This is Thomas (and Sheba) ...
Thomas works for Noah's Ark Veterinary Clinic as an animal care attendant. He is currently training to become a veterinary nurse and therefore has been participating in client consultations and assisting with treatment procedures. The clinic is located in a large town and mainly services families and their domesticated pets such as dogs, cats and birds, occasionally they see a more exotic pet like a snake or an injured native animal. Communication is an important part of Thomas' daily duties and his training regime.
Who do you have to communicate with each day?
Mainly my colleagues and our clients. Our clinic is owned by a husband and wife team who are both veterinarians, they are the bosses. There are also two other veterinarians who work on a part time basis, two nurses, myself, another animal care attendant and our receptionist. We have about twenty patient appointments each day, however there are also some walk-ins and people who visit to make appointments or buy some of our retail products as well as deliveries. We also speak with clients and other stakeholders on the phone fairly regularly.
How does your team collaborate and share information?
We have a regular weekly team meeting, every Monday morning. Everyone attends if possible and we take minutes (notes) of the meeting discussion for the benefit of anyone who couldn't be there. At these meetings we discuss all the animals that are currently in-house and provide updates on their progress. I am required to provide a report on my allocated animals. The bosses also provide everyone with a summary of how the business is going, marketing initiatives, events and any relevant information that we need to know such as new equipment or techniques.
The meetings are a good opportunity for me to ask questions about any animal or process that I need clarification on.
Other methods that we use to share information include internal emails and written records / notes on noticeboards. The written notes are particularly useful in the animal housing areas as this is how we communicate feeding, exercise, treatment, and progress information to other staff rostered on different shifts.
What methods of communication do you use to liaise with external stakeholders?
Mainly face-to-face discussions, telephone, and email. Clients visit the clinic and telephone regularly to make appointments, bring their pets in for treatment or enquire about some of our specialised services and procedures. We also provide email communication on treatment reminders and appointment confirmations. Recently we started using social media to advertise our clinic and I have been involved with this project as it is an interest of mine. We now run regular ads on Facebook and Instagram. We also have a website that links to the social media pages for potential clients to research. Commonly, the website is used to outline the clinic’s services, bookings, testimonies from clients as well as posting the monthly newsletter. (The monthly newsletter is also emailed and posted to regular clients)
Our bosses have high expectations on how we communicate, we need to always be polite and professional, listen attentively, follow their requests and procedures, and use appropriate industry terminology to explain procedures and products to clients.
Sometimes clients have very specific requests that requires a bit of extra research in order to provide them with a solution or answer. In these situations, I sometimes need to let the client know of the possible delay while I obtain the necessary information and then follow up with their query afterwards.