Tips for a vet receptionist?

[Trematode]

Hi all!

I had a job interview at a 5-doctor clinic today. It looks promising that I am going to be offered the position. The clinic is desperate for receptionists. I am a little nervous about taking the position if it is offered to me, for several reasons:

1. My only experience with customers is though 4 years of fast food. To be quite honest, I rarely had aggressive, angry customers. The office manager told me that clients are tending to be more aggressive and demanding. I am nervous because I did not have to deal with many people like that before.

2. I have never owned animals outside of my fish and gerbils. My family got one cat when I was 15 and they now have a second cat. I do not have the common knowledge that most pet owners do about vaccines, pre and post-op care, medications, etc. The receptionist I spoke to told me that it is not too hard to learn all of this stuff and that I did not have to prepare at home for this. She told me I would pick up on it easily and that the other employees wouldn't leave me hanging if I had questions or needed help.

3. My vet experience consists of ~400 hours of volunteering (cleaning, restraining, stocking, helping the vets and techs with odd jobs... NOT interacting with customers), shadowing, and a trip abroad to volunteer in spay neuter clinics (where I learned a lot of hands-on skills, but not client interaction).

4. This clinic has a few policies that I have never seen in the clinics I have been in: no questions asked policy about euthanasia, only vaccinating when necessary (not annually), no quotes... I was wondering if these policies are going to cause issues that I normally would not expect to see from clients.

5. The last receptionist they hired was let go for messing up 3 prescriptions. Is this something that is easy to do?

The office manager seemed keen that I was interested in veterinary medicine and that I was well-educated. She also said I would pick up a lot of great skills from this job that would help me if I decide to go on to veterinary school. Also, it seems like a very positive work environment. Apparently everyone at the clinic is close with each other. The owner does a lot of work with breeders. They even have a sperm bank! I am quite keen to learn more about that aspect of vet med.

I am excited about working in what appears to be a great environment, but also nervous about my lack of experience in general.

I just wanted some advice from those who have worked as receptionists, especially if you had a similar background to me. Also, advice in general would be appreciated.

Thanks all. 🙂

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[DVMDream]

Hi all!

I had a job interview at a 5-doctor clinic today. It looks promising that I am going to be offered the position. The clinic is desperate for receptionists. I am a little nervous about taking the position if it is offered to me, for several reasons:

1. My only experience with customers is though 4 years of fast food. To be quite honest, I rarely had aggressive, angry customers. The office manager told me that clients are tending to be more aggressive and demanding. I am nervous because I did not have to deal with many people like that before.

2. I have never owned animals outside of my fish and gerbils. My family got one cat when I was 15 and they now have a second cat. I do not have the common knowledge that most pet owners do about vaccines, pre and post-op care, medications, etc. The receptionist I spoke to told me that it is not too hard to learn all of this stuff and that I did not have to prepare at home for this. She told me I would pick up on it easily and that the other employees wouldn't leave me hanging if I had questions or needed help.

3. My vet experience consists of ~400 hours of volunteering (cleaning, restraining, stocking, helping the vets and techs with odd jobs... NOT interacting with customers), shadowing, and a trip abroad to volunteer in spay neuter clinics (where I learned a lot of hands-on skills, but not client interaction).

4. This clinic has a few policies that I have never seen in the clinics I have been in: no questions asked policy about euthanasia, only vaccinating when necessary (not annually), no quotes... I was wondering if these policies are going to cause issues that I normally would not expect to see from clients.

5. The last receptionist they hired was let go for messing up 3 prescriptions. Is this something that is easy to do?

The office manager seemed keen that I was interested in veterinary medicine and that I was well-educated. She also said I would pick up a lot of great skills from this job that would help me if I decide to go on to veterinary school. Also, it seems like a very positive work environment. Apparently everyone at the clinic is close with each other. The owner does a lot of work with breeders. They even have a sperm bank! I am quite keen to learn more about that aspect of vet med.

I am excited about working in what appears to be a great environment, but also nervous about my lack of experience in general.

I just wanted some advice from those who have worked as receptionists, especially if you had a similar background to me. Also, advice in general would be appreciated.

Thanks all. 🙂

First of all, congrats on most likely finally getting a job!!

Now to address your concerns. I was 17 years old transitioning from kennel tech (cleaning, occasional restraining, no interactions with clients) to a vet assistant/tech. I am rather shy/quiet so I was scared to be interacting with the clients. They always started out by training in reception. It just so happens that my first day was a really busy day. I was shown once how to answer the phone and once how to check out a client, 3 hours later when the clinic had calmed down the person who was supposed to be in reception training me came up to see how I was doing. I learned rather quickly to just do what needed to be done because everyone else was busy. So don't worry about the learning curve, it is a big one but it is rather quick to pick up on what you need to know. If I could do it as a teenager, you will be just fine. 😉

1. Angry clients happen. It sucks, it is horrible. My number one suggestion is to remain calm, no matter how difficult it may be. If you are calm, then you are preventing the situation from getting worse. If the client has come into the clinic to complain and is making a scene in front of other clients, it is not a bad idea to ask them to kindly step into an exam room so that the issue can be discussed in a private and calm manner. Just starting off at a job, most likely another more experienced receptionist or manager/supervisor will help deal with these clients.

