As clinicians, vets are accustomed to thinking of compliance as a major factor in determining… successful clinical outcomes. Certainly correct dosage and completion of a course of treatment gives it the best chance of success.

But perhaps compliance should also be seen from a business perspective; as a powerful tool in the marketing kit?

Why? Because the client’s perception of service quality can be strongly affected by the actual outcome. To put it simply – if the pet recovers, the practice did a good job. And if it doesn’t, it is the practice’s fault (“they gave me a pill the cat didn’t like” / “they should have done more to ensure I gave the course correctly”). When service quality is perceived as poor (unfairly, I know – but that’s life) then the next time a vet is needed, the loyalty of that client can no longer be counted on. And a client who goes elsewhere, or nowhere, is a client that needs marketing effort and marketing spend to replace. If you believe that it is five times cheaper to retain an existing client than to recruit a new one (or eight times, or ten times – depending on what you read…) then any factor that can create a negative perception in existing clients needs to be tackled head on.

So what can be done?

Vets should take a proactive approach – building an active compliance programme that starts in the consult room and carries on throughout the course:

• A monitoring procedure that checks correct delivery of doses – this can be a leaflet with a dosage grid to tick off, an App, a follow-up phone call or simply a regular text to remind the owner to give the next dose (these can be set up and automated in advance)
• Consideration of the reality of dosing – getting a pill down a cat’s throat is not easy – what hints and tips can nurses give from experience?
• Education and other tools provided by manufacturers – I worked on the development of a compliance campaign for an insulin product a few years ago that included a comprehensive DVD on how to manage diabetes in the home, and included a simple write-on / wipe-off injection tracker that could be stuck on the fridge to notify the family that the pet had been injected (avoiding duplication and potential insulin overdose).

A survey by Veterinary Business Briefing showed that vets believe compliance is 60% or better – but independent audits suggested it is much lower. So in these difficult times, with vets chasing fewer clients with less spending power, they need to do all they can to ensure clients are satisfied with their service. Just sending them home with a treatment doesn’t cut it any more – the vet has to take responsibility for compliance and be proactive in delivering it.

Jonathan Posner, Business Director, Masius