Stretching Your CE Allowance (and Yourself in the Process): Look for “Win-Win”

Let me be open and honest with you … I am optimistic and bullish on Vet Med. Though this crazy, mixed-up profession of our looks so very different than when I received my DVM diploma, it is arguably more exciting than ever.  There is so much new knowledge, technology, and drive for innovation & growth that it is creating opportunity at every corner for those who are willing to proactively pursue it.  I would encourage you not to wait for your employer to tell you what to do, but to actively search for professional growth opportunities that resonate with your own interests, passions, and ambitions.

It is said that real learning starts with discomfort … discomfort or dissatisfaction with the way things are.  Perhaps you don’t like the uneasiness that you feel when you suddenly need to perform an abdominal exploratory surgery … or perhaps, you are frustrated when a client won’t accept a surgical referral for fracture treatment and you end up amputating the limb (or worse) … perhaps, you don’t like the way that your practice is managed and would like to advance your training in practice management.  Whatever IT is for you, that is your stimulus for your learning.  Your discomfort with the way things ARE is just the stimulus that you need to innovate, grow and advance your future.

Like I said, I am optimistic, I am driven, and I’m ever searching for “win-win” opportunities … and you can do this!  Let’s take the example of your being frustrated by the inability / unwillingness for some of your clients to accept surgical referral for fracture treatment (I can’t resist my orthopedist roots).  One option would be to look for a fracture treatment course and hope that your CE allowance and your employer will embrace that choice (and chances are they will).  Another route would be to get creative and identify the sponsor of that CE course; then, reach out to them and ask them if they’d be willing to discount the CE course registration price from your purchase of their fracture fixation system (or power drill, etc.) if you decide to grow your practice in that direction.  Take to your employer this CE reimbursement offer plus an analysis of the number of fractures diagnosed in your practice last year.  You’re showing your employer that you’re serious about this growth pathway and that you understand the financial realities of veterinary practice as a business.  Nice job! … now let’s see if we can stretch your CE allowance a little farther to include something for you.

Your CE allowance is both dollars and time. One of the things that I wish that I could avoid is spending some of my valuable vacation days on travel to/from my vacation destination.  What if you could use your CE allowance (time and $$) to get you a little closer to your vacation destination?  Now your vacation time and money are spent on more vacay and less travel-day. Look at you … you’re finding “win – win”!  Let’s see if we find just one more.

Remember how you saved your employer that CE registration fee by discounting it from the purchase price of that fracture fixation set?  Remember how you save yourself 2 travel days from your vacation time?  What do you say we take that CE allowance and invest it in a follow-up CE course (next level fracture treatment, stifle surgery, surgical hip reduction, etc.) that will expand your use of the purchased set?  Let’s also take those 2 saved travel days and convert them into some personal time for hiking, skiing or just retreating in the mountains!

Opportunities are all around us. It is up to us to define pathways that we wish to pursue and find a way to find the “win-win”. They are everywhere once you start to look around.

Ross’ career has spanned both private practice and academia. Along the way, he has been actively engaged in orthopedic training of veterinarians for more than 30 years. Ross is a professor Orthopedics at Colorado State University, Associate Director of Education at the Translational Medicine Institute and a frequent educator at orthopedic courses held here at CSUVetCE and around the world.  If you, too, believe that “what if … thinking” is the key to innovation and advancement beyond that status quo, please get to know us at www.CSUVetCE.com because nothing fuels our passion like rubbing elbows with those who are similarly driven.