By Bob Beede, DVM, Intermountain Pet Hospital
While attending the AAHA conference several years ago in Phoenix, I sat in on the Fear Free seminar by Dr. Marty Becker. Dr. Becker shared how Dr. Karen Overall had embraced Fear Free because our current care methods had the potential to damage pets emotionally. I really respect both of these veterinarians, and what they said resonated with me deeply. So I took the concept back to our practice to implement. My partner and hospital administrator bought in to Fear Free. As a first step, we promoted one of our exam room techs to be our Fear Free coordinator.
Our “Fear Free coordinator” and I gave midday seminars to the staff on the importance of Fear Free and even brought in Dr Becker to provide a three-hour CE to our staff with another two-hour program for our clients and the public. We were all set to make a big splash with Fear Free. But what we did not count on was the difficulty of culture change.
While the staff embraced the concept, things would get in the way. For example, it was much easier for three techs to sit on a pet for a nail trim than to go slowly and use treats as the nails were trimmed. This seemed too time-consuming to them. Or the veterinarian would direct them to hold the struggling pet down for the radiographs because the client would not pay for a sedative. Oh, and stopping an appointment for a stressed pet to send home pre-visit pharmaceuticals for another day? Out of the question as we didn’t have the communication tools to explain to the clients why coming back another day was better for their pets stress level and that we weren’t just trying to earn another buck, so client communication was stressful for our staff as well. The perception was that it was “easier” to dump the scared cat out of the carrier right then and there to administer vaccinations than to bring them back in a more relaxed state of mind. The list goes on, and we were a long way from being truly Fear Free.
Our next step was to have an evening meeting with all eight veterinarians and our team leaders to discuss Fear Free concepts. Each of these individuals had to become Fear Free-certified prior to the meeting. The goal of the meeting was to develop an agreement on treatment and care techniques on which we would not compromise. The nonnegotiable concepts had to have 100-percent acceptance from all the veterinarians and team leads. This meeting was the catalyst for change in our practice, and everyone bought into the concepts.
With leadership set, we then had the Fear Free coordinator work with each segment of our staff, taking them through the corresponding Fear Free module. This included the client care team, exam room techs, patient care team members, lodge and kennel techs, and groomers. This training is still a work in progress, but we are truly now providing Fear Free care. We have picked up new clients because of this Fear Free approach, and our regular clients are very appreciative.
