On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, talks with Michael Shirley, chief empowerment officer at Family Pet Health, about making team meetings less of a burden, and more efficient. Throughout the episode, Shirley shares advice from his own experiences. 

According to Shirley, there are 4 things that every effective meeting has:

So, we had this thing called a happy jar in our hospital, and it [was] just little sticky notes... If Jan was staying late to mop the floor, or whatever, we [would] throw that in the jar, or whatever, [maybe saying] that this 1 guy stayed extra to help the doctor out with a pyometra. And then we would read those. What are your thoughts on that? And kind of peppering that into just kind of your general meeting. Listen, I know there could be different circumstances, but what are your thoughts on that? 

So, every meeting that we have at Family Pet Health starts with that. We call it our segue, and it's a way that we go around the room... Every single morning at our office starts with morning rounds, and we do a segue. There we go around and do 2 words. For someone like you and me, it's hard to do because we want to give more details, but it's 2 words [to describe how you're feeling].

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Michael Shirley, chief empowerment officer at Family Pet Health, shares tips on hosting effective and engaging team meetings.

How to host an effective team meeting

According to statistics published by the American Veterinary Medical Association, as of December 31, 2023, out of 82,704 veterinarians in clinical practice, 4.1% of veterinarians in the United States are equine practitioners.

 In North Carolina, the need for equine veterinarians is rising, but there is a struggle to keep and recruit professionals to go into their area of veterinary medicine.

To help fill the needs for equine veterinarians, North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine (NC State) plans to launch the Equine Scholars Program this fall to recruit pre-veterinary undergraduate students who have shown an interest in horse health to join the college's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program.

 The students will be invited from universities that partner with the school to help strengthen the pipeline for future equine veterinarians in North Carolina.

The program was modeled after the Food Animal Scholars initiative and will pair undergraduate students who are accepted into the program with veterinary mentors at NC State and private practice.

 The students will then gain hands-on shadowing and mentorship opportunities. Those chosen for the program that meet the admission criteria for the veterinary program at NC State will be given a spot in the DVM program once they graduate with their bachelor’s degree.

“As a land-grant institution offering North Carolina’s only veterinary college, one of NC State’s missions is to deliver excellent veterinarians who can take care of the animals owned by the people of North Carolina,” said Callie Fogle, DVM, DACVS (Large Animal), a clinical professor of equine surgery, and cofounder of the Equine Scholars Program.

 “The same applies for horses and their owners.”

Through the program, students will gain an in-depth understanding of how to be an equine veterinarian to help them see it as a sustainable and lifelong career. Applications will open on November 1, 2024, for students that are at least a junior and have one summer remaining before graduating.

The program will accept students from 4 partner universities with agricultural or equestrian focus, NC State, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the University of Mount Olive and St. Andrews University, who could achieve 1 of the 6 slots in the first cohort. Students outside of these universities are encouraged to share their interest to inform future program expansion. However, they will not be considered for admission at this time. 

“We’re providing them with a solid network of veterinarians they can rely on so they feel like they’re part of the larger community of equine veterinarians in the state,” Fogle concluded.

US veterinary numbers. American Veterinary Medical Association. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/reports-statistics/market-research-statistics-us-veterinarians

Rice K. NC State’s New Equine Scholars Program Helps Put Undergrads in the Saddle of a Veterinary Career. Veterinary Medicine News. Published October 15, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://news.cvm.ncsu.edu/equine-scholars-program/

Articles

The program will invite qualified undergraduate students with an interest in horse health to join the college's DVM program from statewide university partners 

North Carolina State launches Equine Scholars Program

What are the best ways to diagnose respiratory infections in birds?

Methods for diagnosing avian respiratory diseases

Diagnosing respiratory infections in birds can be challenging, especially when using traditional imaging methods like radiographs or X-rays, as seeing these animals’ air sacs and sinuses is difficult. In an interview with 

 on her lecture at the Southwest Veterinary Symposium in Fort Worth, Texas, Lauren Thielen, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice), shared how she diagnoses respiratory infections in birds, pointing to computed tomography (CT) scans.

