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Australian Veterinary Orchestra

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Did you know there was an Australian Veterinary Orchestra? Any musicians involved in the veterinary industry are welcome to join in for this concert in Melbourne during the AVA conference. The orchestra the AVO are playing alongside is the Zelman Memorial Symphony Orchestra  https://zelman.au/
It’s a great opportunity to de-stress and the aim is to have fun! If you still have your instrument in the cupboard, dust it off, and visit the AVO Facebook page to join and find details. The music will be Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Op. 35 and Beethoven – Symphony No.3 in E♭ Op. 55 Eroica. All abilities are welcome.

Everyone else, please come to the concert and help support your musical colleagues, and the Australian Veterinary Benevolent Fund 🎻🎺🥁
This is the Event Link on Facebook

14/03/2024 |

Therian – Designing for a Veterinary Start-up

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It can be daunting for any professional to take the leap and start their own business. However, with the right team of professionals, it can be a relatively straightforward undertaking. Whilst you may have confidence in your ability to build your veterinary team, putting together a team to design and build a veterinary clinic may not be as comfortable.

A Commercial Real Estate Broker should be one of the first professionals engaged to help with finding the ideal property for your new clinic. The Broker should be able to provide a market analysis to help identify potential properties and help you narrow down the budget that should be allowed for leasing or purchasing a property. One of the first things your Real Estate Broker will need to know is how much space or how large of a property you need. By working with an experienced Veterinary Architect when you begin to search for property, you can set yourself up for success early on and minimise the time and expense of building, which is essential to every budget critical start-up.

Pre-design services available from an Architect include “Needs Assessments” and “Feasibility Studies”. As part of a “Needs Assessment”, an Architect should be able to provide you with a veterinary specific design questionnaire that will ask you all the relevant questions about your intended business, to inform the project brief. Once the project brief is established, the Architect can then accurately estimate how much lease space or land is needed to suit your intended operational requirements. Having an accurate estimate of what is needed will quickly narrow the search by your Real Estate Broker. The Architect can then help evaluate the right-sized properties as part of a Feasibility Study. This process should help you confirm the suitability of specific properties for your start-up, and help you start to consider the potential costs involved with building your practice. There can be a broad variation in costs to fit out different properties. A feasibility study should identify the major costs to be expected, in addition to how well they may be suited to veterinary practice use.

An Architect that has worked specifically with start-up veterinary practices should be able to suggest cost-saving design ideas, to help minimise the cost of the build, and maximise the revenue-generating potential for any given size clinic. It is important for every start-up not to “over-build”. Controlling the cost of the build starts with the needs assessment by establishing the size of the clinic that is needed. The Architect’s concept design has the potential to impact construction costs and potential income by optimising space usage, maximising revenue-generating areas, and minimising non-revenue-generating areas.

Lastly, during the detailed design, striking the right balance for quality of materials that minimise initial costs, while still delivering a facility that will be easy to maintain and suitable for the intended purpose is key. An experienced Veterinary Architect can advise on the relative cost of materials and the performance trade-offs between one vs another.

When considering a new build, be sure to pre-qualify and interview your Architect as you would anyone you are going to employ. Scrutinise their specific, relevant experience, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. The Architect should serve as a trusted adviser to support you throughout the design and build, so if they are unwilling or unable to explain the process in a way you can understand, they may not be the right fit for your project. Success starts with building the right team.

To learn more about us or to get started, please call +61 7 5657 6777 or visit: therian.com.au/veterinary-clinics-hospitals/

10/08/2023 |

Salary Survey 2016

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Kookaburra Vet Employment Salary Survey

Some of the most common questions that we get asked at Kookaburra Vets relate to Salary levels. We’d appreciate if you would help us collect some up to date information by completing this short anonymous survey, if you are a veterinarian currently working in Australia.

