September 28, 2022 • 21 mins
I love to share with my listeners things that they may not know but could benefit from. Today, I speak with Dr. Jessica Vogelsang who is the chief medical officer of AAHA about what they do and why we, as pet lovers, should care. Did you know that there isn't an enforced standard of care in veterinary hospitals like there is for human hospitals? So how do you know if the care that is provided there complies with the latest medical recommendations? AAHA accreditation is how!
AAHA Accreditation is a trusted way for a practice to be voluntarily evaluated by a neutral third party and prove that they are in the top 12% of all veterinary hospitals. I get to find out the scoop straight from the "top dog" at AHAA. Check it out!
EPISODE NOTES: What is the American Animal Hospital Association?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dr-kat-gone-to-the-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6669375/support.
AAHA Accreditation is a trusted way for a practice to be voluntarily evaluated by a neutral third party and prove that they are in the top 12% of all veterinary hospitals. I get to find out the scoop straight from the "top dog" at AHAA. Check it out!
EPISODE NOTES: What is the American Animal Hospital Association?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dr-kat-gone-to-the-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6669375/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks pet Life Radio Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome dog lovers to Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs.
On today's episode, I have a neat guest, doctor Jessica Vogel,
saying doctor V is the chief medical officer for the
American Animal Hospital Association. She also does some other cool
stuff that we want to talk to her about. So
(00:35):
we'll be right back after a quick break to talk
to doctor V.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an ad in pet Life Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
(01:04):
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, Stitcher,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Let's Talk Pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Welcome back to Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs, and
I have doctor Jessica Vogel saying here with me, and
we're going to talk a little bit about her and
the American Animal Hospital Association. So Hi, doctor.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Ve Hi, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I am excellent, so I know you, but my listeners don't.
So I want to talk a little bit about you,
because you've got a lot of interesting things that landed
you here. Can you talk about yourself?
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Oh? Sure? You know it is interesting because when you
hear a chief medical officer of an association, that doesn't
necessarily sound very interesting. Right. But before I came to AHA,
I actually worked in small and weal practice in San
Diego for twenty years, so this is something really near
and dear to my heart. I did small motal medicine
for a while, I didn emergency. I actually helped develop
(02:29):
an in home hospice and euthanasia practice here in the
San Diego area. I started writing a book, So I
did all sorts of different things, really in the trenches,
working with pet owners every day. I absolutely it's my
favorite thing to do. I love people and their pets,
and so when I have this opportunity to come into AHA,
you know, I really couldn't turn it down because I
(02:51):
think there's so much as a profession we can do
to continue to build those bonds of trusts with our
pet owners and make sure that we're all working together
to serve the needs of our pets. So that's really
why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I agree completely. I have a saying, if you're not growing,
you're dying, and I think that we can always improve
our relationships with pet owners and the things that we
can do for pets. So yay, okay, So let's talk
a little bit about what is AHA for my listeners.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Let's start there, sure, sir, so, AHA is an accrediting body.
So essentially, you know when you go to a hospital,
it's accredited for yourself. All human hospitals are accredited. They
have to have a third party come in and make
sure that they're living up to a certain set of standards.
That is not the case for animal hospitals. And so
you have a license to practice and open your business
(03:42):
in your state, but there isn't any sort of neutral
third party who's making sure that you are following that
you know, the gold standards for anesthetizing a pad and
are you doing pain management the right way and all
those sorts of things. And so AHA offers a voluntary
accreditation process for Animals animal hospitals, of which yours is one,
(04:03):
thank you so much. And so really only about twelve
percent of hospitals in North America have this accreditation, so
it's very prestigious. But it essentially is you allowing your
hospital to be evaluated by a third party to ensure
that you are providing the best possible care for pets
in their families. And so when you, as a pet
(04:23):
owner see that sticker in the window, that means that
that hospital has invested a significant amount of time into
proving that they are taking excellent care of your pets
and that they are worthy.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Of trust, right, And it's kind of a it's a
big deal. I mean, we have an inspector come in
and yes we are Applebrook Animal Hospital is AHA credited,
and that is a very valuable metric to me. I
just want to be sure that we are doing the
best that we can. Can you talk about I mean,
I know what it is, but can you talk about
(04:56):
like the criteria of anesthesia and cleanliness and all that
kind of stuff. Can you kind of tell my listeners
what that is?