Lauren Thielen, DVM, DABVP (Avian Practice): 

So, my primary way to diagnose respiratory infections in birds is imaging. And so, you know, you can use radiographs or X-rays to, you know, look at the lungs. It's really hard though to see the air sacs, and it's impossible to see the sinuses with these X-rays, so…unfortunately, even the lungs, sometimes disease has to be quite advanced to be able to really see what's going on.

CT [is] just a different imaging modality. And really what it's helping with is not only can you see these really thin air sacks, and you can see them thickened or [with] like plaques on them, but you can really look in the trachea, look inside the sinuses, see the mucus there, and you can pick up very subtle changes to the lungs that you would otherwise miss.

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With the rise in pet ownership comes a growth in veterinary clinic and hospital openings. Establishing new veterinary practices helps make pet care services more accessible to owners. Moreover, these facilities are often equipped with advanced technology and staffed by experienced veterinarians, helping to improve the standard of pet care.

Below are 3 clinics or labs opening across the United States:

CityVet, Westminster, Colorado interior. (Photo courtesy of CityVet)

Marking its fourth location in the Greater Denver Area is a new CityVet clinic located at 10355 N Federal Blvd Suite E, Westminster, Colorado. The newly established clinic will cater to the community's needs by offering urgent care services, preventive and holistic treatments, diagnostics, same-day walk-ins, surgical procedures, grooming, and dental care.

 The practice will be led by Blake Hardin, DVM, MBA, who holds a passion for preventative and holistic medicine.

I’m thrilled to partner with CityVet as they provide unmatched support and demonstrate a profound compassion for both animals and their owners. Their focus on high-quality medicine aligns perfectly with my values, and I’m eager to share this commitment with the Westminster community,” said Hardin in a news release.

“We are excited to open our newest clinic in Westminster. Dr Blake Hardin’s diverse background and expertise in urgent care, preventive, and holistic medicine will be incredibly valuable to CityVet and the local community. We are confident that his dedication and comprehensive approach will significantly enhance the well-being of pets and their families in Westminster,” added David Boguslawski, president and CEO of CityVet, in the release.

VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists 3D Printing Lab (Clackamas, Oregon)

VCA Animal Hospitals announced the opening of a 3D printing lab for pet orthopedic surgeries at VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists in Clackamas, Oregon. The lab uses advanced 3D printing technology to create precise, custom-fit implants and surgical guides based on each patient’s anatomy.

"We are using cutting-edge technologies that have proven effectiveness in human and veterinary medicine to enhance our surgical practice. With 3D printing, we can prepare more thoroughly for surgeries, increase our surgical precision, and improve outcomes while minimizing unnecessary risks," Jose Carvajal, DVM, MS, DACVS-SA, ACVS (Fellow, Joint Replacement Surgery), VCA Northwest Veterinary Specialists, said in a news release.

 "This enables us to stay on the leading edge in our field, while creating the new standard of care for our pets and their owners."

With the 3D printing technology, the clinic will be able to design personalized treatment plans. Moreover, the new technology will improve surgical precision and shorten recovery times, according to the organization.

PetMedic Urgent Care (Mount Pleasant, South Carolina)

Interior sign of PetMedic Urgent Care in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. (Photo courtesy of PetMedic Urgent Care)

PetMedic Urgent Care recently opened the doors to a new hospital at 695 Johnnie Dodds Blvd, Suite 100 Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. PetMedic will offer treatment for a variety of conditions, including minor injuries, infections, gastrointestinal issues, and more.

“We’re thrilled to bring PetMedic to Mount Pleasant and serve the local pet community,” Na’im Walker, practice manager at PetMedic Mount Pleasant, said in a company release.

 “Our mission is to deliver accessible, high-quality veterinary urgent care services that give peace of mind to pet parents, ensuring their pets receive the care they need, when they need it.”

The new location and other PetMedic practices have experienced veterinary professionals on staff and are equipped with advanced technology, according to PetMedic. They offer extended hours, including evenings and weekends. Moreover, appointments can be made online, and walk-ins are also accepted.

