Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

les punton — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:33:53 GMT

On the other side of the coin, we took on a receptionist with reception or veterinary experience and it was between her and someone who worked in a surgery and it turns out she is BRILL! We got her in for a morning and her people skills were great. The new person may turn out to be another one who will help drive the practice in the right direction and help organise stuff?! It will be stressful to begin with but hopefully only for a short time?

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

supamog — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:06:03 GMT

Oh I so feel for you! I cannot offer you any advice that will make an immediate difference but let's just say i'm sure your voice will ring true with lots of us on here! It's easy to say "something has to be done" from far away but you must not allow yourself to be put under this much pressure for much longer or else you will well and truly burn out and then where will they all be? I do think a meeting of some sort should be called. It's easy to point the finger, and the new person cannot be held responsible for the whole hotch-potch potential of all falling down. This is what happenes when the un-trained hire even more un-trained. By that I dont meant just anyone unqualified, as many people may be "unqualified" but do an amazing job in practice, but someone who has had no veterinary backgrund what-so-ever. It becomes like a house of cards. A wobble at the bottom can soon work it's way right to the top! I truly hope that some small well thought out steps can be implemented soon to help everyone out. Is there any possibility of the person who is leaving coming back in to provide some training? Also previous staff if approached in the right manner may be prepared to help out in the short term? Also perhaps a "divivie up" of some of the daily/weekly tasks would help? A stab in the dark I know, but it's all I can think of at the moment! Good luck x

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Sophie Bedford RVN CertVNECC — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:18:35 GMT

[quote user="Sal the 1st"]With some people the more you take on and show you can cope the more you will be given because you are showing you can cope[/quote]

That is so true!!! I have had this in other jobs where I've just taken on more and more - either because I've enjoyed the responsibility or because there just wasn't anyone else to pick up the slack and I got myself into serious worrying habits when I couldn't take on anymore because I felt like I should be able to.... assertiveness and trust are two attributes I would definitely recommend working on.... you have to trust that someone else will do the job that you've set them and as Sal said, let them take responsibility for their actions if they don't do that and also assertiveness to know when you can't take on anymore and admit this to both yourself and your management team.

If they don't know you're stressed out about it how can anyone help you?

Best of luck and take a deep breath when the receptionist starts... if you come in to negativity it will soon filter through and then she might not want to stay in that sort of team. If you all rally together to help them settle in and learn the job properly then you'll have a happier workplace because you'll know you've done your bit to help someone else's career path.

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Sal the 1st — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:25:06 GMT

pleased you like it

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

oconnoanan — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:19:41 GMT

Loved the link, thanks Sal!

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Sal the 1st — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:03:43 GMT

[quote user="oconnoanan"]

and let other people cope....

[/quote]

there you go - you have said it . You do your best and thats all anybody can ever ask of you, just give your colleagues the opportunity to do their best as well and that might mean for some that they take the responsibility for their actions.With some people the more you take on and show you can cope the more you will be given because you are showing you can cope - if that makes sense. What can you actually do when you arent there? - so is there any real point in worrying about what may or may not be happening? What does it achieve?

(and I am not saying I have not been guilty of this too)

Hang up the super hero cape for a while or hand it on to somebody else and let them have a turn

all that energy you expend on worrying, how about diverting it into helping your new receptionist to be the best receptionist ever that way you both benefit

if you can get over the Cagney and Lacey accent you might like this as a taster?

www.youtube.com/watch

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

oconnoanan — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:43:13 GMT

Okay, stress management techniques might be useful for me here! I just find I am the person constantly dealing with the stuff that has been left, so I'm the note leaver, ie "please do not touch my cheese in the fridge" etc (joke!). But I'm always trying to ensure everyone else follows up stuff and does things when I'm not there. And then they don't, so I feel bad 2 weeks later when someone hasn't been called with their animal's results, etc. And then I get it in the neck later when they complain, and I'm like -I followed it through, passed it on to so and so, etc! So I've become obsessive about leaving a record that you spoke to so and so. I think I might be too much of a control freak/stress monkey - I feel like I'm the person to tie up the loose ends but only because I'm the only one bothered! If I just come and go, do the hours there, not worry about how things go when I'm not there, not worry about how animals or clients are looked after when I'm not there - I dont know how to do that!!! I worry too much!!! Maybe I should take a chill pill, relax on trying to worry about how the place runs, and let other people cope.... :-)

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Sal the 1st — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:37:10 GMT

whoa - take a breath before you bust a blood vessel !

Has this poor unfortunate receptionist already started the job?

Don't forget everybody needs to start somewhere, everybody needs a bit of support when they start a new job irrespective of whether they have experience or not. It would be very hard to find two practices even within the same group that work exactly the same.There are very few people who can 'drop' into a job and hit the ground running.

So you are stressed - how do you think this is going to come across to your new receptionist when she asks you something (or will she even dare to ask?). Dont you think she will be stressed too? Its true that change can be difficult but if you spend a bit of time at the beginning helping the new start it can make your life a whole lot easier just a little way down the line. Put the negativity to one side for now and work out how you can make this situation work for the both of you. If you really cant see this working then ok it might be time to look for somewhere else - but if you did that then it would be you who was the new start in a new job - and how do you think that would make you feel? Wouldnt that be just the situation your new receptionist is facing right now?

Stress you can either work with it or let it take you down. If you want to work with it let me know and there are some simple exercises that can help

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

oconnoanan — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:09:02 GMT

I swear the receptionist is like the coordinator of the whole hospital! She frees everyone up by managing everything so that the vets and nurses can get on with their own jobs, and they just have to deal with phone calls/people when it is beyond her area of expertise. Pluse she knows when to tell someone to come in when we are already overbooked because they may need an admit, or treatment, or even pain meds, etc. Every single phone call and query is going to need a nurse/vet expertise now. But even worse, its going to be hell without her help, there is already stuff that only she knows about. She is doing her best to write up everything - manuals, protocols, training, etc, but there is so much to know and teach to someone new. And so much of the job is about giving advice over the phone and face to face to clients...its so time consuming. How is someone green going to know how to prioritise appointments between hemorrhagic diarrhea cases versus telling every single person with itchy feet to come in straight away!!

Yes I wish I could tell management how stressed I am but nobody cares at the moment - our two major players are away on maternity, so the partial-"management" who aren't even on site have no vet background and couldn't care less - its all about bottom line figures, saving a few quid, not about client care and staff/client loyalty and keeping it going along the line! I've even started looking elsewhere as I don't want to go down with the ship. Already I can see the turn in the last while with the staff changeovers, we are getting complaints about cases not being dealt with properly, followed up properly, phone calls not being returned, I can see it slowly falling apart... :-(

Re: Veterinary Reception Rant!!

Heather Thorne — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:27:00 GMT

Why don't you advise the old receptionist (who is leaving) to write up a manual of how to do stuff.

Yes this would take time but if she cared for the practice and other staff she wouldnt mind helping out by writing a list of all the jobs she does and how to do it.

Sounds like your receptionist is overworked as i believe nursing staff should be dispensing and stock ordering/control.

If client care is going to be affected there surely the management will listen, if not then just make everything you do, for the clients you see, of high standard so it is not you affecting the client.

High staff turnover is a hard thing to cope with as new people to inform of protocols. do you have a manual for anytime of protocol you do? even simple things like anaesthetic doses and routines etc New people wont know if they are not informed and yes on the job learning is great but to have access to a manual is very useful for ne wpeople to read up on outside of work.

I would stress to you management how this is affecting you.

I hope you dont suffer a disaster.