Perhaps I have been exposed to too much science news lately, but something about entering 2025 sounds futuristic. It got me thinking that maybe I needed to let go of some of my comforts, embrace change, and learn some new ways of doing things.
For me, that is not as easy as it sounds. I have a high "S" personality, which stands for "Stable." Change is hard for me sometimes, and I resist it more than I should. This truth hit me during the holidays as I was getting decorations down from the attic and found a box of memories, AKA "old stuff." One of those heirlooms was an unused cassette tape still in its original packaging!
Yes, I made mixtapes to listen to in the car or a Walkman. "Why did I still have this despite my countless moves?" I asked myself. I started to think of all the things that have come and gone since my mixed tape days: floppy discs, hard discs, CDs. Obviously, I hang on (too long!) to familiar and comfortable things.
But, the times are a-changing (as the new film on Bob Dylan reminds us), and so must I. Trivia question - What is Bob Dylan’s birth name?
In my 15 years in veterinary management, I have witnessed how quickly things within our profession change. When I started, we took X-rays and developed them. Now we are fully digital, and my doctors say they are better pictures than they used to get on film. We are now on our second digital dental x-ray unit, and my docs insist this newer system is even better than its predecessor.
It is not a secret that the COVID pandemic forced many of us "old-schoolers" to adapt to new technologies and ways of doing things faster than we were prepared to. Concepts like Telemedicine and remote work arrangements seemed unfathomable before 2020. And, now, those things are the norms.
I am still trying to get comfortable with some of this.
I have not yet embraced all the ideas of best practices for using artificial intelligence (AI). I knew the day would come, but last month, my medical director let me know that she had asked one of our younger doctors to look at various platforms for using AI in our medical notes. And this came on the heels of us discussing moving our practice management software to the cloud – something still unsettling to me. But our data storage is at capacity, our system dated, and making changes are essential.
In my mind, this is a "forced change." But not all of them are, and not all have to be unsettling. That's why my goal this year is to build a greater understanding of the changes coming our way, the good and the bad.
I am not a futurist, but I anticipate that new options for staffing, new communication methods, new treatment options, and new approaches to managing next-gen employees (and who knows what else!) are coming. I am committed to being ready for "new," whatever that means, because this is the year I accept that practice management is very much now progression management. The future is coming our way whether we like it or not. I’m ready!
Scott Zimmerman, BFA, CVPM
VHMA President
#PracticePulse