Why focusing on client relationships is important.

Why I think it is important.

I may be biased. I find building a relationship with clients incredibly satisfying. I enjoy working together to look after a loved family member. I realised early on that, for me, working as a locum made the job feel a lot colder.

Having a bonded client and by extension giving consistent care to your patient is important beyond my warm and fuzzy feelings. Here’s why:

Improved patient care – the most important reason.
Improved compliance from owners.
Quicker consults.
More efficient use of owner finances.
More interesting work life.
Gain experience quicker.

Improved patient care

I am passionate about this. I believe strongly that the main beings that suffer when cases bounce around different vets are the patients.
When a case becomes yours you feel responsible and that is important. You are more likely to nail out a plan at the beginning and then advocate for the patient to enact the plan. It is too easy to only do some of the workup on a busy day and pass the buck onto another vet for the recheck.
One of the beautiful aspects of being a vet is autonomy. Often we have developed our own routes to getting to the same diagnosis. Therefore it is easy for one vet to start and discuss a case with an owner in their style and then another vet to come in with a different style and change the plan to their own. As we are all headed to the same point this can work out absolutely fine diagnostically but it can also end up with frustration from the owner when what they were told to expect doesn’t happen. Frustration = less trust = reduced compliance = reduced patient care.
Key bits of discussion can be missed- impacting the patient. I once picked up a case where multiple vets were working to find out what type of cancer the patient had. No one had told the clients that cancer was even the main suspicion. Once the clients realised that the prognosis was likely poor either way, they wanted palliative care and the type of cancer and associated diagnostic tests were no longer in the patients interest.
With longer or more complicated cases, many chefs can spoil the pot. Especially when you are trying to act out a complicated plan with multiple steps or large time gaps.
Often when you take on a case you want to repeat the work up to make sure the situation remains the same. Reducing this by having consistent care reduces stress on the patient.
If you have a relationship with a client that lasts for multiple years you are more likely to remember the earlier history that a new vet might miss when glancing through the history. This can mean you are less likely to forget drug reactions or complicating factors etc. You are also more likely to have set up the notes in a way that is clear to you so you’re less likely to miss key details when you are reminding yourself of the case at hand.

Improved owner compliance

An improved relationship means clients are more likely to trust your opinion, as long as you are seen as trustworthy of course, and therefore do what you suggest.
They are also more likely to discuss worries and issues with you as they trust that you will not judge them. This way you can find solutions to the problems, increasing both the relationship bond and compliance.

Quicker consults

If you don’t have to go through each case’s history every other consult you will save time. Learning a case from scratch takes longer than just reminding yourself of it.
You skip introductions when you see a bonded client.
As you get to know your clients you will adapt how you explain things in a way that will naturally speed up the discussion.
- To expand on my last point: some people want very brief and distilled descriptions followed by a list of instructions. Others want much more detail and a collaboration on the best treatment plan. Others still may even have a medical background and so a lot more shorthand can be used, e.g. equating to a similar human condition.

Efficient use of owner finances

As long as your client trusts that you are not out to take their hard earned money from them unnecessarily you can ultimately be more efficient.
Once you have established a good bond and trust with your clients you can run tests earlier in the diagnostic tree. You don’t need to try symptomatic treatment and only test once the first step hasn’t worked.
- E.g. You could swab a suspicious looking ear before already exposing it to first line treatment. You could run blood tests sooner just because the client knows you and understands that you are looking out for the patient and not looking for an early pay day. Of course this is usually better for the patient as well, fewer trips and quicker diagnoses leading to quicker treatment.

More interesting work life

I find knowing my clients leads to a more interesting job. I enjoy getting to know people. It feels important to be able to commiserate with them genuinely.
I enjoy the challenge of ‘getting a client on side’. I like to see prickly people as a challenge. Part of my job is to build trust so they listen when I advocate for their pet. Obviously I don’t build the bond as much as I would like with some, but I like to try.

Gain experience quicker

My work improves from the consistent case continuity that working on building a bond requires. I believe my knowledge and experience has greatly benefitted.
If I do a surgery, I can directly see how the recovery is and learn from it for the next one. If I have a medical case I can manage the ups and downs, gaining experience quicker as I seek other’s opinion. If I make a misstep in my treatment plan, e.g. forget a diagnostic step, I will know about it and not do it again.