5 great things about nurse-led clinics

Nurse-led clinic? Don’t mind if I do. How a small change can generate great results…

Want to introduce more nurse clinics but hesitating? We have some great resources to help you put them all into action, taking you step by step through the whole process. It’s time to do something great.

1. Empower your nurses!

Have you seen the veterinary nursing course these days? It’s comprehensive and stretching. It means veterinary nurses are highly capable professionals who are looking for the type of role that really reflects their capabilities. Introduce nurse clinics and watch them fly!

2. Free up your vets and allow them to make more comprehensive recommendations.

You hope you would never miss a diagnosis, but how easy is it really to bring up that their pet needs to lose a few pounds, would benefit from teeth brushing, or should really be more regularly wormed? Especially when the waiting room is packed out, there’s still an op to do once you’ve finished consulting and you’ve just been told someone is on their way with an egg-bound iguana. What if your highly experienced colleague was on hand to follow up to help clients keep their pets healthy? With nurse clinics that’s an easy fix.

3. Promote team working through internal referral

Having a structure in place to allow referral to the nurse clinic can really improve compliance. Don’t rely on telling the client to ask the receptionist to book the nurse appointment. Use referral slips to help make it all happen seamlessly so everyone can contribute.

4. Deliver better patient care that’s more tailored to individual needs

Every pet is different, every client has limitations when it comes to the level of care they can actually provide given constraints on time, cost and ability. What better then than a friendly one to one session with a veterinary nurse who is focused on delivering best quality care and has time to listen to what the client can and can’t realistically achieve. It’s in the hands of the experts.

5. Improve client bonding by exceeding expectations and offering a point of difference

How do you make a good experience great? Give them something over and above what they would normally receive. Nurse clinics show that the practice really cares and offers an opportunity for you to demonstrate all the extra knowledge you have about rehabilitation, exercise regulation, mobility aids and environmental enrichment. Now that’s something most clients don’t hear about from their second cousin twice removed on Facebook.