Nurse clinics- patters?

RE: Nurse clinics- patters?

Sal the 1st — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 22:29:20 GMT

ask one of the other nurses if they would mind you coming in on a few of their consults - you will pretty quickly find your own style but while you are doing it there is nothing wrong with borrowing somebody elses. I had one one of my trainees come back from college many moons ago and the tutor had said to them 'bet you work with somebody called sal' just because of what they were saying and doing

RE: Nurse clinics- patters?

Chloe SVN — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 20:28:48 GMT

Thank you both, This information will help alot

RE: Nurse clinics- patters?

Jill Macdonald — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 14:51:41 GMT

Hi Chloe - I've emailed you the CC guide for your information.

Jill

RE: Nurse clinics- patters?

steph fursland — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 12:54:22 GMT

Time wise, I would advise for the first two minutes, let the pet wander about (say hello first but don't crowd it) and ask the owner something nice and open - how is so and so, what can we do for him, do you have any concerns etc.

Then I tend to take a history at the same time as doing a top to toe examination, which really helps me run to time. Once you have done this, hone in on your main concerns, i.e. So I can see Dave is looking pretty good, aren't you Dave, but..... (insert main concern here).

With overweight pets, I agree it's a sensitive area. I tend to be quite blunt but in a fairly chatty/friendly way, i.e. 'Dave has clearly overindulged a little bit over Christmas, he is looking quite chubby! What is his normal diet?' Then you can discuss in depth what changes they need to make. I also try and relate it to humans - 'if you leave his food down all the time, it's like us sitting next to a big bowl of Doritos - we would end up eating more that we need, even if we aren't hungry'. I find this approach doesn't put owners' backs up because they don't feel blamed - but it is good to find your own rapport with owners and find what sounds genuine and natural when you say it.

Good luck!

RE: Nurse clinics- patters?

Jill Macdonald — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 12:20:32 GMT

Great question Chloe!

There can be a lot of factors that influence how you'll interact with different clients, depending on their knowledge, how well you know them, what they have actually come to the clinic for etc.

I'm sure a lot of folk on this forum will have lots of tips on this topic, but something I'm going to raise is a technique called 'motivational interviewing', which in basic terms is a technique you can use to get the client to see and understand the changes in their pet for themselves, helping them to go through the thought processes rather than us just 'telling them' what they need to do.

For example, in a weight clinic you might start off by asking a nice open question such as 'how has Bobby been?' and moving onto more specific topics such as 'tell me what you feed him in a norrmal day' and 'can you tell me what his normal exercise routine is like'? It is likely that answers will open up topics such as the array of different things they are feeding their pet, and that he's not being exercised as often as he used to be - maybe due to not wanting to walk or go outside as much, or owners having other commitments etc. You can ask questions such as 'what changes have you seen in him over the past few months?' and look again at more specific areas such as difficulty with steps or the stairs, or with grooming, or getting into the car, or getting out of breath.

You can look at previous weights for the pet, and on most record systems you can create a graph - this is a great way of showing the client the weight increase from previous check-ups.

There is a temptation to be blunt 'I can see that Bobby is really overweight, so we need to address this' but often such a blunt approach won't work with clients, and they may just end up feeling defensive. They can work it out for themselves if you help them to, and then you can work together on changing things for the benefit of the pet.

Sharing decisions with clients is also a great approach, so not 'I am going to put him on this diet' but 'let's take a look and see what we can do about the diet, and we'll work out together what's going to be best for him'.

Time keeping? Using a consultation structure/framework! There is the Calgary-Cambridge model available - I can send you a copy if you email me (jill@oncoreepd.co.uk) and also myself and a group of panellists are currently working on a specific veterinary nurse communication model - so watch this space!