Knowledge of human behavior in the service of animal health
Veterinarian and leadership coach Jessica Moore-Jones, BVMS, MBA, MSc, is the founder of Unleashed Coaching and Consulting, which provides expert advice and training on humane solutions for the animal industry. She focuses on better understanding human behavior and how to influence pet owner behavior to achieve better animal health outcomes.
Jessica Moore-Jones, BVMS, MBA, MSc, founder of Unleashed Coaching and Consulting, leading a presentation.
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“I help veterinary teams work on how the human mind works, rather than how we wish it worked. This not only improves patient outcomes, whether it’s completing the full course of antibiotics, reducing treats in an obese dog, getting dental work done (even though this may be considered costly), or s ‘stick to preventative health programs, but it also improves veterinary well-being. being by reducing our frustration with customers,” Moore-Jones told dvm360®.
“The way we’ve often been taught to get people to follow our recommendations is to convince them we’re right, by selling them science. This doesn’t take into account how the human brain is wired, nor the dozens of mental shortcuts and illogical pathways that our daily decision-making relies on. Knowing better and doing better are not necessarily correlated. If they were, most of us would eat healthier and exercise more.
During her veterinary career, Moore-Jones worked as a wildlife health officer at Taronga Zoo, in management and leadership roles at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and in roles management in various animal shelters and veterinary clinics. in developed countries. Her interest in human behavior and animal outcomes began while she was CEO of the RSPCA in Darwin.
“I didn’t understand why, even though I knew that adoption was more ethical than breeding, or that desexing was in the best interest of the cat community, many people still didn’t do it. When I began studying how to improve human behavior, I realized that other industries had been using this knowledge for decades and that the animal industry still treated it as soft skills that did not belong in our world of science and facts,” Moore explained. -Jones.
“Like most people, we don’t know what we don’t know, and in this area the veterinary industry couldn’t see the gap. If you feel like you’re always having the same conversation, if you give great advice that people quickly ignore, or if you spend a lot of energy getting people to do the right thing and then have the same problem the following month, then the answer is not to give them more knowledge, but to understand how to change their behavior, not their minds! »
Moore-Jones said there are multiple ways veterinary businesses can implement a better understanding of human behavior into the operation of their clinics. From how a clinic’s reception area can be arranged to improve the likelihood that people will purchase recommended products, to how to better discuss clinical treatments and recommendations in the consulting room to improve outcomes for the patients.
“The sciences of human behavior have been used by governments, marketing companies and even doctors for decades. In the field of human medicine, the science and art of human behavior is applied daily. Whether it’s hospitals encouraging their preferred birthing process or specialists co-designing a treatment plan with their patient, these interventions are all aimed specifically at changing a behavior, without needing to convince a patient what the “right” thing to do,” Moore said. -Jones.
Moore-Jones explained that it is a matter of veterinarians changing their thinking to get pet owners to change their behaviors, which can be done without compromising the science behind the practice of veterinary Medicine.
“For example, if we are trying to convince a pet owner that second-level dental care is necessary, we can use the phenomenon of loss aversion. This is where people feel the pain of losing something twice as strong as the pleasure of gaining something, and you can spend time discussing how much more it would cost the pet owner if they waited until he reaches a fourth grade dental level, rather than spending. it’s time to convince them of the benefits of doing it sooner,” Moore-Jones explained.
“If we’re trying to convince someone to follow our recommended treatment route, we can use a technique called anchoring, where we give them a higher price to compare before we mention the actual cost. And a very important human behavioral tactic that we all understand to some extent, but perhaps don’t use strategically enough, is the realization that people are more likely to stick to a plan treatment that they helped develop. This is called the collaborative care model approach.
According to Moore-Jones, while others do similar work on specific components of human behavior change, Unleashed Coaching and Consulting is the only group combining this specialized knowledge with its real-world experience of veterinary consultations.
“This is an extremely unique area of the veterinary profession. Unfortunately, it is often misunderstood that these are simply communication skills, and clinics assume that customer service training covers this space without realizing that it is a completely different perspective, d ‘a new way of thinking and an opportunity to completely rethink their interactions with customers. Moore-Jones shared.
Holistic approach to biosecurity and One Health
Building on his multi-faceted veterinary career in private practice, government and the not-for-profit sector, including most recently completing over 5 years as the Chief State Veterinarian of New South Wales , Sarah Britton, BVSc, Dip Vet Clin Stud, MANZCVS, GAICD, created One Biosecurity Solutions. This consultancy offers a unique approach to addressing One Health and biosecurity issues.
Sarah Britton, BVSc, Dip Vet Clin Stud, MANZCVS, GAICD, founder and principal consultant of One Biosecurity Solutions.
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“The need for leaders with broad experience to find solutions through collaborative efforts across the human, animal, plant and environmental sectors while building leadership and capacity was evident and was the impetus for developing this practice. niche advice,” Britton told dvm360.
“Siloed management of One Health and biosecurity issues compromises the effectiveness of the management of key risks. One Biosecurity Solutions advocates for a holistic approach that reduces impacts and enables the implementation of long-term policies.
Britton said that with the increasing incidence of global biosecurity incursions and disease spread events posing a risk to humans, the need for immediate and effective solutions has become more critical than ever.
“By providing strategic recommendations to drive improvement and reduce biosecurity risks and impacts on the industry and community, it enables a holistic, longer-term approach that can bring about greater change in the preparedness, prevention and policy development,” Britton said.
“Issues such as identifying gaps in advanced veterinary capacity to provide capacity and capacity building recommendations; and pressure testing biosecurity measures to prevent highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza from impacting wild birds and poultry.
Providing leadership consulting and coaching services to government, industry and research, One Biosecurity Solutions will be able to draw on a broad range of expertise through connections with a diverse network of consultants .
“Our commitment is to create a healthier, more sustainable world by addressing biosecurity and One Health threats through collaboration, expertise, leadership and capacity development,” Britton said.
“We also draw on a broad network of experts in leadership, biosecurity, emergency management and One Health to build a collaborative approach to help our clients build capacity and find opportunities. solutions to reduce the impacts of these global events. Our team is confident in its abilities to achieve these goals and have a positive impact on society.