RESEARCH PROJECT

Dear Laura,

The grade that you received on this project is failing (passing is 70% or higher). You must make changes to this project and resubmit it for grading. The highest grade that can be awarded on a retake exam is 70%. Please refer to your Student Handbook for information on the exam retake policy.

As a reminder, it is mandatory to resubmit a retake for this project. Your resubmitted project must demonstrate that you have mastered the learning objective for this project. If you have not made the necessary changes to attest to this, your project will be returned to you for correction.

Before making changes to this project, I highly recommend that you review my comments. These comments are meant to help guide you in the right direction when making the necessary changes and/ or additions.

Your course will not be complete until this is resubmitted and graded.

Thank you,

AS, CVT

PART 1: 3 BRANDS OF VETERINARY SOFTWARE = 45 POINTS

GRADER COMMENTS: Paper 1 Software (17/45): This project is missing a large amount of required information.

PART 2: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION = 45 POINTS

GRADER COMMENTS: Paper 2 Communication (24.5/45): This project has potential but is currently missing a large amount of required information.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (Both Papers) = 10 points

GRADER COMMENTS: Written Communication/Grammar (7/10):

Veterinary Office Management Research Project

Interpersonal Skills

Comment by Sanna, Amber: This project is lacking the following required criteria: The 4 parts of communication (sender, message, channel, receiver) – Go into detail of each part. Body Language – Examples of good and bad body language Gestures – examples Cultural Differences Paraphrasing – What is it? How to do it? Eye Contact – Why is it important? What could lack of eye contact convey to the sender or receiver? Discrimination and Prejudice in the veterinary field Patient Records – Why is proper communication in a patient’s record important? Brochures

Members of staffs at an animal hospital should possess good interpersonal skills as it plays an important role in business’ success. Each of the veterinary staff member not only needs to have a pleasing telephone personality but also be good speakers, listeners, be courteous and greet clients with a warm smile as a way of welcoming them. Besides, veterinary should focus on nonverbal communication based on an old saying that actions speak louder than words (Beebe, Beebe, Redmond, DeVito, & Goldwasser, 2016). Actions such as a smile, a wink, grimace, eye contact and grimace easily communicate a message to the clients. Veterinary technicians need to successfully communicate with other people, handle incoming and outcoming calls. Having reference points, for instance, education, experience, cultural and social barriers among others in utilizing the four basic elements of communication including the message, sender, channel and receiver which is vitalin enhancing the communication process (Beebe, Beebe, Redmond, DeVito, & Goldwasser, 2016). The reference points may act as facilitators and barriers to effective interpersonal communication and thus the veterinary technicians should be in a position to read other people quickly before sending them the messages.

Techniques for Good communication

In order to be a competent veterinary technician, one should be able to relate to the clients as a way of establishing a connection. In order to effectively relate to the clients and other staffs, veterinary technicians should possess key traits including courtesy, empathy, kindness, patience, and tact (Gerson & Gerson, 2018). Giving the right response to the questions asked determines the type of feedback a technician will receive from the client. Sometimes the questions posed to the technicians by clients are irrelevant and unnecessary but the technicians should never appear irritated nor rushed. Technicians should give written instructions alongside the verbal instructions as a way of limiting the number of questions asked but with courtesy. It is good for the veterinary techniques to use echo technique to ensure that clients understand the directions given (Gerson & Gerson, 2018). Since the technicians work in animal hospitals, clients may ask for advice about their pet’s medical conditions, and thus the technician should be careful not to discuss the different treatments types with their clients or their personal experience but rather they should tactfully refer these concerns to a veterinarian.

Techniques for good listening

Listening to the clients and co-workers is a critical but an important part of the communication process among veterinary technicians and it is incomplete without observations since gestures and mannerisms help a person to communicate. Good listeners know when to speak or not as they offer short periods of silence to give room for the clients to collect their thoughts so as to give a proper response (Brownell, 2010). Listening is an important aspect as it makes the clients be aware when not to push things, for instance, a client may be so upset about his/ her pet’s death or illness that she only wants to speak to the veterinarian. As a veterinary technician, one should prepare for listening by paying attention to what it is being said with empathy, look at the client, avoid distractions and observe how the information is being shared (Brownell, 2010). Clients need to know whether a technician cares about their concerns and thus they should spend time with clients and get to know them. They should be honest with clients, being prepared for possible questions by checking the appointment books to evaluate the incoming patients and use reference materials such as brochures and textbooks.

In order to be a good communicator and listener, technicians should pay attention and recognize non- verbal cues through observations. However, it is important to note that nonverbal behaviors mean differently to different people and it is possible to experience a contradiction between the verbal and nonverbal cues thus the observation should not be rude or judgmental but rather be keen on observing and interpreting by maintaining eye contact. As a way of ensuring that a technician develops their listening skills is through paraphrasing as they always have to paraphrase what they hear as clients are apt to get annoyed when the technicians use same words (Sommers, 2008). Appropriate listening skills are necessary for reducing conflict and miscommunication between clients and the veterinary technicians. Comment by Sanna, Amber: Grammar – Also, this is not why paraphrasing is done.