Prebiotics and probiotics are frequent considerations for multimodal therapies in monogastrics, regardless of species It can be difficult to remain objective about their benefits, but the growing body of work indicates that considering the microbiome will become more prevalent in managing disease risk and potential treatments. We gathered several references for … [Read more...]
In #Metoo backlash, men retreat from mentoring women
Wendy Murphy shares that many senior male managers are reportedly responding to the #Metoo movement with a better-safe-than-sorry attitude and are pulling back from mentoring women. This reaction is both biased and shortsighted she says. Repercussions of depriving female employees of the counseling, developmental opportunities, exposure, and visibility that come from … [Read more...]
JAVMA: Defining antimicrobial use; paradigms shifting in behavioral medicine
There’s something for everyone in most issues of JAVMA. We’re highlighting the abstracts of two papers representing changes in our industry. Evidence-based paradigm shifts in veterinary behavioral medicine. LinkThe AVMA's definitions of antimicrobial uses for prevention, control, and treatment of disease. Link. Source: JAVMA, April 1, 2019. Link. Review the table of … [Read more...]
Some anti-vaxxers don’t vaccinate pets, creating danger
Anti-vaccine proponents are increasingly making the same unfounded claims about pets and vaccines they have been repeating about children and vaccines for the past 20 years: that vaccines are unnecessary, dangerous and that they can cause diseases. According a TIME magazine article, the negative attention on vaccines is growing globally. Looking at the circulation demographics, … [Read more...]
The future is female
Adrienne Wagner provides a celebration of women in veterinary medicine through a collection of thoughts and advice from female DVMs. The professionals were asked how they would answer this question: What one message do you have for the women of veterinary medicine? Loving animals isn’t enough to be a good veterinarian. You have to also love the people and the business. –Dani … [Read more...]
Prepare for transactions
It is common for animal health pros to resist talking about sales. The perception of becoming a houndstooth-jacketed used-car salesman often one of the objections. If you’re involved in any business where transactions exchange money for services or product, you are part of the sales process. Those most successful PREPARE. Prashant Dedhia shares his experience with being … [Read more...]
Upcoming events at The Bridge Club
Taking advantage of internet video tools, The Bridge Club virtual community continues to engage professionals in conversations. Co-founder Brenda Andresen references the learning experiences and professional nuggets she and founding partner Catherine Haskins capture with each live event. The Bridge Club was featured in a recent article in Vet Advantage as the team prepared for … [Read more...]
Texas Tech vet school effort reveals challenges
A recent ad we received reveals the critical shortage of veterinarians serving small, rural communities throughout Texas. We’re sharing it to help animal health pros gain knowledge and perspective about the challenges of serving animal owners in rural areas of the United States. Texas employs the second most veterinarians in the U.S., but more than 30 percent are 60 years … [Read more...]
Loyal employees = loyal customers
Loyalty, in general use, is a devotion and faithfulness to a nation, cause, philosophy, company, group or person. According to research by Gallup, fewer than 30 percent of employees say they are loyal to their company. Frequent turnover has a negative impact on employee morale, productivity and company revenue. Source: LinkedIn Pulse, June 18, 2018. Link. The reality is that … [Read more...]
Time change has many dragging
Moving our clocks in either direction changes the principal time cue (light) for setting and resetting our 24-hour natural cycle, or circadian rhythm. In doing so, our internal clock becomes out of sync or mismatched with our current day-night cycle. A rule of thumb is that it takes about one day to adjust for each hour of time change, but this varies by individual. If you … [Read more...]
Comparing meat and poultry cash prices
If your grocery expenses seem to be increasing, a current year compared to last year cash price review may be enlightening. Perhaps packaged goods are hitting your budgets harder than food animal products. Source: Feedstuffs, February 28, 2019. Link. … [Read more...]
Call it welfare or well-being, it’s about proper husbandry
Portia Stewart tackles semantics that help non-ag persons comprehend the challenges of raising meat and being good animal stewards. Young consumers want to learn a lot more about their food. One of the problems we have today is a lot of young consumers are totally removed from the world of the practical.” - Temple Grandin, DVM. Source: PORK, February 28, 2019. … [Read more...]
Manage your future career
Plan for your dream promotion, but be prepared to pivot because something will change. Source: Forbes, February 26, 2019. Link. Much of your career is outside your control, no matter how hard you’ve worked or how good your results are. Today, as industries get disrupted, jobs disappear and new jobs are created, this is truer than ever before.” INSIGHTS: Assumptions are … [Read more...]
Dr. Andy Roark on boundaries, the new trend in vet medicine
Boundary challenges are not unique to veterinary medicine, but not all of us put lives on the line when we set solid boundaries. Dr. Roark’s writers reveal details about the challenges with setting boundaries. Ericka Mendez, DVM, reveals her feelings in The growing pains of setting boundaries in veterinary medicine. Link. In her post, Our new veterinarian leaves every … [Read more...]
Say pyt . . . pyt, pyt, pyt to stress!
Stress can be a precursor to ailments in humans and animals. Marie Helweg-Larsen shares how Danes use the word, pyt, to cultivate healthy thoughts to deal with stress. Studies show that we are happier and live longer when we have fewer daily hassles and don’t blame stressors on people. In some cases, what constitutes a hassle might be tied to how we interpret what’s happening … [Read more...]
