More Time to Be a Veterinarian
As a modern manager, it is important to have time and energy for coaching and professional development of employees. The management tool ISO Dyrlægen releases owners and key employees from time and work pressure – time that can be used for professional tasks, discussions and spending more time as a veterinarian and veterinary nurse.
About the management and quality tool ISO Dyrlægen
The ISO certification indicates a modern management tool which, among other things, helps to highlight where in workflows errors are occurring in order to avoid wasting unnecessary amounts of time. With a factual overview, it is possible to assess the need to change relevant workflows and provide good information and instruction for new colleagues. Responsibility for the many tasks in the clinic is distributed and tasks are described, so you become less vulnerable in the event of maternity leave, illness and/or terminations. Customer satisfaction and the bottom line is improved. This allows you more time for professional and strategic development. And more time for veterinary tasks.
A good tool for modern management
As a modern manager, it is important to have time and energy for coaching and professional development of employees. Previously, it was the manager or middle manager who gathered much of the knowledge about daily tasks and on that basis, arranged employees' time. In a modern company, the manager achieves authority through delegation of responsibility and by working with improvement and optimisation across the clinic. This ensures greater employee satisfaction and satisfied employees are more efficient and more loyal.
Knowledge and routines shared more broadly
All relevant routines and workflows are written down. A kind of "This-is what-we-do" manual. The routines of the day, week, month and year are entered in a system and become visible to all employees. In this manner, the overview is distributed among several people and everyone knows when to do what. It releases owners and key employees from time and work pressure – time that can be used for professional tasks, discussions and spending more time as a veterinarian and veterinary nurse.
With ePraksis-VET, you gather all the clinic's relevant documents in one place. Procedures, to-do lists, treatment protocols, guides and links to circulars and legislation, as well as other relevant information.
Routines releasing resources
When all important routine tasks and monitoring tasks have been entered in a system, all employees know when, and how, which tasks should be performed.
Everyone has access the to-do list for the day and the week, where it is clearly stated who is responsible for what. And everyone has the possibility of offering to respond to tasks if, for example, they have a waiting period between two patients.
At the same time, the ISO certification ensures a level of transparency that is clear and easy for employees to navigate. This makes you less vulnerable to the changes and challenges that always exist within an employee workforce (e.g. maternity leave, illness and job transfers). For example, it eases the starting process for a maternity leave substitute, so that the new employee can quickly understand and take over the task.
If several employees call in sick or have to be moved to more urgent tasks, the activity list gives an overview for the prioritising. Some routines can be postponed for a week or 14 days. Other routines have to be implemented immediately to ensure continued operation. The activity list enables you to make the best decisions so that patients, clients and employees are burdened as little as possible.
Minimizes time spent on troubleshooting
Relevant errors and also inappropriate incidents are recorded in ePraksis-VET – and are quantified so that the most important sources of error and problems are addressed. This knowledge is used for making decisions concerning changes in workflows and distribution. In other words, decisions are based on knowledge instead of feelings and intuitions. Thus it equips you to see:
- Suppliers with their many back orders, misdeliveries, etc.
- Equipment that is not being maintained and/or breaks down
- Medicines that are out of date and need to be destroyed
- Lack of information for customers
- Errors due to lack of training/information for employees
You get an overview, which is used to improve the workflows where unnecessary extra time often has to be spent. Fewer errors free up time – time that you can spend on veterinary tasks.
Better Bottom Line
Through the daily focus on structuring and delegation of routine tasks, time spent on correcting mistakes and talking to angry or dissatisfied customers is minimized. This freed-up time can be spent on professional development and more hours be given to treating patients. This results in better earnings per veterinarian.
With the ISO system, you localise the suppliers who make errors or are delayed with deliveries or who deliver items of too poor quality. With factual knowledge at your fingertips, it is much easier for you to negotiate a better framework for your trade. And you can make rational decisions about possible replacement of suppliers.
Happier Customers
With a certification as an ISO Dyrlægen and with the ePraksis-VET tool, you ensure high quality in your treatment of the animals and your contact with the clients. With the focus on comprehensive medical records for all patients you can easily review any patient's course of treatment. In this way, you create a closer dialogue with the customer, and customers who feel themselves remembered and heard become loyal customers and, in the long run, your ambassadors. At the same time, comprehensive medical records ensure the best conditions to care for patients when covering for a colleague.
