Our series on “Champions for Change” will feature people of any gender in any role who are making a difference and creating positive change for women in the veterinary sector – enabling aspirations, inspiring and supporting others to grow and follow their passions, and empowering our community.
Jess Marshall’s role as Training and Implementation Manager at Vet IT gives her the opportunity to get deeply involved with how practices work and explore how IT solutions can really make a difference, not just to the practice’s business, but also to the lives of the practice team. Jess was nominated by her colleague, who said “Jess is passionate about the veterinary profession and extremely knowledgeable. Every practice she is dealing with is special to her and she genuinely wants to help them make things better, because she believes that even a small change can mean a great deal – a bit more efficiency might mean that a vet or a nurse suddenly has time for a cup of tea which helps them to keep going (and THAT is a BIG thing). Her way of championing change is to get better and better herself and then use her understanding, knowledge and experience to help others.”
Please provide a brief bio/summary of your career story:
I had always envisioned working in the veterinary industry, however as I’m not the bravest when it comes to blood, I opted to stay outside of the consult room and study Equine Science at University. Here I was able to explore a range of modules, including developments within equine research. From this I became interested in risk analysis, especially for event riders, which became the basis for my dissertation.
I then became an administrator for an equine ambulatory practice which provided me with experience and enabled me to progress to Practice Manager. After over a decade at the practice, I wanted to expand my knowledge and transfer the skills I had learned. I was unsure in what capacity this would be, other than wanting to remain in the veterinary sector. Luckily, an opportunity arose for the position of Training and Implementation Specialist at VetIT, a practice management software company. It was inspiring to see another side to the veterinary sector that aligns with my ambition of helping to provide exceptional care to clients and patients. Combining working with a great, friendly team and helping a range of people within the veterinary world is the main reason I love my job.
Please summarise how you are working towards change in the veterinary professions and why do you feel this is important?
Practice management systems and technology play a huge part in the veterinary profession, whether this is the ability to look up clinical history and medication, booking consults, producing invoices, managing stock or taking diagnostic images. For practices to thrive, they need suitable tools.
I am in the fortunate position where I can see the advanced, cutting-edge technology coming through and carry forward this information to those who will benefit from it, driving change. This might be in changing how a practice uses software, helping them become more resourceful and enhancing their business, or the change may be in how Vet IT can develop future software or find other means to assist practices.
Speaking to a range of people from across the veterinary sector including small animal vets, large animal ambulatory practices, nurses, practice managers, admin staff members and those working in dispensary, really allows me to really delve into how practices work and where they see their shortfalls are. Although all practices run differently and have their own methods and ways of working, there is a generalised goal of being able to work efficiently, effectively and resourcefully.
As well as providing practices with training on how to make the most out of their practice management system, I look at how to make it work to the best of its ability for that particular practice. I can also take back suggestions and improvements into development so we can really use this to tailor changes to suit our customers.
What motivated you to want to change things?
After working in practice, I fully appreciate the difficulties the veterinary profession faces as well as the uniqueness to the industry. A vet practice’s time is very often undervalued, and sometimes veterinary staff are treated as if it has been forgotten that they are also human beings. The difficulties in recruiting and retaining employees, the ever-growing overheads, increasing cost of living and rising demands on veterinary staff affect wellbeing and increasingly impact people’s daily lives, in and out of work and it was for these reasons that I wanted to help change what I can.
If technology can help generate positive change for these practices, making their working lives easier and more streamlined, they can perhaps spend that extra time in a consult with the patient, or allow their team to take that five-minute break rather than constantly feeling it’s all too much. It could help make a real difference to someone’s day.
What are the biggest challenges you have encountered in this journey and how have you overcome them?
Veterinary is constantly busy, with no two days being the same. The spare time people have is often limited and therefore very precious to them. When trying to implement change you can face resistance or you find they become more hesitant. As time is so valuable you find people worry about this costing them more time, potentially failing and therefore wasting more time. So being able to offer solutions such as staggered introduction of new ideas or methods so the change is in smaller and more manageable increments helps. I have found that really understanding the individual vet practices and those involved, their key issues and desired outcomes allows me to develop how I approach this.
What has most helped and motivated you along the way?
Being part of a team who are all supportive and driven to achieve the same goal of helping practices provide a high level of care. Also seeing how technology is advancing to make this quality care more readily accessible.
What is the best advice you’ve been given, or that you would give to someone else, about driving positive change?
One of my closest friends, who always seems to know what to say, said: “You cannot control change, no one can. But you can choose what to do with it. You can stay as you or you can accept change and see the opportunities.”
She highlighted that you don’t have to take them but you need to be open to viewing them. The reason this remains with me is that it is not about forcing change on people, it is about helping to reassess their perspective of change and realise what can come from it.
What are your next steps to continue creating change for the better?
I appreciate the importance of helping people make the most of their practice management system and utilise it to the maximum to benefit their practice. Taking time to understand how a practice works, the struggles they would like to overcome and being part of the solution inspires me to continue to embrace my role within VetIT. I also want to continue to learn and develop skills to help make small changes within practices that can hopefully have a big impact in the practice team’s working day.
In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, 2024, we assembled a collection of ‘Champions for Change’ profiles into a free eBook. Explore exclusive stories highlighting inspirational figures driving positive change for women in veterinary.
Our thanks to Jess for sharing her inspiring story of how she is championing change. If you would like to nominate a Champion for Change or share your story, please let us know.
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