Speaker 5 (05:04):
If it's a lot as you know, right, So there's
about nine hundred standards and we evaluate them every year
to make sure we have the right ones up. There
are there things that need to be revised and so
as a hospital, you have this book in front of you,
and there's things that you absolutely non negotiable have to do.
Do you have a separate anesthesia room, So for example,
(05:26):
you know you want your room to be very very
very very clean. You don't want any sort of dirt
or things from your daily life and the practice getting
in there, and so you have to have a separate,
dedicated facility for surgery. So that's just sort of one example.
Do you have a rechter technician? What sort of steps
are they taking? Who's monitoring the anesthesia on your pet?
(05:46):
How is the record keeping that is so important? And
those are the sorts of things that as a pet owner,
you wouldn't have visibility to that, and you wouldn't know
to ask, hey, how are you maintaining you know, the
records to make sure that somebody's checking my pets temperature,
you know, the entire time during the procedure to make
sure that their temperatures not getting too low. But all
of those little things are the things that we validate
(06:09):
as inspectors. When we come in every three years, are
we check your medical records? Are your x rays not
only positioned in a way that's making sure that the
pet is safe, but the staff as well. There's a
lot of safety standards in there. And we have pain
management that we check and we reevaluate our standards every
several years because pain management and medications, those needs change
(06:33):
over time as medicine gets better, and so we want
our standards to evolve to reflect that as well. You know,
twenty years ago pain management was considered optional by a
lot of people and that's no longer the case. And
so all of those different things come into play with
these evaluations. They're all day, it's substantial, it's a lot
of work, but boy, a team sure has a sense
(06:54):
of pride when you come out on the other end
and said we did it. We know that we are
the absolute best bet that we can be.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
So I think that perhaps pet owners don't really realize
why maybe one practice can do I don't know, for
easy math, one practice can do a SPAE for one
hundred dollars, but maybe my practice is more than that.
And so I think that unless they knew which questions
to ask, they would think that those were equivalent things.
(07:21):
And I think that our accreditation kind of explains why
maybe we have to charge a little bit more because
we have pain coverage, because we have, you know, an
assistant monitoring every few minutes the vitals of the pet.
We have monitors that check their heart rate and that
kind of stuff. So I really feel like being AHA
accredited hospital sets us apart. Now I am kind of thrilled,
(07:43):
but it's only twelve percent of animal hospitals that take
the time to prove how good they are.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
That's awesome, Yes it is, and it is such an
important badge because it is a big differentiator, and we
know that there are hospitals who they don't pass, they
don't qualify it, and so certainly not everybody out there
is going to be eligible, and so those things matter.
Those things are really important. And what's nice is as
a pet owner, you know, any time that you are
(08:10):
going into a medical facility, whether it's for yourself or
your pet, you know you don't have the time and
it's not necessarily on you to know. How do I
evaluate whether this place, you know, is doing all the
things that they need to be doing. How do I
know my doctor is good, right, All I can do
is so to check their license and ask for recommendations.
And so the AHA accreditation it is a neutral third
(08:32):
party that says, we've gone in there and we know
what to ask, even if you don't, we know what
to look for, and we are confident that they are
doing all the things that they need to do to
be the absolute goal standard right now in excellent practice.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So it's a step better than just reading the Google reviews.
I mean, I tell people, you know, read reviews on products,
read reviews on doctors, whatever. But these are people that
know the difference that are a value, and I think
that's really important.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
It is, and you know, the reviews are sometimes helpful,
sometimes not. Right, there's a lot of things that you
can glean from reviews, but as a pet owner, there's
only so much that you can see, and there are
a lot of things behind the table that you can see.
So you can consider AHA accreditations sort of like a
behind the doors evaluation or review of the clinic. Right.