Through certification, you allow yourself look over your shoulder whenever you wish. It keeps you on top of the daily routines and creates a high quality of contact with customers and patients. At the same time, you minimize sources of error that can create dissatisfaction and affect the quality of the individual treatment courses.
The clinic's procedures and routines are assembled in one place. No more thick binders and "PostIt notes".
Deviations are recorded in the system and provides an overview of where to take action to improve quality.
When all routines and procedures are combined in one place, new employees more rapidly become able to work on their own.
Internal and external audits and the entire annual calendar for the certification are described in ePraksis-VET.
Large Knowledge Database
90 percent of the tasks in modern clinics are similar to each other. Knowledge sharing makes it easy for you to build your own routines and job descriptions.
The clinics and hospitals that are members of the certification scheme share job descriptions and workflows with each other. In ePraksis-VET you get access to over 700 documents with descriptions of workflows, routines, processing protocols and so forth. You can copy the material and use it in the clinic one to one, or you can use it as inspiration to build your own descriptions.
In addition, ePraksis-VET contains many other solutions and guides that are relevant to the operation of an veterinary clinic/hospital. These include recommendations from the Danish Veterinary Association, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Guide, supplier management tools and much more. And of course, the hygiene manual is also available in digital form, so it can be searched quickly and easily. The latest additional "tool" is a solution for handling the Danish Working Environment Authority's requirements regarding APV [arbejdspladsvurdering (workplace risk assessment)] and chemical risk assessment, which is an integrated solution in ePraksis-VET.
Furthermore, there is relevant professional veterinary information from several of the industry's suppliers, so it is easy to access the latest knowledge from experts in different subject areas.
The focus is "engage with each other better"
Statistics from the latest internal audits from many years confirm that although the purpose of internal auditing is to check that the clinic meets the requirements of the certification, the "culture" is to ensure knowledge sharing and to inspire each other to improvement and optimisation of clinic performance.
The image shows the distribution of "findings" from internal audits in 2021.
The Best Management and Quality Management System on the Market
ePraksis-VET is a management and quality management system designed by veterinarians for the veterinary industry. It will be made available to you as part of your membership of the ISO Dyrlægen.
With ePraksis-VET, you gather all the clinic's relevant documents in one place. Procedures, to-do lists, treatment protocols, guides and links to circulars and legislation, as well as other relevant information. Be finished with thick binders, outdated circulars and piles of papers. This provides an overview of the clinic with order and "peace of mind".
Designed by veterinarians for the veterinary industry
The ISO Dyrlægens's Quality Manual is an elaborate document that takes into account all the elements of an ISO 9001 certification for animal clinics and hospitals. It is simple to use and easily accessible; it works effectively in a busy and hectic "day's work".
The clinic's workflows can be structured with the help from the descriptions of relevant work procedures and sequences. Each procedure can be associated with a reminder function to create an overview of both small and large tasks that are necessary for the clinic to function optimally. At the same time, the procedures ensure that everyone can quickly gain insight into how a task is performed. The knowledge that lies within the procedures remains within the clinic if one or more employees change jobs or fall ill. Through a comprehensive overview in ePraksis Knowledge, the remaining employees can have an overview of which tasks need to be solved and how they are solved.
The Quality Committee continuously draws up recommendations with inspiration and a comprehensive overview of relevant topics. In addition, a "Toolbox for Supplier Management“, idea catalogues for knowledge sharing and open house events, etc., have been prepared.
The ISO certification is based on self-inspection and the ISO 9001 standard's requirements for internal and external audits. Here you will continuously work to improve and optimize your routines and workflows based on knowledge from deviations, audits and inspiration from other members.
Let's begin with a noncommittal meeting
If you want to know more, we can start with a non-binding meeting online.
Call or text me and we'll find a time that fits your calendar.
Best regards
Heidi Sommer
Quality Manager ISO Dyrlægen
Mobile +45 30 92 15 00
iso-dyrlaegen@ddd.dk
