We have heard many excuses for not having a well trained staff, and we have seen practices with dark consult rooms (about a 55% fill rate) state they do not have enough time to allow training. We have seen doctors get upset at staff about technical shortfalls in knowledge or skills, and yet had never taken the time to train their staff effectively. We have a profession doubling in knowledge every 24 months, so one month without training causes te team to become 2.5% out of date each month.
So we recommend a TRAINING DAY program - same day every week, three dedicated hours with NO CLIENT ACCESS . . . we like to close at 11 a.m. and reopen at 3 p.m., so 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. are protected hours for training and staff development activties. If you are in a heavy retired community, training time occurs in early morning or late afternoon , when the retired folk want to be at home.
In the GRAND SCHEME, let's use Thursday as an example for the TRAINING DAY.
* First Thursday is ALL STAFF MEETING (paid to come in if off shift), 11:30 to 12:30, then break for lunch. After the lunch break is planning time for coordinators, zones and trainers. The luncha nd post-lunch time is when doctors do peer review of medical records for SOC and continuity of care.
* Second & Fourth Thursdays are individual self-directed training days (see the VPC Signature Series Monograph, Staff Orientation & Training, for a 90-day individual training program by zone).
* Third Thursday belongs to the Zone Coordinator for Zone training and Zone program development.
* Fifth Thursday (not in every month) is the "invitational" day, when the staff or zone can invite other zones or vendors or community speakers intyo the practice for new ideas or problem resolution.
Those practices who have a training day are like loggers who carry a file . . . many short breaks to sharpen their ax keeps the tree chopping easier and harvesting rates up, while those logging teams NEVER taking time to sharpen their axes during the day have a great decrease in productivity by the end of the day - dull axes do not fell trees easily. Trained staff are proud and accomplished, and far better as veterinary extenders than the old staff style of waiting to "do as they told" by an overworked veterinarian. >*-*< |