Antje Blaettner

DVM

Germany

Antje Blättner grew up in South Africa and Germany, graduated in 1988 after studying Veterinary Medicine in Berlin and Munich, and then engaged in her own small animal practice.

In 2001, she took part in a post-graduation course on training and coaching at the University of Linz, Austria, and founded “Vetkom” — a company dedicated to educating vet practitioners and vet nurses on practice management through lectures, seminars and in-house training. Antje Blättner is the editor of “team.konkret”, a professional journal for veterinary nurses and “Veterinär Spiegel”, a professional journal for vet practitioners.

Nowadays, she lectures and trains vet practitioners and vet nurses on client communication, marketing and other management-related topics in Germany and — together with Royal Canin — in over 21 countries worldwide.

Contribution

COVID-19: putting the team first

Veterinary practice is being challenged as never before with the COVID-19 pandemic; this article outlines steps to consider which can help the team and the business successfully meet the challenges presented by the crisis.

Everyday challenges

This chapter will cover some difficult situations that a vet practitioner can face. With the influence of “Dr. Google”, pet owners have more and more objections: they challenge what the vet says and does… this can lead to conflicted situations. Finally, many veterinarians are uncomfortable talking about money. Suggestions for how to talk about money are proposed in this section of the Focus.

The smooth consultation (part 3)

This last section focuses on the importance of teaching. It also explains how the perfect consultation should be structured, outlining three different stages. Lastly, we look at difficult situations veterinary practitioners may find themselves in, as well as the best way to deal with emotional blackmail.

The smooth consultation (part 1)

Vet practitioners frequently concentrate on the pet and forget about the owner… Client centricity requires some preparation and training. The consultation should follow a process where conditions are created to have a positive interaction with the pet owner, starting with a warm-up and using the communication skills explained in the chapter “Communication is a clinical skill”. In this first section, we look at warm-ups and how to establish a good relationship with owners.