CityVet, a leading network of veterinarian-owned practices, continues expansion in Denver with a new clinic opening in Westminster, CO on Monday, September 30th. News release. September 23, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. [email]

VCA Animal Hospitals launches 3D Printing Lab for pet orthopedic surgeries. News release. VCA Animal Hospitals. October 2, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vca-animal-hospitals-launches-3d-printing-lab-for-pet-orthopedic-surgeries-302265795.html

PetMedic announces opening of new urgent care location in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. News release. PetMedic Urgent Care. September 5, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://petmedicurgentcare.com/blog/petmedic-announces-opening-of-new-urgent-care-location-in-mount-pleasant-south-carolina/

Take a look at these 3 veterinary centers newly opened or coming soon

Clinic center: Recently established veterinary clinics and labs 

Weave, a practice management software supplier, has launched a fully redesigned experience aimed at helping veterinary businesses communicate, operate, and grow. The new Weave platform offers a modern, intuitive interface and integrates artificial intelligence (AI) tools, enhanced communication and scheduling tools, and billing and payment options directly into workflows, according to the company.

The platform is redesigned for simplicity and efficiency, while improving practice operations by consolidating tasks into a more unified, easier-to-use system. The revised service is available to Weave customers at no additional cost, and is access via mobile app, desktop app and web browsers.

“We have reimagined the Weave platform based on extensive feedback, bringing a more powerful and flexible experience to our customers,” Branden Neish, chief product and technology officer at Weave, said in a news release.

 “Every feature has been carefully crafted to enhance daily operations, elevate patient interactions, accelerate billing and payments cycles, and simplify practice management. Thousands of locations have already migrated to the new Weave and are experiencing the benefits of streamlined processes and more impactful patient interactions.”

The new Weave platform includes an AI-powered assistant that aims to help customers deliver personalized responses to reviews, write professional branded emails, and automate tasks such as message tagging and voicemail transcriptions. Veterinary practices can also extract actionable insights from call data through automated call categorization and revenue opportunity identification. According to Weave, this AI-powered product provides a comprehensive understanding of patient and client interactions, empowering practice owners and office managers to make data-driven decisions that can drive practice growth.

Additionally, Weave recently updated the platform’s interface with enhancements designed with the needs of veterinary professionals in mind. The updates aim to streamline daily operations and improve the overall platform experience for veterinary teams and their clients.

“We listened to our veterinary customers and designed these enhancements to make Weave even more valuable to providers and their staff,” Neish said, in a news release.

 “These updates help clinics operate more efficiently and provide a better experience for clients by putting pet-specific information front and center in the platform,”

The veterinary-friendly updates include visibility of pet names, which are now prominently displayed in the calendar/schedule view, search results, dashboard appointment widget, client portal and report generation tools, according to Weave. The platform now also features pet vaccination record sharing with automated messaging options and customizable templates.

Other features of the new Weave platform are a window with flexible sizing and a customizable dashboard that allows a practice’s most essential elements at the forefront; and enhanced calendar management and appointment tracking with a feature that allows staff to compose and schedule text messages to send to clients at the user's preferred time. Platform users can use these new features simultaneously to allow practice staff to multitask with pop-out texting and team chatting.

Weave launches new AI-powered platform to transform healthcare practice management. News release. Weave. October 22, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://investors.getweave.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/196/weave-launches-new-ai-powered-platform-to-transform

Weave unveils enhancements designed specifically for veterinary practices. News release. Weave. October 14, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2024. 

https://www.getweave.com/weave-unveils-enhancements-designed-specifically-for-veterinary-practices/

Weave software enhancements include veterinary-specific elements drawn from customer feedback

Practice management platform is upgraded with AI infusion and more

In her lecture “Furever Young: Optimizing Nutrition For Aging Dogs and Cats,” presented at the Fetch dvm360 Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from October 14-16, 2024, Danielle Conway, DVM, CVA, VSMT, CCRP, addressed the need for effective nutritional support in aging pets. She highlighted the importance tailoring nutritional recommendations to address the unique needs of older pets, including considerations for their physical and metabolic health

“Unfortunately, our patients are just never seeing the nutrition support that they need,” said Conway during her lecture.