(09:22):
And so I know, for me, my mother was an
RN and so she was really plugged into our local
healthcare system and that was so nice because when I
wanted a doctor, I could ask her and I would say, well,
as a nurse, you know the doctors. You know the
people that return calls and communicate and make sure you
know your lab results. Who do you recommend? And so
this is really the same way. Our evaluators are trained
(09:45):
practice managers, veterinary technicians. They all come from within the
veterinary field, and they are all super passionate about working
with hospitals. And it's always a great conversation, you know,
because a lot of clinics come in and they're almost there,
and I would love to sort of hear your experience
with this as well, because oftentimes somebody isn't quite doing
something yet, but this is an opportunity to say, oh, hey,
(10:07):
let's revise how we're doing this, and now we're even
better on the other side. So not only is it
proving that you're already doing things really well, but it's
an opportunity to do things even better. And that's a
lot because you don't have to do it. This is voluntary.
You could be a very successful hospital without going through that.
But that value of demonstrating that to your patients I
think is just it shows so much respect for clients
(10:31):
and for pet parents that you're investing in that badge
in that time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well, so sometimes I have pet parents call and ask
if we're AHA accredited, which I think is pretty awesome
because we can say yes. But how do my listeners
find out if a practice they're considering going to is
AHA credited? Is there a directory or can you elaborate
on that?
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Sure? So we have a hospital locator on our website
AHA dot org, so AAHA dot org and so we
have all sorts of information there about what it means
to be accredited. There is some pet owner information on
there as well. Most hospitals who go through all the
work and effort will tell you as they should. You know,
(11:16):
we want them to be loud and proud of being
AHA credited, and so oftentimes they will have the badge
on their website in the science outfront as well. So
we encourage it. And you know, if you love your
hospital and they're not AHA credited, let them know to
reach out. You know, we'd love to have a conversation
and see if it's something that they might be interested in,
(11:37):
because we're really proud, you know, twelve percent of hospitals
are credited. I'd love for it to be more like
the invitations open to anybody who wants to join with us,
because we really believe in what we.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Do, absolutely so I do want to take a quick break.
But there are some other things that AHA does that
I would I would like to share with my listeners
and talk with you about, because I think they do
a lot of really get services to our pet owners
and our pet population.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So let's take a.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Quick break and be right back.
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Speaker 2 (13:00):
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Speaker 7 (13:04):
Pet Life Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Welcome back to doctor cat Gone to the Dogs on
pet Life Radio. So doctor Vogal saying and I are
just talking about the American Animal Hospital Association and what
it means for your animal hospital to be accredited, and
why pet owners should care and how is a good
way to find out if your practice is But the
(13:39):
American Animal Hospital Association does some other really good things
like hosting studies and publishing guidelines. So I want to
talk with doctor v about that because I really appreciate
that they do that.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Oh great, I love the guidelines. They're one of the
favorite things that we do here at AHA, and so
we have a bunch of different guidelines. They're essentially current
best practices for veterinary medicine, and so that's something that
we do that's open to anybody. You can go to
our website and see all the guidelines that we have
out there. We take a bunch of subject matter experts,
(14:15):
we take this really great task force together and say,
all right, well, right now in twenty twenty two, what
is the most important thing for veterinarians to do when
it comes to, for example, canine vaccinations. And so we
just publish the twenty twenty two canine Vaccination Guideline just
last week, and it talks about things like personalized recommendations
(14:35):
for vaccines, and so, as a pet owner, we know
that comes up all the time, right, We know that
every pet needs to be vaccinated for parvo, every pet
needs to be vaccinated for babies. The guideline will tells
you how frequently that needs to happen, when they need
to be boosted. But then it goes into a lot
of detail about all the rest of the things. You know,
does every pet need aleptos borosis vaccine? What about bord oftella?
(14:57):
What about kennel cough or canine flu And so goes
into a lot of detail about the sorts of things
in medicine that evolve, and we revise those guidelines usually
every five to eight years or so. So we do
it for things like that, We do it for nutrition.
