Revolutionising Veterinary Care: Elevating Vet Nurses and Tackling Shortages with Dr. Stuart Burrough

Julie South: How can harnessing the potential of vet nurses transform the future of veterinary care?

Welcome to the second of three episodes featuring Dr Stuart Burrough, a veterinarian with a passion for innovation, respectful leadership and, as you'll hear, a commitment to ensuring vet nurses reach their full professional potential.

Today, we delve into how vet nurses can boost veterinary practice efficiency amidst veterinarian shortages. Dr Stuart shares the principle for task delegation used at Vet Marlborough, which frees up valuable time for veterinarians. We also explore the transition required from vet to business owner.

Join us as we uncover these topics to answer the question how can harnessing the potential of vet nurses transform the future of veterinary care?

Also, stay tuned to the end to be the first to hear about some exciting changes happening at vet staff over the coming weeks.

You're listening to Paws Claws and Wet Noses, the vet podcast, celebrating all creatures, great and small, and their fantabulous professionals who look after them all. Paws Claws, wet Noses is powered by Vet Staff, new Zealand's only specialist recruitment agency dedicated to helping veterinary professionals find jobs that they're excited about going to on Monday mornings vetstaff.co.nz.

Welcome to episode 136.

I am your show host, Julie South, as I always recommend you do with a series if you haven't listened to the first episode, in this case with Dr Stuart Burrough. 

I recommend you stop listening now and go back and listen to that, because it'll give you context for today's show.

If you're a small animal veterinarian and you're looking for a change of pace, a change of scene, then especially listen with a view to what it might be like working on Dr Burrow's team.

The vet staff team is privileged to be working with Dr Burrough and Katharine at Vet Marlborough to help them find their next dream team member, someone who's into providing best practice standards of care, being part of a team where everyone's supported to bring their best selves to work each day and to utilising, as we'll hear today, the professional skills of vet nurses in every way possible.

If you'd like to know more, then please get in touch with either Isabelle or myself at vetstaff.co.nz to have a preliminary confidential chat.

We join this conversation today where I ask Dr Burrough whether he had plans at 14 to own his own veterinary clinic and how that came about.

Dr Stuart Burrough: Probably not when I first started, but it was always something that was very much on my mind that I wanted to be an owner.

I actually started off working for the Graham Vet Club, which was a farmer-owned cooperative.

As I said before, I was lucky to have the opportunity to start in clinical practice and get that experience.

I worked there for three years and then I moved to a small practice where I was actually a sole practitioner and expanded to employing me over in Richmond. He did offer me a partnership but very quickly in the next breath said but I want to retain full financial control.

And I thought, well, I can't see how this is really going to work as a partnership.

And even though that was working in Richmond, that my wife lived over the road at the time. We met and got married, but we ended up with felt well, it doesn't look like that's going to be the practice where there's a strong future. So at that stage I got offered a job back at another practice in Blenheim and moved back And after 12 months I was offered a chance to buy and to become a partner.

Yeah, I guess I've always had sort of I guess you know leadership ambitions, wanted to have some control over my future destiny and be involved in decision making. So it just seemed a natural progression.

Julie South:   It's one thing being a vet, and on the tools And it's a completely different thing to be the leader and responsible for feeding people, because when you own the business, everything stops at you at your desk.

What have you discovered?

Was it what you thought was ownership, what you thought it would be, and what have you learned?

Dr Stuart Burrough: Yes, there is a lot of responsibility that goes with it because of you know, all of your staff.

You're responsible for their well-being and then being able to put, you know, food on the plates for their families as well.

And, I guess the biggest challenge for me because I've always been, you know, one of the major fee earners not the major fee earner in the practices where I've been And learning to, I'll please show you working on the business rather than in the business, and so that was a difficult thing to learn.

That, you know. For the business to be successful, you don't you have to sometimes put down the tools, but you've got to have the people that can do that for you and the confidence in them and train them and so on, so that you can spend some time, you know, looking at your strategy and so on, and I've always really enjoyed strategy and looking at, you know, ideas and opportunities.

I'm one of those people that's terrible at, you know, finishing things off because I've moved on to the next thing, but I get a real thrill out of that and I suppose why some of the innovations that we've already talked about have been an important part of me and practices being because I, you know, enjoy moving into that next frontier or looking at new ideas and trying to be a bit different and being successful from that.

Julie South: I'm an ideas person as well, and when you're an ideas person, you need to know that you've got people behind you that absolutely love finishing things. Yes, yes.

Dr Stuart Burrough: Absolutely Well and I think you know, as we have grown and evolved I mean we initially had an office manager but when we started Vet Marlborough, with the three partners at the time and equal ownership, I was given responsibility for the staff and HR and I'm not sure whether it was because they were the other two rolled of, the man thought, well, we couldn't tell them what he needs to do. But I've always been a good listener.

I think I'm pretty empathetic and understanding, but also a good negotiator, and I found it very, very difficult initially to.

You know I hated conflict and I avoided those difficult conversations, but that's something that I guess I'll you know had.