Complete Salary Survey Now

The results will be available on request from Kookaburra Vets, however, if you wish to provide us with your email address at the end of the survey, we will also email you a copy. Thank you for your help.

10/03/2016 |

Vet Nurses Vs Vet Techs – What’s the Difference?

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Vet TechMany veterinary practices in Australia are feeling the pinch of the manpower shortage, putting vets under more pressure and contributing to dissatisfaction with work life balance and mental health problems.

So, maybe you need a Vet Tech at your clinic.

Veterinary Nursing qualification

In Australia, the current Australian national qualification for vet nursing is Certificate IV in Veterinary Nursing, which takes from 18 months to 2 years to complete. The Diploma in Veterinary Nursing is then an additional qualification following on from the Cert IV, for 12 months, in 3 different streams, General Practice, Surgical, and Emergency & Critical Care

Veterinary Technology qualification

Veterinary Technology is a Bachelor’s degree taking 3 years (full time), which can incorporate and extend the Cert IV in Vet Nursing. It’s offered by Charles Sturt University,   The University of Queensland,  and the University of Adelaide, (and by Massey University in New Zealand, however, this isn’t yet included in the list of Vet Tech degrees eligible for the new Australian Veterinary Nurse and Technician (AVNAT) Registration Scheme)

Information provided by CSU and the University of Queensland about their Veterinary Technology degrees suggest there is more development of skills in critical thinking and problem solving, preparation for supervisory and management roles, as well as knowledge of a wider range of animal species and knowledge and professional skills in animal management, technology and welfare that can be used beyond the clinical setting. However, extended clinical support procedures are also taught. The first cohort from CSU graduated at the end of 2018.

The University of Adelaide degree will commence with its first intake in 2020. Information provided by the University suggests the program will have a strong practical component with students performing almost 500 hours of hands-on clinical experience in a veterinary workplace and in the University’s on-site clinics and diagnostic laboratories, and could equip students with specialist expertise in one or more areas including small animals; anaesthesia; imaging; equine; farming; or practice management.

How could employing a Vet Tech help?

Some clinics, emergency and critical care hospitals, and specialist centres in Australia are already using a very effective tiered system of support staff, from kennel hands and specific customer support staff/receptionists, through trainee veterinary nurses, veterinary nurses, diploma qualified VNs, degree qualified veterinary technicians, and practice managers. This means that Veterinary Surgeons gain the time to do the work that only they are qualified for.

This tiered system can also provide a structured career path for support staff, which can improve job satisfaction. Whilst attention is finally becoming focussed on the challenges for vets surrounding mental health awareness, life balance, burnout, compassion fatigue, job satisfaction, and decisions to quit the profession, we mustn’t forget there are similar challenges for our support staff.

So, rather than trying to employ another Vet in a very tight market, could this be a solution for some clinics?

  1. Employing a Veterinary Technician to help alleviate the heavy workload on vets, allowing vets to manage their Veterinary Surgeon duties more effectively
  2. Which may lead to happier vets and better retention of vets in your practice
  3. And even allow a pay rise for your vets, further contributing to better retention of vets

References:

Charles Sturt University
https://futurestudents.csu.edu.au/courses/animal-vet-sciences/bachelor-veterinary-technology

University of Queensland
https://future-students.uq.edu.au/study/program/Bachelor-of-Veterinary-Technology-2387

University of Adelaide
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/degree-finder/bvt_bvettech.html

Massey University
http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/programme-course/programme.cfm?prog_id=93432

Veterinary Nurses Council of Australia
https://www.vnca.asn.au/membership/recognised-qualifications/

 

Author:
Wendy Nathan
Kookaburra Veterinary Employment
updated 30th July 2019

This information includes the views and opinions of Kookaburra Veterinary Employment and is of a general nature only. Factual information is believed to be correct at the time of writing, however, should not be relied upon and any person should confirm details with the relevant authorities and through their own research prior to acting on any of the suggestions in this article.

21/05/2019 |
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