Do you know if your pet's overweight, here's some things
that your vet can bring the table to help you
(15:18):
understand what that means and why it matters. The pain
Management guidelines are a huge one. That's one. You know,
we get new pain medications pretty much every year, and
so the way that we handle pain even now in
twenty twenty two is different than it was a year
or two ago. So as medicine changes, it's really important
that we stay on top of those things, and so
(15:38):
the guidelines help us do that. It's great stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, I love the guidelines because, as you and I
both know very personally, bad news kind of spreads fast,
and so the idea that veterinarians are over vaccinating or
doing things that pets don't really need kind of spreads
like wildfire. But aha, is there to say, no, no way,
here are these guidelines. If your veterinarian is following these guidelines,
(16:04):
then the latest science supports the choices they're making. And
so as a veterinarian, I certainly appreciate that, And I
know my listeners like being able to look up things like.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
That absolutely, And again, you know they're geared towards veterinarians,
but they're available to everyone. I've always felt, you know,
a as a well educated pet owner, you know, why
not if you want to learn and see what the
science says and look at the studies. Oh, my gosh,
We've got hundreds of references in scientific literature for these documents.
(16:34):
We're not trying to hide anything. I want you to
know what we're basing these recommendations on, and it's published literature,
and it's all those things that really matter and prove,
you know, with data and research. That's what these recommendations
are based on, and that's why that's why people can
trust them.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And I think trust is where it's at. I mean,
the reason you choose your veterinarian is because you trust
them to make good choices for your pet. And if
they're partnered with AHA, then you can know that they
are doing their part to make the best recommendations. And
so that that is why I wanted to talk with
you about it today, not just because my practice is
(17:10):
AHA accredited, but because I know a lot of other
really great veterinarians that are also AHA accredited. And I
love having pet owners that ask me. I mean, people
email me questions, ask me in my exam room because
they've read and I want them to know that AHA
is a resource. So tell my listeners again the website
(17:30):
where they might be able to find out information they
might want to know about their pets.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Yep, so aha dot org aaha dot org and that's
got our hospital locator and just all sorts of different
information on there. But absolutely, you know, and I just
want to put a rubber stamp on that idea of trust.
You know, you have to trust your provider. If you
don't trust them, if something happened to make you question that,
(17:56):
you know, investigate why. Because if you don't have that,
if you can't start from that place, everything else becomes
so much harder. And you deserve it, your pets deserve it,
and you know, hopefully AHA's just one way that we
can help people establish that bridge in that trust.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, so we covered the stuff we need to, but
there are some cool things about you that I want
to talk about because you are also an author. Yeah,
and so tell my listeners about your How many books.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Do you have?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I have one?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I thought you had two?
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Okay, right, Well I was going to but I've been
distracted at ah, really what are you doing? I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
So tell my listeners about your book.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Ben. So, my book is called All Dogs Go to Kevin.
It was published in twenty fifteen, and it's a memoir
about three pets. You changed my life and really talks
about my career when I was in practice, So lots
of stories about showing up to work every day and
the characters that you meet. So I had a blast writing,
(18:59):
yet it's one of the things I'm the most proud of.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know. I think your book is the reason I
found you because I have a book too, and I
know somehow we just sort of linked up and have
a lot of common experiences and stuff. So it's really cool,
and so I feel like I'm a part of the
things that you're doing well.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And you know, it's kind of one of those things.
I think everybody knows James Harriet right, and he's really
created this narrative that lives in people's heads about what
it means to be a veterinarian. And he definitely captured
what it meant to be a veterinarian, you know, in
his time where he lived. But the story is so
different now and there's so many amazing stories, and so
absolutely as writers have to stick together. You know, you've
(19:42):
got incredible stories from your practice. It's so fun to
be in a profession that has stories. You know, my
husband and I love him, and he works in it,
and I mean I'm sure he has interesting stories, but.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Not like puppy stories.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Yeah, but you know it's easy. It is really easy
to tell stories with our work in a way that
not all professions get to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, I agree, and you know what, I grew up
reading James Harriet as well, and I think that because
of him, the veterinary profession had a really good reputation
when I was coming along, and now I don't think
it's as positive. I think we've lost some of that
being in touch and it comes down to trust, and
(20:28):
so I think that this podcast and all the things
that you and I both do to help build that
trust and return veterinarians to a trusted caregiver is really
important because that's I mean, that's why we do this,
because we love it.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
One thousand percent. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, So, I think I have taken up enough of
your time because you are very busy, I know, And
so I just want to thank you for sharing with
us a little bit about Aha. I hope my listeners
learned something from you today. But thanks a bunch.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Thank you so much. Thank you for being a part
of AMA.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Well, I'm happy to be Okay. Well, I guess that's
it for today. Thank you all for joining us for
Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs. And I also want
to thank Mark Winter, my amazing producer. I want all
of my listeners to go out and raise the rup.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com
Thanks pet Life Radio Let's Talk Pets.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome dog lovers to Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs.