Well, I had become a lot better at with training and experience And it's one of the principles I've always lived by is that looking at someone else's perspective And sitting in a room, you know basing one another, but the room is constant.

But if you're sitting opposite me, your perspective of that room is totally different to my perspective And sometimes it's important to be able to swap seats and understand the other person's perspective

And that principle has really helped me a lot through my career.

But, yes, I think the biggest step that has enabled me to, I suppose, utilize those skills more has been the appointment of a practice manager, and Katharine has actually been with us since we opened the doors of  in 1998.

So 25 years of service is pretty incredible.

And she's grown up, you know, through the ranks that offers as a bit nurse and is now very indispensable as practice manager, and she's supported by a very able and gifted support or admin manager.

The two of them together have incredible skills there. They bounce off one another but support one another really well And I know that if I give them tasks and these ideas that they're very good finishes.

Julie South:  It sounds like you invest in training. Is that an assumption, a good assumption, a fair assumption to make?

Stuart Burrough: Yes, well, actually, I suppose yes, I've always had a passion for continuing education and have held roles in the profession. Well, I'm the council for the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists and prior to that I had been on the board for the Veterinary Continuing Education.

In fact, I got made the patron of the New Zealand Vet Nurses Association because I was disgusted at the time when vet nursing was sort of in its infancy, with qualifications rather than just the sort of on-site training where I criticised our profession for the fact that some veterinarians wouldn't even let their nurses go away to a conference for training, let alone pay for them to go and give them that leave as time away rather than as annual leave.

So yeah, things have evolved a lot from that time, but I've always seen the value of investing in continuing education and training about people and developing the team.

Julie South: And when? you? I guess you've sort of answered my question, but a lot of practices invest in their vets but see training in their nurses as a cost and therefore don't Do you train all professions, all areas in your clinic.

Dr Stuart Burrough: Yes, right across the board, and that you know it's harder to find suitable training for some of the like the reception staff or an admin, but through our vet company group, which is an independent group of nine veterinary practices, we have special interest groups that cover all of those areas.

So our vet nurses all get together for a day of continuing education, training every year, the same with our admin and HR, our salespeople, the vets obviously, etc. So that's been important.

And through the Vet Company we have just recently, well, we've had our second traveling workshop on wellness and well-being. So that's an area that we put a lot of emphasis into now as well.

But our nurses we, as part of our best practice accreditation, our nurses have to be trained and qualified. But we've always utilized our nurses to a high degree. You know they're very skilled people, they're highly trained, they're passionate about their work, and so that has enabled us to operate to practice more efficiently, because they're given a lot of responsibility, from admission of patients and attending to the consents

And well, it's not paperwork anymore, because that's all done on a tablet through smart flow.

But they do the pre-anaesthetic checks, they put in catheters, they calculate and draw up our pre-meds and anaesthetic medications and so on. They're assisting in our more complex surgery scrubbing and doing the anaesthetics that are very capable of doing radiographs, drawing and running blood tests, urinalysis, etc.

So you know, it makes for them a much more rewarding career and a lot more interest, but it also, you know, helps with our vets to utilize their time more efficiently.

Some that come from other practices struggle initially with not doing everything themselves and handing over past our nurses. But yeah, it's a great team effort and the nurses get highly involved in our case management.

Julie South: When you were at Massey were vet nurses, a thing You would have been on the cusp, yeah.

Dr Stuart Burrough: Yes, no, when I, there was certainly no training for vet nurses at MASSI at that stage And when my early stages of the career was, you know, often school leavers that liked animals would be taken on and trained to become a vet nurse, but they had no knowledge of, you know, anaesthesia or any of the training that the nurses get now.

So it's been an important development and it's great to see the vet nurses get more recognition. I mean slowly. pay rates are improving but they have been certainly underpaid for the responsibility that they have. Things are moving in the right direction there.  finally.

Julie South:   If there's a vet nurse listening right now who is in a clinic where she's underutilized, what would you say to him or her or she, or they, him or her they are underutilized. What would you say to them to take the first step to get the vet to trust them? because it is a matter of trust in some cases, isn't it?

Dr Stuart Burrough:  Yes, or it's just that it's always been done that way and the vet's been used to doing it.

Yeah, I think that sometimes it can be difficult for the vet to let go and, as you say, to have that trust. I think that the vet nurse needs to be able to show them or demonstrate what they are capable of and just to have, I suppose, the confidence to say look, do you mind, can I do that, or can I have a go at putting in that IV catheter or taking that X-ray or whatever, and hope that the vet might come to realise well, actually that can save me a lot of time.

Our nurses have come to us at times with a like I've sort of written out business plan of something that they have presented to us, of things, projects or things that they think can improve the practice.

So, yeah, there's got to be some initiative to put yourself forward, which sometimes doesn't come easily for the personality types that are attracted into vet nursing.

Julie South: How about for the vets listening to this? What do you say to them?

