Elevate Your Communication: Effective Client Communication, Challenging Conversations and Conscious Conversations in an Emergency

On Demand

Offering Description

This specialized offering features three communication-focused sessions, providing highly applicable content and resources for you to utilize evidence-based communication to have effective communication with clients, gain core communication skills to manage challenging conversations and speak the right words to diffuse conflict in emergency situations.

Each session includes content from top-rated ACVIM Forum programming featuring newly designed interactive and supportive elements, allowing participants to reflect and actively apply new insights in real time. Created for immediate practical use, this offering provides ample examples of communication skills related to client-facing scenarios, however principles are highly applicable to all roles in veterinary medicine. In alignment with the ACVIMs mission, vision, and values, this new offering has been designed with accessibility and affordability in mind, to ensure this content is approachable for veterinary team members at any stage of their career.

Sessions included in this offering are:

Evidence-Based Techniques for Effective Client Communication
Managing Challenging Conversations
Conscious Conversations in an Emergency- Speaking the Right Words to Diffuse Conflict

Learning Objectives

Build rapport, convey difficult information and engage in efficient and productive discussions with pet owners.
Understand and be able to apply core communication skills to navigate challenging situations.
Identify your role in a conflict and how you can control those triggers, impulses and mindset to serve you better.

Registration

Registration will open on May 12th. Registration provides 6 months of access to all course content and accompanying resources.

Session Descriptions

Rosalind Chow, DACVECC

Evidence-Based Techniques for Effective Client Communication

Recording Duration: 50 minutes
Interactive Course Duration: Approximately 75-90 minutes

Speaker Intro: Dr. Chow received her veterinary training from the University of Pennsylvania, a small animal rotating internship at the University of Georgia and a residency in Small Animal Emergency and Intensive Care at the University of California, Davis, followed by 10 years in private specialty practice, before returning to academia to fulfill her love of teaching. Dr. Chow is currently a Professor in Emergency and Critical Care at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. She also serves as an Associate Medical Director in the Veterinary Medical Center, where she works with client liaisons to resolve difficult client challenges and mentors house officers on their communication strategies.

Session Description: If difficult and emotionally charged conversations with pet owners raise your blood pressure, you are not alone. Challenging client discussions can frustrate even seasoned veterinarians. Not only do they interfere with the building of client rapport and trust, they can grind the day to a halt, delay the care of other patients, and promote dissatisfaction and burnout for the practitioner. Veterinarians aim to provide medical information concisely and in an understandable way. However, stressed clients worried about their pet’s illness can struggle to process complex information and may react emotionally instead of rationally when discussing difficult topics. In these situations, it is essential to use effective communication strategies in order to support client decision making and facilitate the provision of quality patient care. This presentation will discuss the factors that hinder the ability of veterinarians to lead productive discussions with clients during stressful moments. It will provide evidence-based strategies from the veterinary and human medical literature to help veterinarians rapidly build rapport, convey difficult information, and engage in efficient and productive discussions with pet owners. We will discuss a variety of scenarios, including financial constraints, complex medical discussions, anxious clients and end-of-life situations, while referencing effective published approaches to address these difficult communication challenges.

Laura Garrett, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology)

Managing Challenging Conversations

Recording Duration: 50 minutes
Interactive Course Duration: Approximately 75-90 minutes

Speaker Intro: Laura Garrett is a clinical professor in oncology, the Khan Family Chair in Veterinary Clinical Oncology, and coordinator of communication training at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. Topics of publication include lymphoma, mast cell tumors, cytology, and communication skills training.

Session Description: Speaking with pet owners is something veterinarians and technicians do constantly; as such, it is the most common "procedure" performed in veterinary medicine. Yet guidance in this critical area during school or after is limited. Being a good communicator is not just a personality trait; there are specific tools that can help navigate challenging situations. Dealing with indecisive, angry, or non-communicative clients will be discussed, as will essential tips for setting boundaries.

Debra Hamilton, JD

Conscious Conversations in an Emergency- Speaking the Right Words to Diffuse Conflict

Recording Duration: 50 minutes
Interactive Course Duration: Approximately 75-90 minutes

Speaker Intro: Debra Hamilton is the principal at Hamilton ADR-NC, LLC. HADR-NC uses understanding based alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methodologies to transform disagreements over animals by facilitating neutral discussions between the parties. Attendees learn in a more holistic way how to identify triggers and nip conflict in the bud. Debra is an international speaker and best-selling author of Nipped in the Bud-Not in the Butt-How to Use Mediation to Resolve Conflicts over Animals. She has a highly ranked podcast, Why Do Pets Matter. She is the go to person for information regarding the use of mediation in disagreements involving animals for the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Huffington Post and US News and World Report.

Session Description: This program invites attendees to explore their triggers, impulses and mindset when reacting to conflict. It helps attendees identify their role in a conflict and how they can control those triggers, impulses and mindset to serve them better.

The program explores what has worked, what hasn't worked and how the attendees may want to show up. Simple shifts in their verbal choice and/or body language can make a huge difference in another's perception and outcome. A suggested standardized go to process will be provided that empowers attendees to take steps that are less reactive/defensive and more thoughtful/collaborative.

Course Information

Date: On Demand
Location: Virtual
Audience: ACVIM Diplomates and Candidates, ECVIM Diplomates and Candidates, Affiliate Diplomates and Candidates, Veterinarians, Veterinary Technicians, Veterinary Assistants, Students and Allied Professionals
Specialty: Multispecialty