Communication for Veterinary Practices
Soft Skills
Communication for Veterinary Practices
In the veterinary profession, contact with the public and customer service occupies 50% of the functions. That is why intuition, observation skills and communication are key to success. Losing a customer can be due to many reasons, but there is always a common denominator: poor communication. Thus, communication is an essential subject for all practitioners and practice managers that needs to be trained, improved and empowered.
In a working setting where the average consultation time is only 15 minutes, the differentiating factor between practices, from the client’s biased vision, is the type of connection they manage to establish with the centre’s human team. Mastering interpersonal skills becomes a great competitive advantage for customer loyalty.
Knowing how to communicate well in the different channels enables working better and faster, reducing and reconducting conflicts, helping the client to perceive the professional’s work more positively, creating more favourable working dynamics between colleagues and, in short, being happier at work. So, at HappyVetProject we are one hundred percent sure that mastering communication is preventative mental health, and helps avoiding major issues such as burnout in veterinary medicine.
- With this course you will learn the factors that determine winning the trust of a pet parent or customer by conveying confidence, vocation and service whether through oral, telephonic, virtual or written discourse.
- There is a specially designed module to help you better approach the delivery of bad news, dealing with death and grief reactions from your clients, whilst safeguarding against compassion fatigue.
- You will also be introduced to key points in digital communication for the benefit of your centre, or even yourself, in terms of webpage, professional social media profile, online reputation management and public relations (posting, reviews, cyber-bullying).
For more information go to https://happyvetproject.org/
This activity equates to 5.4 hours of CPD. To obtain your CPD continuing education certificate you should get at least 80% of correct answers in the 7 quizzes of the complete course on Communication for Veterinary Practices. 
Author:
DVM Nina Brito
Marketing and Communication Professional
Nina Brito holds a bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine from the Abel Salazar's Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICBAS) in Oporto, and a master's degree in Costume and Styling for Scenic Arts and Film. For years she worked as a general practitioner in a companion animal reference Hospital in Barcelona paired with stage projects and audivisuales related to arts, fashion and music. Then she worked as client follow-up and corporate communication responsible in the private veterinary field and currently holds the position of Digital Marketing Manager for the LIVISTO Group. Nina is also the creator of the LIVISTO’s anti-burnout HappyVetProject.org international platform. She is passionate about animals, personal development, sustainability, arts, and communication. As a mother of a pre-schooler and full-time passionate professional, she treasure's family time in the sofa with their cat and outdoor activities. She manages to also take classical ballet and singing classes and to participate in some musical projects from time to time.
Course modules
4. How to better communicate bad news
Soft Skills
5. Telephone, videoconference and email communications
Practice Management
6. Introduction to digital media communication
Practice Management
