Customer Reviews:
 The Art of Veterinary Practice April 10, 2001
Emily Satteson (Nescopeck, PA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
In a world where medical revolutions in animal health occur each day and where sound diagnosis and effective treatments are stressed, the pet owner often gets lost in the shuffle. The Art of Veterinary Practice: A Guide to Client Communication by Myrna M. Milani addresses how to deal with complex and emotional client-patient relationships and formulating a personal philosophy. This text discusses common client-practitioner limits, such as financial, life style, and emotional restrictions, as well as dealing with controversial issues, such as alternative therapies, animal rights, death, euthanasia, and practitioner burnout. Milani writes, "Much of us who say we got into veterinary medicine because we wanted to help animals (and even may believe animals warrant our help more than people) may chafe at finding ourselves agonizing more over the human than veterinary aspects of the problem, such constitutes the real world of veterinary practice (pg.75). This book is designed to help students and practitioners examine their own feelings and beliefs about these issues so that they can communicate more effectively with their clients and colleges (inside cover)." The running theme throughout The Art of Veterinary Practice is communication and socialization - a key element in any veterinary practice. These abilities are just as important to the animal's health as a vaccine or medication. Through communication and socialization, owners can share their concerns, better describe the animal's symptoms, or views on certain issues. The practitioner can better explain diagnosis or illnesses, educate the owner on preventative medicine, describe procedures, relay medication schedules, or talk about payments. Communication opens the doors to knowledge, understanding, and acceptance. This book presented an incredibly thorough and informative array of information dealing with client communication, common issues, positions, and situations, giving both the pros and cons of these issues and listing examples of more complex ideas. This book is a wonderful reference, which touches on social issues not commonly found in a veterinary text. The topics were well researched and interesting; anyone could understand and relate to this book - veterinarian, student, client - and even possibly pet. This book opens ones eyes to better communication and socialization, which benefit all in the long run.
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