Pulse - May 2022 - 13

According to Burke-Irmiter, Adobe's
customer service teams are entirely remote.
When clients arrive and walk into the
lobby, they are greeted by a video monitor
with a live remote employee. The remote
team member gets them checked in, and
a technician then takes them to an exam
room. After the appointment, the client
checks out with another remote CSR on a
video monitor in the exam room.
" Everyone loves it, " Burke-Irmiter said.
" It really reduces stress for pets, clients are
always curious about where the remote
person happens to be, and it helps our customer
service team members be able to live
anywhere and still work full-time with us, "
which is a big benefit since both Adobe
hospitals are located in the Bay Area, and
the cost of living is high.
The Adobe team even considered the colors
of their interior spaces when designing
their hospitals. They chose soothing, spa-like
colors, rather than stark-white walls, to help
keep patients and clients feeling calm.
The benefits of low-stress spaces:
* Increasing compliance
* Growing the bonds between veterinary
teams and pet owners
* Growing the bonds between veterinary
teams and pets
* Nurturing the bonds between pets and
their owners
* Increasing job satisfaction
include outdoor spaces for staff-and patient-
Imagery)
The Trend: Thoughtfully Designed
Staff Spaces
Team well-being is obviously an important
consideration in today's veterinary practices,
and Pollard said that more hospitals are putting
as much emphasis on their team spaces
as they do their client and patient spaces.
" It's all very sensible things, like bringing
natural light into a treatment room or
break room, and having break rooms that
are actually break rooms, so people can
step away from work situations and have a
moment to themselves, " Pollard said.
The PARC Vet, a hospital in Fort
Worth, Texas, that Pollard's team designed
in 2018, has a lot of staff-dedicated spaces,
including several large outdoor patios on
the second floor.
" They have turf on them, so team members
can take dogs up there if they want to,
but it's a space where staff can really get
away, " said Pollard. " People weren't doing
stuff like this before. They weren't investing
in spaces like that. Instead, they were
spending money on additional exam rooms
or surgery suites. That's where they wanted
to concentrate their money and their
energy-on the clients. But now, we're seeing
that people are focusing on creating
special spaces for their teams. "
The COVID-19 pandemic also caused
an increase in practices requesting dedicated
rooms or offices for virtual visits, which
The PARC Vet in Fort Worth, Texas, has a beautiful, open design, with the treatment area in the center of the
hospital, surrounded by glass-enclosed exam rooms. (Photo credit: Timothy Murphy | Photo Imagery)
provided quiet spaces for team members to
conduct telehealth appointments. Pollard said
demand for offices or virtual appointment
rooms has decreased recently, but the idea
of including dedicated office space for team
members to share is a good one. Whether
you're offering virtual visits or not, it never
hurts to have a quiet space away from the
action for call-backs and follow-ups.
The benefits of thoughtful team spaces:
* Improving the lives, well-being, and job
satisfaction of veterinary professionals
* Attracting new hires and standing out
during the hiring process
* Reducing team turnover
Whether you're ready for a complete
renovation, or you just want to tweak a
few spaces, you can't go wrong when making
changes to improve experiences for
team members, clients, and patients. (And
for those of you looking to hire a full-time
veterinarian or five-isn't everyone?-Dr.
Tinley will be available for hire after she
graduates from veterinary school in 2044.) P
Sarah Rumple is an award-winning veterinary journalist
and owner of Rumpus Writing and Editing,
a Denver-based veterinary copywriting agency. If
Sarah wasn't a writer, her next career choice would
be interior designer.
PULSE
MAY 2022
13

Pulse - May 2022

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