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After speaking with Ian Widensky when he most recently came to speak at Kansas State University, the program became increasingly interesting to me because the externship seems like an immersive experience. I would be able to see first-hand how Harbor helps develop minds that are as interested in the business aspect of veterinary medicine as well as the medicine aspect of it. My ideal outcome during this period would to be to become more comfortable integrating information I have learned during my first two years of my veterinary program into clinical experiences and get more hands-on experience to reflect my updated knowledge. Additionally, if situations allow I would be interested in assisting in surgeries as I have already been allowed to preform one ovariohysterectomy and I would like to have more hands on before diving into junior surgery in the Fall. I am also interested in making connections with a practice as a potential opportunity for employment with the Go fellowship.

I believe a leader cannot effectively anticipate or understand the difficulties their team faces unless they have faced those challenges that each role experiences and put themselves in a similar position as theory only goes so far. What I will bring to a SHIP Practice this summer is a strong willingness to perform any and every task needed to keep the flow moving for the team and learn from all individuals while I continue to learn how to be the best leader I can be as a doctor and future owner practitioner.

This would be a fantastic opportunity to look inward and get feedback from the team and see if there is a particular service they have heard being requested that we would have an opportunity to invest in, and compare that with what the desires for professional growth would be. For example, this might be an opportunity to look into holistic medicine CE for doctors and technicians along with tools for things like acupuncture. There might be a desire for improved conditions for a work environment, like additions to the breakroom like a massage chair. There might be a request for a new tool to expand services already offered. Ultimately, I would be looking on how to reinvest in the practice and my team based on what was vocally expressed to improve purpose satisfaction and employee retention. If a project was too big for the allotted amount, I would create a milestone plan for us to reach beyond the monetary success we have just achieved so we can work towards that goal.

I think the first thing I would need to look at and see why we were losing business and address what we can immediately. A stand out lunch n' learn I attended for the VBMA discussed a similar scenario and looking at common areas of loss including overly discounting or removing service charges due to emotion or lack of attention and why that was so detrimental to the overall bottom line. It really opened my eyes to scenarios such as those and how even setting up a "charity" budget at the start of each fiscal year that each doctor can dip into at their discretion would reduce the number of these instances occurring. Another scenario I have experienced in a clinic was a lack of daily income due to continual no-shows across the board and implementing a protocol of calling the upcoming days appointments in the afternoon the previous day severely reduced those as it reminded clients who may have forgot and increased their chances of coming in as well as allowing us to cancel/reschedule appointments to make room for walk-ins for said day without fear of overbooking. Ideally, the goal would be to get every team member involved and investigating daily ways the practice can become more profitable by following sensible protocol.

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There is not one particular reason I would like to grow into the role of ownership of a veterinary practice, more of an aggregate of what I have observed in my time working in a clinic and my experiences in leadership positions in previous jobs. While being a veterinarian in of itself is a leadership position, being a medical director or an owner is an additional level of leadership I would like to explore. I enjoy having a vision for success and putting plans into motion, finding ways to bring others in on my excitement and goals, the challenges it entails and the feeling when those obstacles are overcome are all very exciting to me. While I enjoy and desire mentorship, I like to pursue the best way I believe success can be achieved with the ability to bounce ideas off if needed while in previous managerial roles have felt hindered by over involved superiors in progression of goals and I believe being an ownership would reduce those frustrations while admittedly there will be other challenges that could be equally frustrating. I also reflect fondly of my first veterinary mentor and the environment she created as an owner practitioner for her staff and clients as well as how she was regarded in the community as a whole and believe I could also achieve what she did with time and patience. Overall, I enjoy learning about different aspects of business and often seek out as many VBMA meetings as possible to learn about new subjects and potential solutions and have taken the business elective offered by Kansas State University to get as much experience as I can as a student. There is also the knowledge that with greater risk and time that ownership can bring there can also be a greater financial gain and while not everything is about money, security for myself and my future colleagues is extraordinarily attractive. It is these, and many other reasons, I am intrigued by the idea of pursing ownership.

NO

• Small animal exclusive
• General practice

Ideally, I would find a clinic that had a larger number of exotic species than a "normal" small animal general practice as it is the area I have the least hands on experience with this category and I would be using this externship program to fulfill an exotic medicine mentorship elective for Kansas State University. There is no minimum percent of exotic cliental the clinic would have to see so this can be flexible. I am also interested in surgery cases.