What is Veterinary Surgical Coaching?

Check out a synopsis here!

Do I need to be a boarded surgeon to be coached by you?

Absolutely not! While I do frequently work with boarded surgeons, I work with any veterinarian or team member of the veterinary surgical team.

Can I get CE credit for veterinary surgical coaching?

YES! I am very proud to be able to offer RACE approved CE credits. This is an interactive method of learning, so 1 hour of work together equals 1 hour of credit. I can also offer credit for your team members if you choose to include your surgical team in our coaching sessions.

How does it work?

The first step is to set up an initial consult (free of charge!) to get to know each other and determine if Veterinary Surgical Coaching would be of value to you. I prefer video meetings, but we can do phone if circumstances require. We explore your goals and perceptions and questions about Veterinary Surgical Coaching. If you decide you want to pursue this service, we set up a schedule, define your goals, and discuss the logistics our sessions. I can give you suggestions on best procedures or selections for sessions and we decide a schedule based on the logistics of those details. Most people elect to utilize a targeted package, with a total of 3 hours broken into a 3-4 sessions. This gives us a chance to identify and plan goals, review your surgery, strategize on methods to achieve your goals, and review your implementation. Time, sessions and number of goals is tailored to each individual during our introductory session.

What do we work on with Veterinary Surgical Coaching?

That is entirely up to you! We help identify and clarify your goals and focus during our first session. I recommend thinking about problems or stressors you find you’ve come across during surgery on a recurring basis. The problem may be big, such as “I am really uncomfortable with my morbidity rate with this procedure.” or it may be small, such as “I waste a lot of time finding instruments during surgery- I want more efficiency in my surgical time.” It may be focused on you as the individual (“I become really stressed during this procedure due to a previous bad outcome.”), or it may be more team based (“I’m concerned with the rate of antibiotic administration in a timely manner with my patients.”). The focus is directed by your goals!

I’m really nervous about someone else judging my surgical skills.

Congratulations- you passed the test. You are human!!! And I was there too. Imagine having to show video of you doing a castration on a dog to a room full of human surgeons (cardiac, bariatric, robotic, EENT surgeons- all of them were there!). That was me. I haven’t been that nervous since the first speech I had to give back in middle school! But the beautiful thing was that they all came with curiosity. Not judgement. A coach is fundamentally curious. Curious about what helps you. Curious about what troubles you. Curious about the anatomy of a dog castration! Those human surgeons had more fun and questions and curiosity than anyone anticipated! We had to cut them short because they wanted to learn so much! My job isn’t to judge you. I am there to challenge you, but to challenge you out of a sense of curiosity, not superiority. Ironically, when the tables were turned, the human surgeons were just as terrified to show me their videos! So I’ve experienced that fear, I empathize with it, I expect and honor it, and I can promise that if you are willing to accept it and push past it, you’ll find so much value in inviting curiosity in!

Does veterinary surgical coaching require travel for our session?

More often than not, we work together remotely. Part of our initial meeting discusses the most appropriate options for observation of your surgeries. In some cases, you may choose to work together in person, in which case I would usually travel to you. Hospital wide participation or surgical team building may be best executed with in person work, but individual sessions are most commonly done with video conferencing.

I want to learn how to do this new surgical procedure. Can you teach me with veterinary surgical coaching?

Yes, I am capable of teaching you, but no, that is not Veterinary Surgical Coaching! Veterinary Surgical Coaching is a peer based strategy to improve and hone existing skill sets. As your coach, I am not bequeathing you with new knowledge from an advanced training background. Rather, I am helping you explore and discover strategies and novel ways of thinking about your surgical strategies.

What if I try a session and I find it so valuable I want more sessions!?

You will! 🙂 It is only fair that I warn you that the level of improvement you find with surgical coaching can be addictive!!! You will suddenly become more aware of other areas you didn’t realize you could or want to improve on! And I can help you with that too! But, along with helping you achieve your goals, I have a secret goal for you, also! I try to stimulate you to think a little differently. To question yourself in a constructive manner. To test and challenge your subconscious habits. I found after training with and as a surgical coach, that I became more intentional and aware of the smallest things during my surgeries, and I expect you will too!

How much does Veterinary Surgical Coaching cost?

That depends! Veterinary surgical coaching is based on the number of sessions, the number of participants, whether any travel is required, and a myriad of other factors. An introductory meeting to determine if we can meet your goals is free! This is a 15 minute meeting where we decide if this is a good strategy for you. I can give you a better estimate of cost once you decide it would be useful for you, and I can get more details from you! You can e-mail me at helpatvetssmart@gmail.com if you want to schedule an introductory meeting!

Can’t I get the same outcome if I find a mentor or a teacher?

Welcome to my Ted Talk! 😉 The goals and roles for a teacher, mentor and coach are very different! I think you’ll find some of the most effective teachers and mentors utilize coaching strategies, but there will always be a sense of looking up to them as a source of novel information. You are expecting them to each have a knowledge and set of skills you don’t have, their role is to pass that defined knowledge on to you. A coach should approach the situation as though you already have the skills and knowledge within your repertoire, but you are looking for some outside input to identify, clarify and lead you towards understanding. Once you’ve achieved competency at a skill (something that teaching imparts), the path to improvement is going to be very individual, based on your tendencies, habits and resources. A mentor is someone that has walked a path similar to yours, or observed many people across many paths and can pass that wisdom on to you without you having to reinvent the wheel. While a coach usually has the background and resources to serve in the role of teacher or mentor, they are much more interested in empowering you to recognize the paths at your disposal and choosing the one that works for you.

Here’s an analogy expanding on the path metaphor. You are plunked down in the middle of the forest, and you want home. You look around you and see multiple paths, but don’t see any signs or clues as to which path gets you where you want to go. If you spend zero time in the forest, you want a teacher. Someone who will point directly to the exact path you should take that gets you home quickest. If you have a bit of adventurous side, and you’d rather take the most interesting path with the best views that still gets you home, you want a mentor. The mentor expects you could get home, because the teacher gave you the information you needed, but they recognize you might be ready for more of a challenge, and they have the experience to guide you towards the challenge most appropriate for you. If you want the skills and ability to find your own way home next time you are put in this situation, you want a coach. A coach is going to go into exploration mode alongside you. They might notice a sign buried in the underbrush and point it out to you. They might notice the sound of a river running and ask if that helps you identify where you are relative to home. They might notice that one path is particularly well traveled, and ask if your home lies by a heavily worn path or off the beaten path. Ultimately, the path you take is your own choice, but they’ll maximize your decision making and knowledge around your options, giving you full control of the reins to your experience.