Equine practitioners who spend most of their time in a hospital setting have a small army of assistants, technicians, and
administrative staff members assigned to each step of the patient's visit, freeing the doctor from tasks such as taking blood
or issuing the bill.
But equine practitioners who devote most of their time to ambulatory services usually maintain an army of two: themselves
and either a licensed technician or a trained assistant who functions as the horse handler.
Are you an isolated road warrior? If so, it's time to get more help, says Dr. Mark Rick, senior associate veterinarian at
Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center Inc. in Los Olivos, Calif.
Some of your colleagues have managed it, ceding tasks that once fell under their purview to their assistants. On the mundane
side, your assistant can drive and answer the cell phone. More technical tasks include taking radiographs or performing ultrasound.
Dr. Rick acknowledges that it can be difficult to get into the habit of delegating. But, he says, there's a big payoff if
you do. "Giving away other tasks gives you time to devote to better communication and lets you see more patients—and you'll
be more sane at the end of the day," he says.
Log your jobs—and pass some on
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And if you don't delegate, you may be hurting your practice's bottom line, says Susan Werner of Werner Equine Practice Management
in North Granby, Conn. Clients will pay for quality service and medical care, Werner says, but they want to be able to talk
to the veterinarian. And spending that extra time with a client is difficult if you're also breaking down the equipment, preparing
lab samples, and putting together the bill.
Give up scheduling, driving, and billing
Dr. Andy Clark, MBA, CEO of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky., says you should aspire to do only tasks that
require a veterinary license. "As soon as you find a task that doesn't require a veterinary license, find another team member
to take that job on," he says.
Sure, that's easier said than done. So Dr. Clark recommends starting by giving up scheduling and turning your cell phone over
to your assistant. Here's how to tackle these first two steps—and then two more:
1. Let someone else schedule. Convinced they're the only ones who can allocate their time efficiently, equine practitioners often cling doggedly to doing
their own scheduling, Dr. Clark says. But it's a task often done better by someone else. He suggests designating a "scheduler."
Work with this person to develop a scheduling protocol, listing how much time you like to spend on each procedure. With this
written protocol in hand, someone else can schedule for you, he says.
2. Turn over your cell phone. "The advent of the cell phone has turned many equine practitioners into receptionists," Dr. Clark says. "They think they're
giving their number to an inner-circle of clients and friends, but soon they're slaves to a ringing phone."
His tip: Ask your assistant to answer the phone. Dr. Clark says he had a fabulous technician who took all his calls, talked
to everyone, and then gave him a list of people to call back. "I could continue working as a doctor while she handled those
incoming calls," he says.
3. Put someone else behind the wheel. Equine practitioners who haven't given up driving the vehicle are losing precious time, Werner says. She says they can take
advantage of the drive time to enter patient histories into the laptop, return client calls, or catch up on reading journals.
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