On today's episode, I have a neat guest, doctor Jessica Vogel,
saying doctor V is the chief medical officer for the
American Animal Hospital Association. She also does some other cool
stuff that we want to talk to her about. So
(00:35):
we'll be right back after a quick break to talk
to doctor V.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Take a bite out of your competition, advertise your business
with an ad in pet Life Radio podcasts and radio shows.
There is no other pet related media that is as
large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
(01:04):
and our live radio stream goes out to over two
hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In, Stitcher,
and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
visit Petlifradio dot com. Slash advertised today.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Let's Talk Pets on Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Welcome back to Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs, and
I have doctor Jessica Vogel saying here with me, and
we're going to talk a little bit about her and
the American Animal Hospital Association. So Hi, doctor.
Speaker 5 (01:50):
Ve Hi, how are you?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I am excellent, so I know you, but my listeners don't.
So I want to talk a little bit about you,
because you've got a lot of interesting things that landed
you here. Can you talk about yourself?
Speaker 5 (02:06):
Oh? Sure? You know it is interesting because when you
hear a chief medical officer of an association, that doesn't
necessarily sound very interesting. Right. But before I came to AHA,
I actually worked in small and weal practice in San
Diego for twenty years, so this is something really near
and dear to my heart. I did small motal medicine
for a while, I didn emergency. I actually helped develop
(02:29):
an in home hospice and euthanasia practice here in the
San Diego area. I started writing a book, So I
did all sorts of different things, really in the trenches,
working with pet owners every day. I absolutely it's my
favorite thing to do. I love people and their pets,
and so when I have this opportunity to come into AHA,
you know, I really couldn't turn it down because I
(02:51):
think there's so much as a profession we can do
to continue to build those bonds of trusts with our
pet owners and make sure that we're all working together
to serve the needs of our pets. So that's really
why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I agree completely. I have a saying, if you're not growing,
you're dying, and I think that we can always improve
our relationships with pet owners and the things that we
can do for pets. So yay, okay, So let's talk
a little bit about what is AHA for my listeners.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Let's start there, sure, sir, so, AHA is an accrediting body.
So essentially, you know when you go to a hospital,
it's accredited for yourself. All human hospitals are accredited. They
have to have a third party come in and make
sure that they're living up to a certain set of standards.
That is not the case for animal hospitals. And so
you have a license to practice and open your business
(03:42):
in your state, but there isn't any sort of neutral
third party who's making sure that you are following that
you know, the gold standards for anesthetizing a pad and
are you doing pain management the right way and all
those sorts of things. And so AHA offers a voluntary
accreditation process for Animals animal hospitals, of which yours is one,
(04:03):
thank you so much. And so really only about twelve
percent of hospitals in North America have this accreditation, so
it's very prestigious. But it essentially is you allowing your
hospital to be evaluated by a third party to ensure
that you are providing the best possible care for pets
in their families. And so when you, as a pet
(04:23):
owner see that sticker in the window, that means that
that hospital has invested a significant amount of time into
proving that they are taking excellent care of your pets
and that they are worthy.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Of trust, right, And it's kind of a it's a
big deal. I mean, we have an inspector come in
and yes we are Applebrook Animal Hospital is AHA credited,
and that is a very valuable metric to me. I
just want to be sure that we are doing the
best that we can. Can you talk about I mean,
I know what it is, but can you talk about
(04:56):
like the criteria of anesthesia and cleanliness and all that
kind of stuff. Can you kind of tell my listeners
what that is?
Speaker 5 (05:04):
If it's a lot as you know, right, So there's
about nine hundred standards and we evaluate them every year
to make sure we have the right ones up. There
are there things that need to be revised and so
as a hospital, you have this book in front of you,
and there's things that you absolutely non negotiable have to do.
