From:
swamp
Date: 2001-05-04 11:22:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Letter from a dismayed vet
At 04:11 AM 5/4/2001 +0000, Bruce wrote:
>Tonight, I spent about an hour replying to a letter from a vet who
>was dismayed (I hesitate to use the word angry, but it may be
>appropriate) by a response from myself and another vet on this list
>to a post from one of their clients, and the way that they were
>apprised of it.
I think irritated DVMs will be an ongoing problem for you and the other
vets on this list. Two vets have actually rolled their eyes at the
suggestion that the internet can be a valuable source of information, and I
tread pretty lightly (believe it or not). You've got to be careful not to
walk on egos.
>While this is certainly not the first, nor the last time that I will
>have found myself at odds with a practicing colleague, I must admit
>that the circumstances of this particular event was not what I had
>envisioned on the FHL.
ok, hypothetical: you are my computer illiterate vet, and I return to your
office (or call back) with printed websites and suggestions from online
vets like those on the FHL. How would you want to be presented with such,
and how would you *not* want to be presented with such. iow, how do we as
clients best engage in neutral diagnostic discussion without becoming
confrontational? What are the dos and donts? There are plenty of tips on
how a good ferret vet should behave, but few on how a good ferret-owning
client should behave. Why don't the *vets* speak up for a change?
We don't have too much of problem out here because CA DVMs aren't expected
to know anything about ferrets. I imagine considerably more diplomacy is
req'd back East.
Rob