MedVet’s Teamwork, Leadership, and Compassion Makes a Difference
At MedVet, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional care and experience every time, every day, to everyone. Delivering on this promise is how we’ve been able to enhance the lives of pets and their loving families, as well as give back to our profession, for more than three decades. This dedication is part of what makes us special. And we know it would not be possible without our caregivers and culture being anchored by our three core values: Teamwork, Leadership, and Compassion.
Dyad Leaders Embody Teamwork
Teamwork is critical to achieving the best patient outcomes in our multi-specialty hospitals. Our caregivers collaborate with each other within and across departments, and even across hospitals, to deliver the best care. This is also the case with our experience delivery as we work with each client and referral partner.
Another area in which working together as a team is key is in how we lead. We have a true healthcare dyad present at the hospital, regional, and central levels of our organization. This is uncommon in the veterinary profession. Yet, we’ve found pairing peers such as a medical director with a hospital director, a Regional Medical Director and VP of Clinical Services, and Chief Medical Officer and Chief Clinical (Nursing) Officer works exceptionally well for several reasons.
- Enables stronger connections and better informs decisions and solutions. Our Medical Directors are veterinarians by training. They understand the rigors of veterinary practice. Similarly, our Hospital Directors (the dyad partner to the Medical Director) has human healthcare or veterinary experience in clinical and/or administrative areas. This allows them to relate to their teams at a deeper level. Decisions made and actions taken also benefit from their hands-on experience.
- Leaders can play to their individual strengths. It is often said ‘two heads are better than one,’ and that’s the case with dyad leadership. In our experience, the pair’s different yet shared experiences and expertise is complementary.
- Can focus attention and have a depth of understanding. Being part of a dynamic duo means the day’s challenges do not fall on one pair of shoulders. Our Medical Directors are optimally suited to address the needs of our doctors. Similarly, Hospital Directors are best positioned to address the needs of client service representatives, veterinary technicians, and other clinical services team members.
- Facilitates collaboration, alignment, and builds consensus. Our dyad leaders role model teamwork, and by working together, help us maintain alignment, and build consensus throughout their hospital, the broader region, or even across MedVet. Ensures the collective voice and experience of our caregivers is heard.
Leadership Creates Opportunity and Advances Careers
Beyond the structure through which we lead our hospitals, leadership is evident in the meaningful ways our caregivers can own and advance their career. We encourage our team members to apply what they know and share their expertise. Leadership means supporting growth and development because advancing skills brings opportunity. Leadership also means evolving veterinary medicine to be even better – not just for our patients, clients, and referral partners – but for our teams doing the work.
We provide online access to the most comprehensive electronic resource library available and free continuing education, support research and clinical studies, and offer post-graduate mentorship and residency programs to nurture growth and advance our profession. We empower our team members to learn and grow and are dedicated to supporting professional development so that all caregivers can accomplish what they aspire to in their career. This includes a commitment to providing career advancement opportunities, cross-training, mentorship programs, scholarship opportunities, and leadership development training.
As the number of pets requiring emergency, specialty, and urgent care continues to climb, we are finding new and unique ways to advance care and service delivery by creating new roles within our hospitals. These include Hospitalists, Client Liaisons, Doctor Coordinators, Pharmacy Technicians, and Training Specialists. Not only do these new roles enhance our caregiving, but they also provide more opportunities for our colleagues in the veterinary profession – like you. This, along with providing a nationwide circle of support from talented colleagues in experience, operations, HR, IT, marketing, and finance, allows our caregivers to focus on their first love – caring for patients.
Compassion is at the Heart of Every Action, Especially When it Comes to Wellbeing
Caring for our team starts where you might expect; competitive compensation and benefits supporting our caregivers’ financial and personal wellbeing. We’ve taken care to develop a benefits approach with a long-term outlook. Initial incentives are nice, but the real advantage for our caregivers is security over time, being able to plan for their future, and having the resources and training needed to build a successful career.
- The statistics around depression and suicide in our profession are sobering and MedVet is committed to addressing this in our hospitals. We also recognize resilience requires time to recover from the challenges of daily practice; so, helping our caregivers reset and recharge is a priority.
The benefits we offer supporting personal wellbeing range from a confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP), suicide prevention and compassion fatigue training, generous paid time off, and paid parental leave, to wellbeing rooms, free access to Headspace and Talkspace, and an Employee Relief Fund.
- Much has been written about the financial burden associated with the veterinary profession. MedVet is tackling these challenges by supporting our caregivers’ financial wellbeing at all stages of their career. Sign-on bonuses, competitive compensation, access to scholarships, student debt repayment assistance, paid vacation, and 401k match help our caregivers live their best lives today, tomorrow, and in the years to come; as does covering 70% of the cost of family healthcare benefits.
Our doctor compensation model is also intentionally structured to meet present-day needs while helping build long-term wealth with the financial stability of a base pay plus a production upside. Doctors can also become shareholders as investor events are held annually.
- Importantly, we further extend our wellbeing support to include the workplace, which is often overlooked despite its significant impact on caregiver wellbeing. By investing in equipment, technology, facilities, training, and work processes, we make it easier for our team to provide exceptional care and service. This increased efficiency supports less overtime, fewer hours spent at the computer, and a more balanced work-life harmony.
A Team of Exceptional Caregivers Showing TLC Makes a Difference
There are many ways to build a rewarding career in veterinary medicine – and many organizations with which a veterinary professional can share their talents. Making sure your talents best fit with an organization’s culture is a key factor in your personal and professional wellbeing. If you’re an exceptional caregiver looking to build a career with an organization where TLC is making a difference, we hope you will contact us to learn more.