Improving staff wellbeing within veterinary clinics

Associate Professor and Head of Programmes for Te Kura Oraka Kararehe (School of Animal Health/Veterinary Nursing) at Otago Polytechnic, Dr Francesca Brown, says veterinary clinic staff are not well-utilised in New Zealand and this can impact staff wellbeing.

“Here, the ratio of veterinarians to support staff is 1:1 or 1:2, when the international literature indicates it should be 1:5 or 1:6.”

Francesca engaged with employers, employees and educators to discuss the optimal utilisation of staff in companion animal veterinary practices. Six educators, seven employees and eight employers participated in a pre-focus group survey, and three educators, five employees and four employers participated in three focus groups.

“In the survey, we listed many tasks that happen in a clinic, and asked the participants who they thought should be doing these tasks,’ she says.

It quickly became apparent that nobody was clear about who should do what, Francesca says, but the core indicator of workplace wellbeing was support staff being allowed to do the jobs they had been trained to do.

“Many staff reported that they are not utilised in what they trained to do. They don't have an opportunity to grow and develop their skills and be an integrated part of the team. Instead, most of the tasks fall to the veterinarian even when they could be competently carried out by veterinary nurses or animal healthcare assistants. Vets are doing a large amount of technical-type work.”

Francesca believes this is a factor in the industry’s high turnover of veterinary nurses and health care assistants.

“According to the New Zealand Veterinary Nursing Association, about 85% of the vet nurses we train leave the profession after five years because they don’t feel they’re valued, they have low job satisfaction and they have limited career progression opportunities. If they can be retained, that’s likely a benefit for the vet nurses themselves and that is a win for the industry and also for individual businesses. There is a high cost to losing staff, having to retrain new staff and the disruption that causes a team.”

In her earlier Masters research, Francesca identified three clinics with higher levels of staff wellbeing. All had strong leadership, and all staff were valued and involved in developing solutions within the clinic.

“Skill set utilisation is important for wellbeing and job satisfaction, and contributes to better animal welfare outcomes as well. Trust is one of the foundations of wellbeing for staff. Trust within the team is needed for better utilisation of skill sets. And better utilisation of staff reduces vets’ workloads and results in improved job satisfaction for all staff. If the vets can focus on those tasks that only vets can do, a clinic may be able to see twice as many clients in a day.”

Improved efficiency can also improve client relationships, leading to fewer complaints or issues, which also has a positive impact on staff.

In developing models for more efficient task allocation, Francesca hopes to provide more clarity for veterinary clinic owners and staff about how they can operate more effectively – and for educators to show learners about how they will fit into a veterinary team. She is also creating a financial cost structure for these models, which will soon be presented to business owners, veterinary practitioners and educators to help demonstrate how it can be financially viable.

“We have developed models that shift ratios from 1:1 or 1:2, to 1:5 or 1:6, and the initial financial modelling looks like that shift is feasible,” she says. “We’re trying to build a model where the staff and educators can see how it might work, and where there is also appeal for the business owner who is thinking about the need for a financially viable business.”

Worldwide, there is a shortage of veterinarians, and Francesca believes that better clinic structures could alleviate some of the difficulties posed by this shortage.

“Changing ratios would solve a lot of the problem by allowing vets to focus on their veterinary role and veterinary clinic staff to focus on their specific roles.”

October 2022