JOURNAL SCAN
DENTISTRY
• team harmony.
Once the practice is commercially viable you can get
back to the Purpose.
Stories of congruence lack the discomfort of
the stories of tension and give the feeling of an
enriched position. Independent veterinary practices
have an opportunity to generate competitive
advantage through their people by working towards
organisational and individual identity congruence. If
veterinary professionals can achieve validation and
enrichment at work, this in turn leads to employee
retention and attraction
Suggestions
• Have the ‘Commercial’ discussion at recruitment
• Make ‘Financial viability & sustainability’ one of the
practice and personal KPIs along with Clinical,
Client and Team KPIs
• Give practice financial information feedback on a
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regular basis
Be aware of ‘Fixed Mindsets’ – yours and others
Get comfortable with commercial reality
Play with your identity ‘act as if…’
Get other staff to understand
- - Why profit is important
- - How profit is generated
- - What you can do with profit to improve patient
care, client experience and team harmony
Lead by example
Reward on congruence – not turnover
Recommended Resources:
1. Mindset - Carol Dweck
2. Drive – Daniel Pink
3. Mans Search for Meaning – Victor Frankl
Research:
1. S. Page-Jones, G. Abbey, Career identity in the veterinary profession,
Veterinary Record, April 25, 2015
2. C. Roder, K. Whittlestone, S. A. May December 8, 2012, Views of
professionalism: a veterinary institutional perspective
The Use of Imepitoin (Pexion™) on Fear and
Anxiety Related Problems in Dogs – a Case Series
Kevin J. McPeake, Daniel S. Mills,
BMC Veterinary Research 2017 13:173, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-017-1098-0
Summarised from the abstract by Dr L L van der Merwe
Why they did it.
Fear and anxiety based problems are common in dogs. Besides behaviour modification programmes, a range of
medications may be utilised to treat these problems. Few of these are however licensed for use in dogs and the onset
of action of the antidepressants is delayed for up to 6 weeks. Imeptoin (Pexion™) is a low affinity partial benzodiazepine
receptor agonist licensed for treating canine epilepsy and has a fast onset of action in dogs and has shown anxiolytic
properties in rodent models.
What they did
In a case series the use of imepitoin in a group of dogs identified as having fear/anxiety based problems is reported on.
Twenty dogs were enrolled into the study. They underwent a behaviour consultation and routine laboratory evaluation.
Nineteen dogs proceeded to be treated with imepitoin orally twice daily (starting dose approximately 10 mg/kg, with
alterations as required to a maximum 30 mg/kg) alongside a patient-specific behaviour modification plan for a period
of 11–19 weeks. Progress was monitored via owner report through daily diary entries and telephone follow-up every
two weeks.
What they found
Seventeen dogs completed the trial. Treatment with imepitoin alongside a behaviour modification programme resulted
in owner reported improvement with reduced AWG (average weekly global scores) and reduced AWR (average weekly
reactivity scores) for anxiety across a range of social and non-social trigger events/contexts including noise sensitivities.
Significant improvement was apparent within the first week of treatment and even further improvement was seen at
the 11 week review point. 76.5% of owners opted to continue imepitoin at their own expense after completion of the
study.
Conclusions
This study provides initial evidence indicating the potential value of imepitoin (Pexion™) alongside appropriate
behaviour modification for the rapid alleviation of signs of fear and anxiety in dogs. Further research with a larger
subject population and a placebo control would be useful to confirm the apparent efficacy reported here.
vet360
Issue 02 | MAY 2019 | 14