Page 181 - Veterinary Laser Therapy in Small Animal Practice

CHAPTER 11

Implementation of laser therapy in practice

Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does 2. Get your staff on board: integrating LT in your
not consist of compounding pills and plasters; it deals patient care requires them to know the clinical ben-
with the very processes of life, which must be understood efits. Not just from the theory side, because they may
before they may be guided. also experience laser treatment with their own pets,
— Paracelsus or participate in sessions with the patients. Having
your staff on board with LT can be more important
than any external marketing, even if they are not the
11.1 Early implementation ones to perform the treatments.
Of course, LT is not just about holding a magic
There is no standard way for practices to integrate laser light on top of the patient. All people using LT
therapy (LT) into their workflow, but a plan has to be should be properly trained, for both the efficacy and
made to make the most of your new laser. The only the safety of the treatment. But the learning curve is
truly bad plan is no plan. Pricing plans were discussed quite fast, modern technology makes most devices
in Chapter 10, because they should be formulated easy to use, and a growing number of learning
even before purchasing a laser. All good plans share resources are available. If new staff join the practice,
some foundations, so keep these in mind as a general make sure they also get quality training. Encourage
framework. continuing education. You could even program case
presentations and discussions.
1. Prepare yourself: get trained and do your study- Also, everybody should know how to explain LT
ing. You got to this section of the book so you to clients. The person on the front desk does not
probably have step one checked. You don’t need a need to use the same language or depth of detail
PhD in lasers, but for starters you need a good core as the clinical staff, but they absolutely need to
knowledge of which patients LT can help, why, and know enough to help spread the word. Consider
to what extent. Then you should learn about the composing a script for a more homogenous expla-
important parameters, treatment regimes, how to nation of the benefits and the top ten conditions
adapt your treatments to each patient, and so on. to treat, for instance, so that when owners of pets
Combine external resources with those provided by with those conditions call in to schedule appoint-
manufacturers, and try to stay updated in the field; ments, they can set the stage for this new (laser)
yes, a lot will be coming in the next years! You must technology.
have a pricing plan from the beginning, before you 3. Make sure the laser is present: the more visible
actually start offering the service, although it’s not and easy to reach, the more frequently it will be
uncommon to reformulate it later based on what used. Have the laser device placed in a safe but
you learn about your demographics in the early accessible location (locked mode if not in use, for
stages of implementation. safety reasons), not inside a box in the darkest room.

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