Do you have a separate anesthesia room, So for example,
(05:26):
you know you want your room to be very very
very very clean. You don't want any sort of dirt
or things from your daily life and the practice getting
in there, and so you have to have a separate,
dedicated facility for surgery. So that's just sort of one example.
Do you have a rechter technician? What sort of steps
are they taking? Who's monitoring the anesthesia on your pet?
(05:46):
How is the record keeping that is so important? And
those are the sorts of things that as a pet owner,
you wouldn't have visibility to that, and you wouldn't know
to ask, hey, how are you maintaining you know, the
records to make sure that somebody's checking my pets temperature,
you know, the entire time during the procedure to make
sure that their temperatures not getting too low. But all
of those little things are the things that we validate
(06:09):
as inspectors. When we come in every three years, are
we check your medical records? Are your x rays not
only positioned in a way that's making sure that the
pet is safe, but the staff as well. There's a
lot of safety standards in there. And we have pain
management that we check and we reevaluate our standards every
several years because pain management and medications, those needs change
(06:33):
over time as medicine gets better, and so we want
our standards to evolve to reflect that as well. You know,
twenty years ago pain management was considered optional by a
lot of people and that's no longer the case. And
so all of those different things come into play with
these evaluations. They're all day, it's substantial, it's a lot
of work, but boy, a team sure has a sense
(06:54):
of pride when you come out on the other end
and said we did it. We know that we are
the absolute best bet that we can be.
Speaker 6 (07:00):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
So I think that perhaps pet owners don't really realize
why maybe one practice can do I don't know, for
easy math, one practice can do a SPAE for one
hundred dollars, but maybe my practice is more than that.
And so I think that unless they knew which questions
to ask, they would think that those were equivalent things.
(07:21):
And I think that our accreditation kind of explains why
maybe we have to charge a little bit more because
we have pain coverage, because we have, you know, an
assistant monitoring every few minutes the vitals of the pet.
We have monitors that check their heart rate and that
kind of stuff. So I really feel like being AHA
accredited hospital sets us apart. Now I am kind of thrilled,
(07:43):
but it's only twelve percent of animal hospitals that take
the time to prove how good they are.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
That's awesome, Yes it is, and it is such an
important badge because it is a big differentiator, and we
know that there are hospitals who they don't pass, they
don't qualify it, and so certainly not everybody out there
is going to be eligible, and so those things matter.
Those things are really important. And what's nice is as
a pet owner, you know, any time that you are
(08:10):
going into a medical facility, whether it's for yourself or
your pet, you know you don't have the time and
it's not necessarily on you to know. How do I
evaluate whether this place, you know, is doing all the
things that they need to be doing. How do I
know my doctor is good, right, All I can do
is so to check their license and ask for recommendations.
And so the AHA accreditation it is a neutral third
(08:32):
party that says, we've gone in there and we know
what to ask, even if you don't, we know what
to look for, and we are confident that they are
doing all the things that they need to do to
be the absolute goal standard right now in excellent practice.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So it's a step better than just reading the Google reviews.
I mean, I tell people, you know, read reviews on products,
read reviews on doctors, whatever. But these are people that
know the difference that are a value, and I think
that's really important.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
It is, and you know, the reviews are sometimes helpful,
sometimes not. Right, there's a lot of things that you
can glean from reviews, but as a pet owner, there's
only so much that you can see, and there are
a lot of things behind the table that you can see.
So you can consider AHA accreditations sort of like a
behind the doors evaluation or review of the clinic. Right.
(09:22):
And so I know, for me, my mother was an
RN and so she was really plugged into our local
healthcare system and that was so nice because when I
wanted a doctor, I could ask her and I would say, well,
as a nurse, you know the doctors. You know the
people that return calls and communicate and make sure you
know your lab results. Who do you recommend? And so
this is really the same way. Our evaluators are trained
(09:45):
practice managers, veterinary technicians. They all come from within the
veterinary field, and they are all super passionate about working
with hospitals. And it's always a great conversation, you know,
because a lot of clinics come in and they're almost there,
and I would love to sort of hear your experience
with this as well, because oftentimes somebody isn't quite doing
something yet, but this is an opportunity to say, oh, hey,
(10:07):
let's revise how we're doing this, and now we're even
better on the other side. So not only is it
proving that you're already doing things really well, but it's
an opportunity to do things even better. And that's a
lot because you don't have to do it. This is voluntary.
