AVMA News (cont.)
One intervention the study brought to clinics was training staff members to be mindful of judgmental language and the belief systems behind that language. Judgmental language can create a tense atmosphere, especially when the focus is more criticizing how work is done rather than trying to address specific challenges, Bond said.
“Teams can start to reframe their conversations and focus on the actual demand of the work rather than the assumptions about how it should be done. Tis shift of language can open up new ways of working together and help reduce some of the pressures that contribute to burnout,” she said.
In early findings, Bond said she noticed positive trends for the practices with interventions, such as a reduction in the voluntary turnover rate of veterinary and administrative staff in participating clinics over a three-month period. Also, she said managers reported lasting improvements around being more aware of and reducing judgmental language.
Veterinary technician utilization study
Two other researchers talked about the current roles of veterinary technicians and their study, also funded by the AVMA, that seeks to identify reasons why practices don’t always take advantage of all of their veterinary technicians’ education and skills.
Elizabeth McClean is an associate professor at the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell. She researches workplace contexts in which workers can thrive.
Regarding employee utilization, she said, “From the employer side, it’s about human capital and getting the best from employees. For employees, it’s how to thrive and enjoy working in the workplace. It’s an understudied topic with practical relevance, not just for the veterinary industry, but beyond. It’s an issue that is systemic within veterinary medicine, not just an individual clinic or individual person.”
Caitlin Ray is an assistant professor at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She also researches how workplaces can better use employees.
Surveying nearly 300 veterinarian technicians, McClean and Ray asked to what extent they felt qualified to perform about 60 tasks that credentialed veterinary technicians should know how to do, according to the AVMA Committee on Veterinary Technician Education and Activities. In addition, they asked a subset of those surveyed about the opportunity they have to engage with those tasks.
Elizabeth McClean, a researcher who looks at workplace contexts in which employees can thrive, says her study’s preliminary finding suggest that when veterinary technicians have the opportunity to use the skills they feel qualified to perform they are less likely to want to leave their current clinics.
What they found were different patterns of utilization. Some respondents said they feel as though they have the skills, but they’re not given the opportunity to use them effectively at work. Other respondents reported feeling like they’re not qualified to be doing certain skills, but they are doing them at work, McClean said.
“We have some preliminary evidence that when people feel qualified and have the opportunity to use their skills that they’re less likely to want to leave their current clinics. And part of what we’re hoping to do moving forward is to understand a little bit more about what’s driving these different utilization patterns in clinics,” McClean said.
McClean and Ray encourage practice leaders to think about how veterinary technicians are currently being leveraged and have conversations with them about what skills they feel qualified to perform.
“So maybe ask them what they want to do or what they want to do more or less of. Tere are certainly demands of the role and the clinic, but there are also opportunities to get creative about how veterinary technicians are matched to the tasks associated with their role,” McClean said.
Ray added, “Finding ways to ensure employees feel fulfilled is part of solving the utilization puzzle and working effectively.”
A version of this story appears in the December 2024 print issue of JAVMA. 36 KVMA News
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