2. The vaccine protocols are rather easy to learn. It does not hurt to write it down or make a flow chart or whatever helps you to learn best. Keep it with you so that if a client calls and asks what vaccines his 10 week old puppy will need and when and how many, you can refer to it until you are comfortable with the information.

3. Client interaction is not that bad and often times you meet some really amazing people. Before you know it, you will have your favorite clients and the ones that you have to rather quickly, "go use the restroom" right as they are coming in. 😉

4. I can't help you here. Some of those policies seem rather weird to me, but that is something that you will have to discuss with the office managers/vets once you feel more comfortable.

5. Prescription mistakes do happen. It is not good when they happen and before I left my last clinic they had started to make two technicians check all prescriptions before they left the clinic. That meant one tech would fill the prescription, hand the bottle the med came out of and the rx going home with the client along with the doctor's notes over to another tech and that tech would verify that everything was correct. If a second tech was not available then a doctor would double check. Just be sure you are double checking of even triple checking the rx's. The one that got messed up quite a bit by one tech where I worked was levothyroxine (soloxine). It came in 0.1, 0.2. 0.3, ...... all the way up to 1.0mg. She mixed up the mg quite a few times. Just slow down a little bit and be sure of what you are doing.


***Learn the phone number to the clinic, ASAP. You don't want to get stuck leaving a message for a client and saying, "If you have any questions/concerns please call us back at uhhh.... ummmm... uh....". Just learn the phone number.*********

Hope this helps! Any other questions don't hesitate to ask. 🙂

 

[CalliopeDVM]

The most important piece of advice I can offer you is to never give out any behaviour or medical advice without your boss' explicit approval, no matter how right you think it is or no matter how often you've heard another vet say it. The post-op instructions for patients at this clinic might differ from those at another clinic, for instance. It sounds like a no-brainer, but I've heard receptionists say all kinds of things that they heard at another clinic or read somewhere that is in opposition to what the vets at their clinic think......I'm sure they think they're helping, but they're confusing clients and making things more difficult for the vet.

As far as dealing with angry people, remember to stand firm and stay calm. I'm sure you'll do fine and learn a lot of new stuff, and it's great that the manager is excited about hiring you.

 

[sunshinevet]

2. I have never owned animals outside of my fish and gerbils. My family got one cat when I was 15 and they now have a second cat. I do not have the common knowledge that most pet owners do about vaccines, pre and post-op care, medications, etc. The receptionist I spoke to told me that it is not too hard to learn all of this stuff and that I did not have to prepare at home for this. She told me I would pick up on it easily and that the other employees wouldn't leave me hanging if I had questions or needed help.

I would not worry about this 🙂 DW most owners DO NOT know anything about vaccinations, post op care etc. Even if they have an animal which has required a lot of treatment...

I would also take the whole "last receptionist was let go" reasons with a grain of salt. It would be highly unprofessional for them to tell you the full reasons why a person was fired and that was probably only part of the reason. Prescriptions are important to get right though, and you can always double check with someone else.

I think client interaction experience in vet med is SO IMPORTANT and everyone should have to have some to get into vet school - anyone can hold a cat but dealing with people is much harder! People will be upset and angry and they will yell at you for things that arent your fault and they will blame you for their own mistakes. It sucks, but dealing with it is a valuable experience as it will only happen more once you are a vet.

 

[krist]

Agreed with everything people have said here, and only wanted to add that most likely as a private practice vet, 90% of your time will be spent dealing with clients, and the best and most successful veterinarians are the ones that are the best with clients, so learning how to communicate with clients is so huge and great to learn now. Really good to be able to bring that up in vet school essays/interviews. So many people say they want to be a vet because they love animals which is great, but all the knowledge/passion/etc in the world won't help you as a practicing vet if you don't communicate well with clients.

 

[LetItSnow]

Hi all!

I had a job interview at a 5-doctor clinic today. It looks promising that I am going to be offered the position. The clinic is desperate for receptionists. I am a little nervous about taking the position if it is offered to me, for several reasons:

I don't have anything specific to add that the others didn't, other than to say: relax. Everything I read from you suggests you've got a level head and common sense. You'll do fine. 🙂

 

[Trematode]

Thanks all for the advice. I really appreciate it. 😀

The interview was a pretty interesting experience. The office manager seemed... well... honest. She told me that client interaction is not taught in vet school well that well, so working as a receptionist would be very beneficial. If only I can ever push my average 1.2 points higher so that I am granted an interview. 🙄

I came out of the interview thinking that it would be really good for me to get this experience anyway. This clinic seems to function so differently than any I have been at before. They also seemed really keen on having me and helping people who are interested in vet school. I have had a hard time finding a place to shadow in the past, let alone finding employment. I have worked my butt off for the measly ~400 (closer to 500, but hours expire after 5 years for my school) and I suddenly have the opportunity to do this. It's exciting. 😀

 

[Tobysgirl81]

A couple suggestions from working in the world of vet clinics and receptionists 🙂

First, no one expects you to know everything your first week! However, it's nice to have someone who's interested in learning. Be engaged (but not pushy) and show them that you want to learn how to do your job well.

