CNYACE Webinar: Topics in Wellbeing
Event Details
Presented by: Kate Boatright, VMD
There’s More Than One Way to Treat a Cat: A Practical Approach to the Spectrum of Care
Veterinarians are in the unique and challenging position of balancing the medical needs of their patients, the emotional and financial needs of their clients, and their own moral and legal obligations to both. Cases limited by client finances are a daily occurrence for many small animal practitioners. Since pets are considered part of the family by their owners, conversations between pet owners and the veterinary team can become emotionally charged, especially when finances are limited and decisions about care become life or death. These cases and the discussions that go with them can contribute to burnout for many veterinarians, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
In the real world, the gold standard care that has historically been the focus of veterinary education is not feasible for all clients. Veterinarians must develop comfort in approaching cases incrementally and learn strategies to work along a spectrum of care to help the greatest number of clients and patients. They must develop the confidence to offer a variety of options based on evidence-based medicine, client financial and emotional limitations, and the health and welfare of each patient. While veterinary education is slowly changing to focus more on the spectrum of care, as outlined in a recent JAVMA article by the Ohio State University, recent graduates may have had limited exposure to the spectrum of care concept.
All veterinary team members are invited to join a practicing rural small animal veterinarian in a case-based discussion to better understand the spectrum of care and how it can be applied in practice. We will examine the barriers that prevent us from offering a spectrum of care, how to overcome them, and tips for discussing finances with clients.
Promoting Wellbeing in the Workplace
How do you thrive in your veterinary career for 5, 10, or even 50 years? You learn to make self-care a priority. This lecture will begin with a brief review of the state of mental health in the veterinary profession. A discussion of recognizing burnout in ourselves and our team will follow using Dr. Boatright’s personal walk through professional burnout. We will explore tools and skills that can be used both to recover from and prevent burnout at the individual and team level, with a focus on setting boundaries and cultivating resilience.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the role that client finances play in patient care, the concept of spectrum of care, and how it can be applied in a private practice setting using case-based examples of both emergent and non-emergent cases.
2. Discuss barriers to practicing within a spectrum of care and how to overcome them.
3. Develop communication skills to maximize success when discussing finances with clients, especially in situations of limited finances.
4. Understand the state of mental health in the veterinary profession through a review of available data on both veterinarians and veterinary team members.
5. Recognize signs of burnout in self and coworkers.
6. Understand what the veterinary clinic can do to support mental wellness in team members.
7. Develop an understanding of specific skills that can help in burnout recovery and prevention.
For More Information:
Dr. Kate Boatright is a 2013 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and has worked in small animal practice since graduating. She has worked in small animal general practice and emergency medicine at 4 different clinics in Pennsylvania and is currently employed part-time in a rural general practice clinic and provides limited relief services to emergency clinics. Her clinical interests include feline medicine, internal medicine, surgery, and emergency medicine. She also supervises and mentors pre-veterinary and veterinary student shadows as well as new graduate veterinarians.
During veterinary school, she was the 2011 National VBMA Vice President and led the development of the original business certificate program with fellow board members. She remains involved with the VBMA as an Honors portfolio reviewer, speaker, and founding member of the VBMA Alumni.
In 2018, she began freelance writing and speaking. She wrote the Finding Balance column for Today’s Veterinary Practice in 2020 and 2021 and the Beyond the Clinic Column in 2022. She regularly writes for dvm360 and AAHA publications, including a new column on spectrum of care for NEWStat. Dr. Boatright has spoken both live and virtually to numerous veterinary schools and at state and national conferences, including ACVC 2022, AVMA 2022 and 2020, AVMA VLC 2020 and 2019. She founded KMB Veterinary Media LLC in 2021 to continue her work in educating veterinary professionals through speaking, writing, and mentorship.
In addition to her clinical work, she has been active in organized veterinary medicine since shortly after graduation. She serves as the secretary for her local association (NWPVMA), has been a District Trustee on the PVMA Board, and currently serves as the alternate delegate for Pennsylvania to the AVMA’s House of Delegates. She is the editor of the PVMA’s quarterly publication, The Keystone Veterinarian, and serves on the legislative committee. In her local area, she works with several college pre-veterinary clubs to help arrange shadowing experiences and host mock interviews for applicants. She completed the PVMA’s Power of Ten Leadership training program in 2016 and have represented her state at the annual Veterinary Leadership Conference hosted by the AVMA as an emerging leader.