Six Practical Ways Veterinary Teams Can Improve Care and Reclaim Agency

Veterinary medicine has clear principles for evidence-based care, responsible antibiotic use and client-centered decisions. The harder part is putting those principles into daily practice. The gap often comes from habits and workplace routines that feel fixed, even when clinicians have room to make a better choice.

Veterinarian Patty Khuly’s six suggestions point toward a shared concern: clinicians can reclaim some control over how they practice. That means revisiting familiar medical choices, making care plans with clients, speaking up across professional hierarchies and taking a more active role in the future of veterinary work.

Revisit familiar prescriptions and test choices

Antibiotic prescribing is one place where routine can outlast evidence. Khuly questions the reflexive use of doxycycline for kennel cough, metronidazole for uncomplicated acute diarrhea, and cefovecin or amoxicillin-clavulanate for cats with dysuria. Her point is not that every patient needs the same alternative. It’s that clinicians should pause to ask whether an antibiotic is indicated and whether the diagnosis supports that choice.

The same review applies to perioperative antibiotics for clean procedures and treatment of subclinical bacteriuria. When infection is recurrent or deep, cytology and culture may help identify what’s happening before another empirical course is prescribed. And a lab result should be interpreted in the context of the patient, rather than treated as a problem by itself.

Diagnostic panels deserve similar scrutiny. A standard panel can consume a meaningful share of a client’s budget, even when its results won’t change the plan. Meanwhile, a less expensive test that could affect the next decision may be left out. Before ordering, consider what each result could change, and make room in the budget for tests that answer a specific clinical question.

Make care options part of the medical conversation

Recognizing a spectrum of care means acknowledging that more than one plan may be medically reasonable. That principle has little value if the veterinarian leaves as soon as the estimate reaches the client. When a plan needs prioritizing, the veterinarian should explain which parts are most important, what might safely be deferred, and whether a workable outpatient option exists.

A technician or receptionist can support that conversation, but choosing between plans requires clinical judgment. If a client declines part of an estimate or feels overwhelmed, ask what’s driving the decision. “Declined” is information, not necessarily the end of the discussion. A client may need a clearer explanation, a more affordable plan, or time to absorb upsetting news before making a decision.

Deposits, hospitalization preferences and clinic workflows can also shape the options a client hears. Khuly argues that protocols should help teams deliver good medicine, while leaving room for a veterinarian to explain reasonable alternatives and make appropriate exceptions. A signed form cannot replace a conversation about what the patient needs and what the client can manage.

Take part in professional decisions

Khuly urges veterinarians to engage with professional associations and the groups that shape practice standards. She notes that many clinicians don’t take part in local or state veterinary association meetings, committees or leadership. When practicing veterinarians are absent from those discussions, other voices have more influence over decisions affecting clinical work.

Topics such as the veterinarian-client-patient relationship, telemedicine, technician responsibilities, prescribing, animal welfare and business ownership all have practical consequences for clinics. Veterinarians can contribute by attending meetings, joining committees, sharing their experience or seeking leadership roles. Khuly also raises concerns about undisclosed conflicts of interest when people with business ties hold influential professional positions. Participation and transparency help keep professional priorities visible.

Speak up across experience levels

Experience matters, but years in practice or a senior title don’t automatically settle a clinical question. The profession’s hierarchies can encourage younger veterinarians to defer to older colleagues, associates to defer to owners or medical directors, and general practitioners to accept specialty recommendations even when they have concerns about a patient’s care.

Clinics can help early-career veterinarians learn both how to seek mentorship and how to disagree respectfully. A good question or a well-supported concern can improve a patient’s plan, whether it’s raised with a specialist, medical director or colleague. Less senior clinicians also have useful perspectives to bring to committees, professional writing and leadership. A range of career stages makes those discussions more representative of the people doing the work.

For practical advice on conversations across the veterinary team, the source points readers to NAVTA president Jennifer Serling’s Tech Talk column, “Tips to effectively talk to docs without burning bridges,” available through Veterinary Practice News VPNPlus+.

Consider ownership as a learnable skill

Practice ownership won’t suit every veterinarian, but Khuly argues that more clinicians should consider it. Medical training can make business skills seem like someone else’s territory. Yet understanding a profit-and-loss statement is a skill that can be learned, just as clinical skills are built through study and practice.

Ownership can take many forms: buying an existing small practice, starting a mobile service, building a focused cat or goat practice, partnering with colleagues, or buying into a clinic where a veterinarian already works. The point is not that every veterinarian should become an owner. It’s that ownership can give veterinarians more influence over how care is delivered and how a practice develops.

Use the choices still within reach

Across all six suggestions, Khuly returns to agency. A familiar prescription can continue because no one questions it. A clinic rule can end a client conversation before a workable alternative is discussed. A vacant committee seat can leave decisions to the people who attend. A junior clinician can stay quiet, or a veterinarian can dismiss ownership without learning what it involves.

Many pressures on veterinary medicine are real, including rising care costs, staffing challenges, student debt, burnout and clinic consolidation. Still, everyday choices matter: match tests to decisions, revisit prescribing habits, explain care options with clients, and make room for respectful questions at every career stage. Those are concrete ways veterinary teams can put their stated values to work for patients and the people who care for them.

Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, runs a small animal practice in Miami, Fla., and is available at drpattykhuly.com. Columnist's opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Veterinary Practice News.