Take your time to do things right. Most mistakes happen when people are rushing. Even if it's busy, take the extra 30 seconds or so to make sure you have the right patient, right medications, etc. People are going to get more upset that you did the wrong thing than you took a little longer to get everything right.

Be honest. If you don't know how to answer a question don't make things up. Tell the person you're not sure the answer to their question, but you'll ask a doctor (or whoever is appropriate to ask the question) and let them know. Then put them on hold or go get the answer for them. If they are asking a ton of questions you can't answer, get their name and number and let them know either you or the doctor will call them back to answer their questions more thoroughly.

If you're on the phone and someone says the name of a drug that you don't recognize, ask them to spell it out. Same goes with their own name, their dog names or anything else you're not sure of.

As an aside - some clinics offer vaccines "whenever" simply because they want to make sure the patients are vaccinated. Similarly, a lot of doctors are now switching to an "every 3 year" model for vaccinating older patients who have had their initial series and have been vaccinated annually for the first 2 -3 years of their life. So long as they aren't going into high risk areas (kennels, boarding, dogs shows, etc) they can go once every 3 years on vaccines instead of annually. So maybe that's what your clinic is doing as well?

Anyhow, don't worry! You'll do great!! Just be open to learning, stay calm and collected (most people who are angry are angry at themselves or their own circumstances and are projecting, so it's not personal), and you'll be fine!

 

[EngrSC]

You will do totally fine as a receptionist! If they use AVImark (vet software) then you have nothing to worry about ... it's super user friendly and anyone who's educated has no problems learning it!

Be friendly as a receptionist. Always ask clients how they're doing and tell them to have a great day! At the hospital I'm at we all kind of rotate between reception, tech team (in the back), and room tech. When I'm a room tech I always ask clients if I can get them some water, coffee, or tea before we begin. More often than not they say no but they always thank me for asking! Treat clients how you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes 🙂

 

[prevetdreamer]

eye contact! When I first started working with clients, I had a problem with this. I noticed once I really made an effort to make eye contact with the clients, everything went better. It helped my confidence, made the clients pay attention to me more, and gave the client more confidence in me and my knowledge. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions. It's much better to ask a bunch of questions than to make stuff up and be wrong.

have fun and good luck!

 

[zanydogz]

Trem: If this helps, I'm currently working as a receptionist at the teaching hospital here at TAMU. My advice is to relax and ALWAYS ask questions if you're not sure about something. Even if its clarifying, just ask. It's better to ask than to do something wrong and have a situation blow up. And it will totally help you with client communication. Plus, you will get a better understanding of how a practice runs from the front end of things so you'll have a more well-rounded (?) view of a clinic. I've now worked with two or three different vet medical record systems and honestly, getting the hang of them was easy. So, learning the systems for you probably won't be an issue. And as far as talking to clients go, think about being in their shoes talking to you. Learning to communicate with people is gonna be the most challenging part IMO, but its also the most rewarding in some ways.

Good luck!!! You're gonna be fine!

 

[vet2015]

I'd recommend always being sure to have a pen and paper within reaching distance and writing down any messages, refill requests, etc. that you aren't going to take care of right that moment. In my experience working reception, especially in the beginning, it is really easy to forgot things when the phone is constantly ringing and you have a group of people waiting for your attention at the desk.

Also, if you're unsure of something, always get clarification before potentially giving an owner the wrong advice. There's nothing wrong with admitting that you're unsure, as long as you follow that up by saying you will find out and then get right back to the owner.

And I definitely agree with the above advice about being sure to have the clinic phone number memorized right away. The address, fax number, and email (if the clinic has one) would also be smart to know on day 1.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great!

 

[Trematode]

Would it be a smart idea to carry a small notepad on me at all times? Seems like it would be. I've heard of techs doing it to keep things straight.

Still don't know if I have the job.
Hoping to here back today. My boss doesn't have the money to keep me on in the fall and I have heard nothing back from the other places I have applied.

 

[Trematode]

Would it be a smart idea to carry a small notepad on me at all times? Seems like it would be. I've heard of techs doing it to keep things straight.

Still don't know if I have the job.
Hoping to here back today. My boss doesn't have the money to keep me on in the fall and I have heard nothing back from the other places I have applied.

 

[vet2015]

Would it be a smart idea to carry a small notepad on me at all times? Seems like it would be. I've heard of techs doing it to keep things straight.

definitely!

 

[zanydogz]

Would it be a smart idea to carry a small notepad on me at all times? Seems like it would be. I've heard of techs doing it to keep things straight.

Still don't know if I have the job.
Hoping to here back today. My boss doesn't have the money to keep me on in the fall and I have heard nothing back from the other places I have applied.

I would definitely keep a notebook with you. I did it all the time as a tech and as a receptionist I have a personal binder with all the protocols and numbers and such.

that you get the job! I'm rootin' for you Trem!

 

[Trematode]

They haven't finished interviewing yet, but they invited me in for half a day on Monday to shadow. I am excited. 😀