can’t be good for the environment. I really should do something about it.”, or if you are concerned about climate change, but you’re not sure where to start, then this episode is for you.
We speak to Ben Cox, a founder and a driving force behind an exciting new charity called Veterinarians for Climate Action. Ben comes from a sustainability, engineering and business background and is passionate about climate change because of the impact it will have on future generations and the natural environment. He helped to create Veterinarians for Climate Action as his tool for taking action and inspiring others to do so.
VfCA’s mission statement is to inspire the veterinary profession to advocate for and achieve climate action within and beyond our industry. This will benefit both our profession and the animals we care for, ensuring a sustainable future for all.
In this episode Ben explains to us why we as vets are important in this arena, and how we can be particularly valuable and have a big impact in the push for action on climate change. We talk about what they are doing through the charity; what we can do, including how to have conversations about climate change; what influences the public’s opinion on the matter and how we can change it, and what we can do on a practical level in our own workplaces.
Ben is practical, pragmatic and hopeful, and definitely someone who you can put your support behind.
Please enjoy, Ben Cox, and get ready to make a change.
Check out Ben and his team here (https://www.vfca.org.au/home), and follow them on Facebook.
For the episode show notes or to explore our guests’ favourite books, podcasts and everything else we talk about in the show, click on the webpage link on the episode page wherever you listen to us, or visit the podcast website at https://thevetvault.com/
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer with the help of our guests you can leave us a voice message by going to our episode page on the anchor app (https://anchor.fm) and hitting the record button, via email at [email protected], or just catch up with us on Instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/thevetvault/) We love to hearing from you!
If you like what you heard, then please help us to spread the word by subscribing to the podcast (it’s free!), and by telling your friends about us.
1 hr 8 min
February 09, 2020 Be the change you want to see: A Vet Vault Quickie with Dr. Louisa Graham.
We revisit our very first guest with a story from Louisa about the early days in her career that demonstrates a vital career lesson.
3 min
February 01, 2020 #22: Be a mentor, be a boss, with Dr. Dan Markwalder
We were introduced to Dr. Dan Markwalder when we interviewed to Dr. Cody Creelman, who kept referring to him as one of the best mentors out there. Seeing as we’re all about mentoring here we knew that we had to have him on the show, and Dr. Dan certainly has the experience to make him an absolute mentoring guru:
He founded his first hospital at age 28, and has grown that business into an eighteen practice success story with the help of good partnerships and through fantastic mentoring relationships. He still practices in the clinics that he owns, and he is still passionate about mentoring veterinarians of all ages in all aspects of their careers. Dan speaks throughout the United States to veterinarians and practice managers on the importance of developing a culture of mentoring at a practice level, and frequently lectures to both SCVMA and VBMA chapters at numerous veterinary colleges throughout the United States.
He also the Mark in Markroy Consulting - a consulting service that offers coaching and workshops on aspects of practice management like leaderships skills, bridging generational gaps the practice, and team culture. Dan’s most recent venture, Vet Mentor Solutions, aims to share the mentoring model that has been so instrumental in assisting many new graduate veterinarians to achieve their individual goals, as well as help them in raising their personal production, with the greater global veterinary community though an on-line mentoring platform (vetmentorsolutions.com)
Dan’s insights in this interview on what mentoring actually means, and how we can, and should, apply it in our own workplaces has given me a lot to think about in my own workplace. And if you’ve ever wondered about whether you should consider practice ownership you really need to hear what Dan has to say on the topic. He discusses topics like choosing your business partner, setting the culture of your practice, what it looks like to be a good practice owner, and much much more.

To see the show notes or to check out our guests’ favourite books, podcasts and everything else we talk about in the show, click on the webpage link on the episode page wherever you listen to us, or visit the podcast website at https://thevetvault.com/.
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer with the help of our guests you can leave us a voice message by going to our episode page on the anchor app (https://anchor.fm) and hitting the record button, via email at [email protected], or just catch up with us on instagram. (https://www.instagram.com/thevetvault/) We’d love to hear from you!
And if you like what you hear, then please help us to spread the word by subscribing to the podcast (it’s free!), and by telling your friends about us.
1 hr 14 min

About The Vet Vault: Veterinary Career, Clinical Skills & Wellbeing

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The Vet Vault is a veterinary podcast for vets and vet students covering career growth, clinical medicine, leadership, and mental health and wellbeing across the veterinary profession. Vet life can…