I recently read Management Lessons from the Mayo Clinic . I found it very interesting both for evaluating the current health care debate in Congress and as it relates to the practice of multispecialty veterinary medicine.

The Mayo Clinic was founded over 100 years ago in Rochester, Minnesota. Even though it is located in a tiny town in the middle of the country, it has grown into a brand and institution that many people instinctively associate with high quality medical care. What many people might not know is that its quality medicine is also more cost effective than other medical models.

What makes the Mayo Clinic so unique and so effective? The clinic has a core value of "the client always comes first" that drives everything that it does. The clinic also strongly believes that collaboration between doctors is the best way to provide medical care…

I have spent a lot of time thinking about lessons can ACCES learn from the Mayo clinic. The idea of "the client always comes first" is interesting because in human medicine the client is also the patient. In the veterinary world, the patient (the animal) and the client (the human owner) are different. In most cases, the needs of the animal and owner are similar but not always. Who do we place first when the animal needs to be hospitalized but the owner emotionally needs them at home? Who do we place first when the animal needs our undivided attention because they arrive in shock but the owner needs us to explain what is going on? Our goal is to always serve both as fully as possible but at times we must prioritize one over the other.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, by Beth Davidow, 12/2/09

Tags: collaboration, Uncategorized, veterinary medicine