She was a brilliant mind. She was Mensa. She had built her own practice as a sole owner, and then proceeded to build a super new facility, all on her own ability and income. No silver spoon for this lady! She always could see the other side of every question. There was such a desire for knowledge and insight that even the smallest of the details had to be understood, before she would move the practice and staff forward into unknown territory. She attended continuing education far beyond that of any mortal. Her quest for new and better knowledge was amazing! She used various consultants for medicine, surgery, and management. Her diagnostic intensity for curative medicine was so outstanding that other practices in the area often used her for second opinion referrals, supplemental diagnostics, or even advanced medical or surgical care, which was beyond normal expectations.

Her desire for client education was noteworthy. She would ensure the client felt involved in each decision of the healthcare process. Her newsletters were usually multi-color sources of great information. The self-developed hospitalization consent forms were multi-pages, with many options and yes-no inquiries, many for specific conditions, rather than just a general use form. Her client handouts were in color, with pictures, diagrams, and multi-dimensional flow charts for decisions. She ensured the clients had all the answers before they left.

The in-house procedures were detailed and complete, and the doctor was in control each step of the way. The ultrasound and endoscopes were used daily, as well as all the other diagnostic equipment. Imaging and laboratory income rates were well above the reported best-of-best practice averages. Clients were shown picture after picture to ensure they understood what was being said and what was still needed. Her veterinary software was put on two servers, working in mirror image, with only a few seconds delay, so there was never a fear of losing anything. The veterinary software had tailored prompts at many key junctures, details seldom seen on similar systems from the same vendor. She made the information technology system sing! She had clipboards with specifically designed forms to track software entries at multiple points in the process and practice flow, so they could ensure the detailed check-and-balance of data entry.

After 9/11 and the terror of terrorists, the front door swing slowed. She sought help from a national consultant. The first consultant used coupons and discounts to entice clients to come back into the practice, and could not change the door swing rate. After 9/11, those general practices, who had been clearly stating the wellness "needs", saw a great increase in fall quarter return rates. People found safety and comfort in their companion animals, when they were "cocooning", and when they ventured back out, wanted the best for their animals. Inversely, after the 9/11 stress and cocooning, those general practices, who had been offering options and wanting clients to make difficult choices for which most clients have not been trained to make in levels of therapy or care, saw a reduction in wellness traffic during the fall quarter.

Clients did not want more stress of making decisions about medical things they did not know. About this time, our veterinarian added two new graduates, who tried to emulate her, so we now had the academic assault on clients from three doctors.

With the help of a new practice consultant, a realization was finally reached: they needed to simplify. She accepted that she had a brilliant mind, she knew she was Mensa, and she realized quickly that she had made it all too difficult for the lesser mortals. She realized that client access had to be made easier, forms had to be simplified, and clients needed to know the "wellness need", not the medical details learned during four-years of veterinary school and abundant CE courses. She started to simplify her approach, and with the help of her consultant, initiated a new client-friendly vocabulary. For example, kidney failure diet became kidney friendly diet, recommend became need, and annual vaccinations became life cycle review of the pet's needs, including genetic predispositions and protection level from diseases of the community. Wellness was now being delivered with the same intense patient focus that made her feel good about what she did. The detailed exam room medical briefings of clients by the doctor was shifted to consultation room privacy, used for staff members to provide pet parenting information to caring pet stewards, and the nurturing the awareness of the needed pet care. Every client, with any pet, having an outstanding "need", was now being contacted by phone, and the pet parenting awareness of available services discussed.

She let go of the process details and regained the big picture that had successfully built the original practice. The front door must swing. Her staff assumed accountability for streamlining the forms to be more client friendly, creating a fifty percent reduction in paper during the first month. Concurrently, staff assumed responsibility for specific hospital facility zones, resource utilization and obligation, and scheduling, which was actually a ninety-day developmental process. Doctors committed to staying on schedule, respecting the staff emphasis on client-centered patient advocacy, and remaining loyal to a set of consistent standards of care and inviolate core values. Procedures were aligned with reasonable performance expectations, and multi-tasking use of consultation rooms and inpatient treatment stations was increased. The front door started to swing. The practice met the client's expectations to stay on schedule and provide superior veterinary healthcare delivery. The word started to spread in the community: courtesy pet parenting, behavior management, staying on schedule, reasonable wellness prices, with knowledgeable and empathetic doctors and staff.

Her perseverance of the clear client-center, her strong patient advocacy, and the pursuit of diagnostic intensity, when the need was there, came together almost immediately, and a thirty-percent-plus increase in net started to occur monthly. She smiled all the way to her next CE course, with more time off as the added benefit.