As the clock ticks down to the end of each workday, there are a few questions you should be asking yourself. Have you accomplished
the day's tasks? Are your clients pleased with your services? How's your bottom line? If you've had problems in any of these
areas, better efficiency may be the solution. By improving a few key areas, you'll see increased revenue, a more motivated
staff, and happier clients—who wouldn't want that? So grease the wheels by improving your entire team's productivity and effectiveness.
Here's how:
Use your cogs better
Some estimates say veterinarians spend as much as 50 percent of their time doing non-DVM-related activities. That's too much
time for work that produces less practice revenue than medical tasks would bring in. Most practice owners should aim to cut
their time doing non-DVM-related activities in half. Think about how much time you spend doing the work of technicians, receptionists,
and managers. Even better, keep a log of your activities for one week, noting each task and the amount of time you spend on
it.
At the end of the week, evaluate your log, highlighting all the jobs that could or should have been done by others. Then note
who could have performed each highlighted task—like an exam room assistant or surgical technician—and see if these team members
are scheduled when they need to be. Have each team member complete the same exercise. For example, your technicians might
be doing work better handled by receptionists or veterinary assistants. Many times operational efficiency can be greatly improved
with proper delegation from the top down.
Set your clock properly
I know, I know. You'd rather express anal glands all day than work on your team's schedule. But here's the thing: If you're
willing to put in the time and effort, scheduling can be a rewarding challenge. When you have the right people scheduled at
the right time, your day will go more smoothly and your practice will profit.
Your team schedule is derived from your doctor schedule, so first write down your doctors' office hours and surgery schedules.
Next, in place of employee names, list job positions (receptionist, technician, veterinary assistant, kennel assistant, and
so on) needed to support the doctor time you've recorded. If you schedule a doctor for surgery from 8 a.m. to Noon, you'll
need a technician from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., a veterinary assistant to help the technician during the same hours, and a receptionist
from 7 a.m. to Noon.
Let's say you have another veterinarian scheduled for office hours from 9 a.m. to Noon the same day. You'll need an exam room
assistant during those hours and perhaps another receptionist. Got the idea? Once this schedule has been in place for a month
or so, you can re-evaluate it to see if you should adjust your staffing.
Practices that leverage their doctors well—meaning they schedule them for doctor stuff and nothing more, as much as possible—might
have a higher staff-to-doctor ratio and use more team members at any given time to support the veterinarians' activities.
This approach is great, as long as it results in more income. Simply placing more bodies on the schedule will not improve
efficiency or profitability. Those bodies need to be trained.
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