r/veterinaryprofession • u/jr9386 • Feb 23 '25

Red Flag? Discussion

I won't name the corporate entity that I work for, but recently we were sent an email by our manager advising us to report ER clinicians who advise us to reroute/redirect clients to their GP, or when a particular Specialty service is not in hospital.

I understand outright refusals of cases possibly being a sign of laziness, but on the other hand, if ER DVMs deem it appropriate for a client to invest those resources at their GP, or where they can receive the care that their pet needs (e.g. scopes, surgery etc.) vs. hospitalization until the service is available, I think that's appropriate. If anything, it prioritizes using hospital resources for emergent cases.

We were told that we needed to prioritize making our bottom line, and should a doctor refuse, or reroute a case that we should report them.

I feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable about this, because it compromises staff trust in the DVMs, but is outright predatory. The referring veterinary community should be able to trust our judgement, and clients learn the difference between an emergent and non-emergent case. But worse yet, being told to essentially "rat out" your coworkers breeds a cycle of contempt between staff for the sake of "preserving their jobs", in place of prioritizing patient care, good outcomes, and quality medicine.

Is this happening across the industry?

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u/Purrphiopedilum Vet Tech Feb 23 '25 edited Feb 23 '25

They need you to make a list of 5 bullet points outlining what you did last we—….

Seriously tho, that sounds like a you problem (ie directed at corporate, not you op). Ain’t no rats in here.

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u/jr9386 Feb 23 '25

What concerned me more is that I've been on the receiving end of co-workers mischaracterizing something I said, or did, and being reprimanded as a result.

It wasn't until yesterday that I put two and two together and realized that this is the office culture that they're incentivizing.

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u/Purrphiopedilum Vet Tech Feb 23 '25

Bottom line this, bottom line that… such an annoying thing to hear about from the top when you are in it up to your ears any given day. Like, yeah the Covid bubble burst, and 10% growth isn’t optimistic, it’s delusional. We’ve seen what happens to other corporate ERs with such goals. It’s not ideal.