Swine veterinarians are uniquely positioned to be a champion of the pig, Clayton Johnson, DVM, with Carthage Veterinary Service Ltd., said during his Howard Dunne Memorial Lecture at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians’ annual meeting.
“No other technical support functions visit the farm and its caretakers as frequently as swine veterinarians do,” he says. “Those farm visits give us tremendous insights into what’s possible, practical and likely to be effective. We have perspective, breadth of knowledge and experience from our farm visits that put us in an enviable position to champion the pig.”
But the question is, how can veterinarians do that? Johnson offers these practical recommendations.
1. Force yourself to see every decision through the lens of the pig.
“Start small, and use this perspective when making basic, tactical recommendations on farms,” Johnson says. “You must value other considerations, but before you begin the complex process of looking for the best outcome from multiple different viewpoints, focus on the best outcome from the viewpoint of the pig.”
Once you’ve decided what’s best for the pig, create an action plan that supports this decision. Next, consider the financial impact on your farm. It’s important to understand the costs and revenue ramifications of the plan, but don’t limit yourself to pursue the action that optimizes the economic outcome. Sometimes the best option is what’s best for the pig’s well-being.
“There are times where we need to champion the well-being of the pig because it’s the right thing to do as the pig’s champion, even if it’s not the most optimal financial outcome,” Johnson says. “We also must respect the pig owners’ decisions in these situations – like all animal owners they have a limited number of resources, and they must deploy these resources strategically.”
2. Be more efficient and productive with your time.
Swine veterinarians need ruthless focus, Johnson says. A shrinking pool of on-farm veterinarians combined with an ever-increasing demand for veterinary services isn’t going to change soon.
“Focus starts with setting goals, a process that’s hard to do when you’re constantly chasing sick pigs on ambulance visits,” he points out.
He recommends veterinarians create long-term goals as well as short-term goals. End each week with a review of short-term goal progress and take time to create a plan for the next week.
“If you don’t have a plan, you’ll easily fall into the trap of jumping into the minutia to start crossing off tasks — tasks that may not be the most important things to work on,” Johnson says. “Focus on reverse time management, think through what time sinks regularly prevent you from focusing on the pig.”
He suggests asking questions like these to determine how to better hone your focus:
-Which meetings can you get out of?
-What relationships constantly require your time but rarely provide value?
-What email list serves can you unsubscribe to?
-What nonproductive screen time can you avoid?
“Don’t get caught in the efficiency trap – focus on the big problems, even if they aren’t immediately going to be checked off your list,” he says. “If you need lists, try to prioritize your tasks using the rule of the 4 Ds – for each task — either do it, defer it, delegate it or don’t do it.”
3. Advocate for a new model of veterinary services.
Johnson believes it’s time to value veterinarians having the opportunity to think through proactive solutions to chronic problems instead of spending the bulk of their time “triaging and treating the symptoms of those chronic problems.”
He says technology can be an asset as veterinarians discover ways to utilize telemedicine opportunities to be more efficient.
“Technology is also our friend in disease prevention,” Johnson says. He points out technology can be used to manage disease with novel vaccine platforms, prevent infection with gene-edited pigs and eliminate current time commitments for practicing swine veterinarians.
When it comes to disease control, the use of technology for training and empowering caretakers to make decisions regarding disease outbreaks such as simple diagnostic and decision tree tools can reduce the need for ambulance visits.
“Decreased travel needs may facilitate better retention of practicing swine veterinarians because this new working situation will allow for a more family-friendly working environment,” Johnson says. “That improved retention of on-farm vets will inevitably increase our credibility in the eyes of pig producers and caretakers.”
4. Develop your communication and influence skillset.
“From the farm to the highest levels of regulatory authority, we must embrace a more extroverted communication style than most of us are comfortable with,” Johnson says.
He believes swine veterinarians of all generations must embrace soft skills as often as they embrace work ethic. Numerous tools and techniques are available to teach improved communication processes. Gaining a great understanding of the natural tendencies of others and tailoring communication styles in that moment to best match what is well received by the audience is key, he says.
“Human beings have the will power to choose actions that are different from our tendencies,” Johnson says. “Changing your communication behaviors isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s necessary.”
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