She began by explaining normal aging changes in older pets that influence nutrition, which include degenerative and metabolic changes. Conway explained that ongoing conditions relating to microbiome shifts, sarcopenia, and age-related diseases should be factored in when deciding what nutritional recommendations should be given to clients.

In her session, Conway explained that all older patients are chronologically old, meaning that number-wise, they have a higher age. However, chronologically old patients can also fall within 3 categories of geriatric:

Physically young: Chronologically old patients that are eating an adult diet well, their lab work appears to be excellent, etc.

Metabolically efficient: Chronologically old patients that are overweight/easy keepers that may not need to be fed at their resting energy requirement (RER) or be receiving life stage factor.

Metabolically inefficient: The true geriatric patient that is conventionally taught in veterinary school and has an identifiable physical or metabolic disease.

Making diet recommendations to owners of older pets can be challenging due to the rise in 

 incomplete diet histories, and lack of food brands.

A good nutrition plan, according to Conway, factors in the owner’s needs and wants. It is important to constantly reassess patients’ diet and have conversations with clients about their pet’s diets, explained Conway.

Conway recommends telling clients to take a picture of their pet’s bag of food prior to their appointment. She explained that adding the request in the text reminders for clients’ appointments can help avoid confusion over what foods clients are feeding their pets.

“Some of the practices I work with, I build them a questionnaire based on…[the] information that they need, that they would want, to make quick recommendations. [I] build it into a form that the clients fill in, either ahead of time and bring it into their appointment, or that they can fill out at their meetings, so that [veterinarians] have all the information that [they] need to make a specific recommendation, or to even be able to assess the current diet that [the patient is] on,” expressed Conway.

For veterinarians recommending senior diets for aging pets, Conway emphasized the importance of asking the pet food company or having the client ask the company what that company’s definition of ‘senior’ is, as the term can be ambiguous and have no set definition. “Sometimes [‘senior' means] higher protein, sometimes it's lower protein, sometimes it's higher protein phosphorus, sometimes it's high protein and high phosphorus, and sometimes it's high fat, sometimes it's low fat, sometimes it's fiber, sometimes it's no fiber,” explained Conway.

Challenges in nutrition for healthy geriatric patients

Factors to consider when creating a nutrition plan for older patients include these animals’ changes in degenerative and metabolic functions, which can lead to increased or decreased energy requirements in dog and cats—in felines, the energy requirements generally increase, whereas in dogs they tend to decrease. Moreover, digestibility is reduced in senior patients, as well as their microbiome diversity.

It is important to also maintain lean body mass in geriatric patients. “Some seniors get more hungry and they tend to gain weight due to a lot of factors and others don't want to eat, and we should be using more calorically dense diet to help them maintain their body weight,” said Conway. “So, we want to look for a really high caloric diet that is… palatable to help keep these seniors maintaining a good, healthy body and muscle condition score.”

Towards the end of her session, Conway explained that food toppers are a great way to increase palatability in geriatric patients that are struggling to maintain their weight. Products like honey, bonito flakes for cats, FortiFlora probiotic powder, and bone and vegetable broth can be added to patients’ meals. However, Conway emphasized that these toppers should account for less than 10% of the patient’s RER if they are not complete and balanced.

Conway D. Furever Young: Optimizing Nutrition For Aging Dogs and Cats. Presented at: Fetch Coastal; October 14-16, 2024; Atlantic City, NJ.

Bautista-Alejandre A. Navigating pet nutrition and talking diets with clients. 

. October 14, 2024. Accessed October 22, 2024. 

https://www.dvm360.com/view/navigating-pet-nutrition-and-talking-pet-diets-with-clients

Danielle Conway, DVM, CVA, VSMT, CCRP, offered recommendations for veterinarians assessing the nutritional requirements of older feline and canine patients in her lecture at the Fetch dvm360 Conference