You could be a very successful hospital without going through that.
But that value of demonstrating that to your patients I
think is just it shows so much respect for clients
(10:31):
and for pet parents that you're investing in that badge
in that time.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Well, so sometimes I have pet parents call and ask
if we're AHA accredited, which I think is pretty awesome
because we can say yes. But how do my listeners
find out if a practice they're considering going to is
AHA credited? Is there a directory or can you elaborate
on that?
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Sure? So we have a hospital locator on our website
AHA dot org, so AAHA dot org and so we
have all sorts of information there about what it means
to be accredited. There is some pet owner information on
there as well. Most hospitals who go through all the
work and effort will tell you as they should. You know,
(11:16):
we want them to be loud and proud of being
AHA credited, and so oftentimes they will have the badge
on their website in the science outfront as well. So
we encourage it. And you know, if you love your
hospital and they're not AHA credited, let them know to
reach out. You know, we'd love to have a conversation
and see if it's something that they might be interested in,
(11:37):
because we're really proud, you know, twelve percent of hospitals
are credited. I'd love for it to be more like
the invitations open to anybody who wants to join with us,
because we really believe in what we.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Do, absolutely so I do want to take a quick break.
But there are some other things that AHA does that
I would I would like to share with my listeners
and talk with you about, because I think they do
a lot of really get services to our pet owners
and our pet population.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So let's take a.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Quick break and be right back.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
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Speaker 2 (13:00):
Let's pet Life Radio headline Radio.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Pet Life Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Welcome back to doctor cat Gone to the Dogs on
pet Life Radio. So doctor Vogal saying and I are
just talking about the American Animal Hospital Association and what
it means for your animal hospital to be accredited, and
why pet owners should care and how is a good
way to find out if your practice is But the
(13:39):
American Animal Hospital Association does some other really good things
like hosting studies and publishing guidelines. So I want to
talk with doctor v about that because I really appreciate
that they do that.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Oh great, I love the guidelines. They're one of the
favorite things that we do here at AHA, and so
we have a bunch of different guidelines. They're essentially current
best practices for veterinary medicine, and so that's something that
we do that's open to anybody. You can go to
our website and see all the guidelines that we have
out there. We take a bunch of subject matter experts,
(14:15):
we take this really great task force together and say,
all right, well, right now in twenty twenty two, what
is the most important thing for veterinarians to do when
it comes to, for example, canine vaccinations. And so we
just publish the twenty twenty two canine Vaccination Guideline just
last week, and it talks about things like personalized recommendations
(14:35):
for vaccines, and so, as a pet owner, we know
that comes up all the time, right, We know that
every pet needs to be vaccinated for parvo, every pet
needs to be vaccinated for babies. The guideline will tells
you how frequently that needs to happen, when they need
to be boosted. But then it goes into a lot
of detail about all the rest of the things. You know,
does every pet need aleptos borosis vaccine? What about bord oftella?
(14:57):
What about kennel cough or canine flu And so goes
into a lot of detail about the sorts of things
in medicine that evolve, and we revise those guidelines usually
every five to eight years or so. So we do
it for things like that, We do it for nutrition.
Do you know if your pet's overweight, here's some things
that your vet can bring the table to help you
(15:18):
understand what that means and why it matters. The pain
Management guidelines are a huge one. That's one. You know,
we get new pain medications pretty much every year, and
so the way that we handle pain even now in
twenty twenty two is different than it was a year
or two ago. So as medicine changes, it's really important
that we stay on top of those things, and so
(15:38):
the guidelines help us do that. It's great stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, I love the guidelines because, as you and I
both know very personally, bad news kind of spreads fast,
and so the idea that veterinarians are over vaccinating or
doing things that pets don't really need kind of spreads
like wildfire. But aha, is there to say, no, no way,
here are these guidelines. If your veterinarian is following these guidelines,
(16:04):
then the latest science supports the choices they're making. And
so as a veterinarian, I certainly appreciate that, And I
know my listeners like being able to look up things like.