Stress is your brain trying to avoid something
Tom Kelley discusses stress, where it comes from and how it works. Stress is frequently a negative emotion, which functions from our motivational system. He describes two motivational system subcomponents that lead to distinct sets of emotions. Source: HBR Ascend, February 23, 2019. Link. Once you understand how stress works, you can begin to take steps to deal with it, so … [Read more...]
Signs of cancer in dogs vary greatly
Veterinary oncologist Dr. Stacy Binstock’s estimate of 25%-33% of dogs developing cancer at some point in their lives is sobering. Cancer is the number one cause of death in older dogs. Catherine Ashe, DVM, reminds us that annual or semi-annual exams are more than vaccine appointments. The physical exam is the most important function and helps identify any symptoms that might … [Read more...]
Use color to build your legacy
This new productivity technique can help you reverse engineer your day based on where you want to be many years down the line. Research has shown to be 91 percent effective. Source: Forbes, February 20, 2019. Link. He breaks down the groups into three colors: Red, Green and Gold. . . . he has come to understand that people are largely looking for function and meaning in … [Read more...]
Work on yourself first, to improve your team
Jennifer Porter writes about working with dysfunctional teams and developing the skills to improve team dynamics. Teams are complex systems of individuals with different preferences, skills, experiences, perspectives and habits. The odds of improving that complex system in a meaningful and sustainable way are higher if every team member (including the leader) learns to … [Read more...]
What retailers can do for healthier pets
Help DVM360 to investigate retailing and the interactions between pet retailers and veterinary hospitals. Take this short, 5-minute survey <link> and share your insight on the relationship between veterinary practices and pet retailers. Note: The survey is open to a wide set of categories of animal health pros. Vet professionals and pet retailers may have some of the … [Read more...]
Control what you pay attention to and control your life
To be consistently productive and manage stress better, we must strengthen our skill in attention management. Attention management is the practice of: controlling distractions being present in the momentfinding flowmaximizing focusbeing intentional instead of reactiverecognizing when your attention is being stolen staying focused on the activities you choose. … [Read more...]
Ways to give people a good work experience (video)
Bhushan Sethi and Carol Stubbings believe good work in today’s employment environment needs to: involve a decent workplace contextoffer fair payhave tolerable levels of changegives autonomy and control over one’s workoffer a chance for fulfillment. Workers today want careers that fit their values, are enjoyable, and contribute to society. Source: Strategy + Business, … [Read more...]
Get your New Year’s resolutions back on track
Changing a pattern of behavior doesn’t happen overnight. We experience relapses. Instead of giving into self-defeating attitudes that typically accompany relapses, we can reflect on our past patterns — yes, even our relapses and ask ourselves: Why did I get off track? What’s my pattern of behavior in situations like this? Source: PurposeUnlimited.com, February 19, 2019 Link. … [Read more...]
5 signs you spend too much time with your phone
Most of us know we likely spend too much time on our phones. From Facebook to games to email and texts, they’re a never-ending source of information, entertainment and frustration. A 2017 analysis of multiple studies found that people spend more than hours a day on their smartphones – the equivalent of a part-time job! The folks at grammerly share five signs of excessive … [Read more...]
4 assumptions to avoid letting others get us down
We cannot know about why people behave the way they behave, writes Wyatt Edward Gates. He reminds us everyone has a reason for what they do and that our assumptions affect our own happiness. . . . by taking a charitable attitude towards others we can avoid a lot of pointless suffering. Source: Medium, January 31, 2019. Link. If we can imagine a charitable reason for what … [Read more...]
Active listening is an art
Glenna Fulks shares typical hindrances to listening. Too often we’re guilty of hijacking a conversation, speaking too soon and cutting off the other individual's response. Count to eight before you reciprocate. Source: Linked In, May 4, 2018. Link. Fulks’ common deterrents to listening include: we don’t give ourselves a chance to listen since we never stop talkingwe … [Read more...]
Heavy tech use threatens connections
Michael K. Spencer asks the question, “What if all of this technology . . . is leading us into a state where we might be at risk (as a species) to die one day of loneliness? Technological loneliness is set to increase. . . Loneliness is now agreed to be considered more dangerous than obesity, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle or working too much. Source: The Medium, January … [Read more...]
The (dark) origins of Valentine’s Day
In its modern context, Valentine’s Day is mostly about romance, love, gifting and the celebrating of relationships. Yet, this holiday has much different origins. Searching for something meaningful and unique for a sweetheart often makes one question “why are we doing this valentine’s thing anyway?” With efforts by Chaucer and Shakespeare and most recently Hallmark, … [Read more...]
Heart attack symptoms often subtle in women
As our industry embraces the contributions and needs of female animal health pros, we offer this reminder that heart disease is the number-one killer them, as well as men. Heart disease accounts for about one in four deaths in women in the U.S., according to the CDC. February is American Heart Month so now is the perfect time to review and share this information among the women … [Read more...]
These tips will help you protect against data breaches
Fighting the temptation to abandon our attempts at securing our data is not realistic. We need to adopt a defensive attitude for the inevitable breach of our data. Whether it is your personal or business account, the main change needed in our thinking is to assume that we are targets. The first step is to use a different username and password on each crucial site or … [Read more...]