Essentials of Veterinary Practice is a brand-new, richly illustrated practical reference book on management concepts relevant to any member of the veterinary healthcare team interested in mastering those crucial business skills that are the real success drivers of the veterinary profession – and career progression. The key topics covered are divided into six main sections: Practice Management in Perspective; Offering Customer Service; Building Relationships; Getting Your Message Across; Working Effectively as a Team; and Practice Finances. The reader will find easy to apply information, whether a practice owner, an associate, a manager, a recent graduate or student, or indeed any team member working in a success-focused veterinary practice. Veterinary practice is a mixture of services to clients, and of people and pet relationships. It is now a well-appreciated notion that pet owners “do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care”. In the language of practice management, pet owners are “clients”. Veterinarians need to know their client’s expectations and how to meet and exceed them. Other topics covered include: How should we organise the practice, run a clinic and become used to working in a team? How do we learn to communicate with clients and staff, and how do we obtain a degree of client loyalty? Is the practice financially healthy? What are the financial indicators, and how should we interpret and influence them? Who are the competitors and how should we stay ahead of them? Optimal veterinary healthcare can only be provided in an economically healthy clinic that allows continuous investment in human resources and equipment, enabling ongoing improvements in quality. Utilising the advice within this book will enable the practice to keep ahead of the competition in the changing and fascinating world of companion animal practice.
Philippe Moreau
DVM, MS, DipECVIM-CA, DipECVN
Philippe has delivered more than 200 lectures and training sessions on practice management topics throughout the world.
He has been a major speaker at 14 WSAVA congresses and two Veterinary Practice Management Association (VPMA) conferences in the UK. He developed a veterinary management audit service in France, which contributed to the development of more than 150 practices. He has written widely, including two practice management manuals: Merchandising in the Veterinary Clinic and Communication Tools for Veterinary Clinics.
Richard C Nap
DVM, PhD, DipECVS, DipECVCN
Richard has worked in private referral practice, as an associate professor in orthopaedics at Utrecht University, and as associate director external relations for Procter and Gamble, responsible for international academic affairs. Since 2005, Richard has been involved in supporting private practitioners, veterinary organisations and the animal health industry as a private consultant. Richard has a passion for supporting young colleagues and has initiated two international projects for graduating veterinary students to optimise their career start. These are: Vetstart, an independent information exchange platform with animal health-related industries and organisations; and VetCoach, a not-for-profit book project.