Speaker 5 (16:13):
That absolutely, And again, you know they're geared towards veterinarians,
but they're available to everyone. I've always felt, you know,
a as a well educated pet owner, you know, why
not if you want to learn and see what the
science says and look at the studies. Oh, my gosh,
We've got hundreds of references in scientific literature for these documents.
(16:34):
We're not trying to hide anything. I want you to
know what we're basing these recommendations on, and it's published literature,
and it's all those things that really matter and prove,
you know, with data and research. That's what these recommendations
are based on, and that's why that's why people can
trust them.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And I think trust is where it's at. I mean,
the reason you choose your veterinarian is because you trust
them to make good choices for your pet. And if
they're partnered with AHA, then you can know that they
are doing their part to make the best recommendations. And
so that that is why I wanted to talk with
you about it today, not just because my practice is
(17:10):
AHA accredited, but because I know a lot of other
really great veterinarians that are also AHA accredited. And I
love having pet owners that ask me. I mean, people
email me questions, ask me in my exam room because
they've read and I want them to know that AHA
is a resource. So tell my listeners again the website
(17:30):
where they might be able to find out information they
might want to know about their pets.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Yep, so aha dot org aaha dot org and that's
got our hospital locator and just all sorts of different
information on there. But absolutely, you know, and I just
want to put a rubber stamp on that idea of trust.
You know, you have to trust your provider. If you
don't trust them, if something happened to make you question that,
(17:56):
you know, investigate why. Because if you don't have that,
if you can't start from that place, everything else becomes
so much harder. And you deserve it, your pets deserve it,
and you know, hopefully AHA's just one way that we
can help people establish that bridge in that trust.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Okay, so we covered the stuff we need to, but
there are some cool things about you that I want
to talk about because you are also an author. Yeah,
and so tell my listeners about your How many books.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Do you have?
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I have one?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
I thought you had two?
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Okay, right, Well I was going to but I've been
distracted at ah, really what are you doing? I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
So tell my listeners about your book.
Speaker 5 (18:39):
Ben. So, my book is called All Dogs Go to Kevin.
It was published in twenty fifteen, and it's a memoir
about three pets. You changed my life and really talks
about my career when I was in practice, So lots
of stories about showing up to work every day and
the characters that you meet. So I had a blast writing,
(18:59):
yet it's one of the things I'm the most proud of.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
You know. I think your book is the reason I
found you because I have a book too, and I
know somehow we just sort of linked up and have
a lot of common experiences and stuff. So it's really cool,
and so I feel like I'm a part of the
things that you're doing well.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
And you know, it's kind of one of those things.
I think everybody knows James Harriet right, and he's really
created this narrative that lives in people's heads about what
it means to be a veterinarian. And he definitely captured
what it meant to be a veterinarian, you know, in
his time where he lived. But the story is so
different now and there's so many amazing stories, and so
absolutely as writers have to stick together. You know, you've
(19:42):
got incredible stories from your practice. It's so fun to
be in a profession that has stories. You know, my
husband and I love him, and he works in it,
and I mean I'm sure he has interesting stories, but.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Not like puppy stories.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Yeah, but you know it's easy. It is really easy
to tell stories with our work in a way that
not all professions get to enjoy.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Well, I agree, and you know what, I grew up
reading James Harriet as well, and I think that because
of him, the veterinary profession had a really good reputation
when I was coming along, and now I don't think
it's as positive. I think we've lost some of that
being in touch and it comes down to trust, and
(20:28):
so I think that this podcast and all the things
that you and I both do to help build that
trust and return veterinarians to a trusted caregiver is really
important because that's I mean, that's why we do this,
because we love it.
Speaker 5 (20:42):
One thousand percent. Couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, So, I think I have taken up enough of
your time because you are very busy, I know, And
so I just want to thank you for sharing with
us a little bit about Aha. I hope my listeners
learned something from you today. But thanks a bunch.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
Thank you so much. Thank you for being a part
of AMA.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Well, I'm happy to be Okay. Well, I guess that's
it for today. Thank you all for joining us for
Doctor Kat Gone to the Dogs. And I also want
to thank Mark Winter, my amazing producer. I want all
of my listeners to go out and raise the rup.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlife
Radio dot com
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