Dr Stuart Burrough: Well, I think there's a lot that they can learn by utilising their nurses. I mean, it's unfortunate that some practices because I had a vet just recently contact me about what was our vet to nurse ratio because his fellow directors were looking at the cost of employing all these nurses I think for the vets with juggling so many balls and where there is a shortage of vet near ends as well, that in actual fact vet nurses are very capable of doing so much of what a vet can do

And we have vet nurse consults in our practice, which has really helped ease some of the pressure on the vets when we've been stretched to the limit.

But I think, yeah, look at what some of the things that sort of technical or technicians jobs associated with being a vet that can free up a lot of time if you can hand that over and ask somebody else and delegate those tasks for drawing and running those bloods or taking some x-rays or some research.

Julie South:  Somebody needs to design a programme of veterinary delegation. How to veterinary delegation 101.

Dr Stuart Burrough: Well, I think we're the principle that we've tried to look at and deciding who should be doing some of the tasks, because it does involve rethinking how a lot of things are done in the practices, thinking well, who is the least qualified or the lowest paid person in the practice that is capable of performing this task? It's a good principle to look at how you might change dividing up roles and responsibilities.

Julie South  It's a good benchmark to use. If any of what you heard here today sounds like the type of team you'd like to be on, remember to get in touch with either Isabelle or myself at vetstaff.co.nz. 

I will put the contact information for us in the show notes page where you're listening to this podcast. Now, changing the subject, at the beginning of this episode I said exciting things were happening at vetstaff. Did you like that sound effect? 

The first announcement I'm excited about is that we're rebranding our podcast from Paws Claws Wet Noses to the Vetstaff podcast. Why the change? Well, besides the fact that Paws Claws Wet Noses is quite a bit of a mouthful, the new name, the Vetstaff podcast, better reflects our dedication to supporting exceptional vet clinic employers, like Vet Marlborough, whom you heard from today. 

Our mission is to help great employers shine online and strengthen their recruitment marketing strategies. 

If you're a great employer looking to attract top talent and enhance your recruitment efforts, then let's connect and explore how we can assist you. In addition to highlighting exceptional employers, we'll also feature interviews with ancillary professionals who contribute to creating people first workplaces. 

The Vetstaff podcast is committed to promoting sustainability, respect for people and our planet within the veterinary sector. For a loyal Paws, claws, wet Noses. Podcast followers rest assured that the transition will be seamless. I promise it won't hurt a bit, because the RSS feed remains the same. New episodes will continue to appear in your podcast feed as usual, so you don't need to do anything except keep an eye out for the updated branding. 

The Vetstaff podcast is dedicated to the vet clinics that prioritize their people and the professionals who aspire to work for them. 

Join us on this journey of empowerment and discover a world where veterinary clinics thrive by putting their people first. 

The other announcement I am thrilled to make is to introduce our exciting leadership and personal development program, designed exclusively for head-to-head nurses. This transformative 60-minute monthly online group meeting empowers your nursing team with essential personal and leadership skills to elevate your nursing team to reach new heights. 

Using a train-the-train approach, head nurses will receive a comprehensive toolkit enabling them to enhance their leadership capabilities, one module at a time. The format involves a 60-minute online session each month, led by your head nurse and then followed by them, disseminating the strategies covered to their nursing team for seamless implementation. 

The impact of our one-on-one coaching sessions in clinics this year has been overwhelmingly positive, which has prompted us to launch a trial group program across 10 clinics in New Zealand and 10 in each state in Australia. 

Don't miss, please don't miss this opportunity to be part of the pioneering groups in New Zealand and Australia. 

Leading the program will be Tania Bruce, who is a seasoned professional with a background as a head ortho vet nurse in a small animal clinic who has since become a qualified life coach, and myself also an experienced life and business coach. 

Both of us are ready to guide your team through this transformative journey, you are invited to take the proactive first steps towards unlocking the full potential of your nursing team. 

To do that, contact me ASAP,  julie@vetstaff.co.nz, to secure your spot in this exclusive program. 

Tania and I will be looking forward to joining your head nurse on the path of growth, empowerment and success. 

And finally, to change the subject yet again, have you checked out the Revive Your Drive 2-Minute Videos, bite Size Videos, video Shorts designed to help veterinary employees and employers juz up their mental health? 

These 31 2-Minute Revive Your Drive videos, originally designed for Mental Health Awareness Month of May, are still online. They will remain online and they have bite size tips on managing conflict in the workplace, prioritizing workloads and how achieving work-life balance and blend is possible. 

Check out vetclinicjobs.com forward slash resources or find the link on the show notes page. 

Wherever you are listening to this podcast right now, this is Julie South signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you. You can be Kia kaha, ka kete anu. God bless 

Paws, Claws and Wet Noses. Is sponsored by Vetstaff. 

If you've never heard of Vetstaff, it's New Zealand's only full service recruitment agency 100% dedicated to the veterinary sector. Vetstaff has been around since 2015 and works nationwide, from Cape Reinga to The Bluff and everywhere in between. 

As well as helping Kiwis, vetstaff also helps overseas qualified veterinarians find work in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Visit wwwvetstaff.co.nz.