Helen Øvregaard
"Communication abilities are not just something you are born with; it’s also a clinical skill, and we should treat it as such."
Get to know one of the AniCura Graduate Programme's speakers and mentors, Helen Øvregaard from Norway. Helen is AniCura's manager of clinical communication and responsible for teaching one of the power skills in the graduate programme.
– I've been a veterinarian for 30 years, and my clinic became an AniCura clinic in 2013. In 2018 I took over responsibility for teaching and training communication skills in Norway, and from November 2020 it’s my full-time job. Communication with owners is a big part of a veterinarian's everyday job, and it influences the outcome to a much higher degree than many imagine.
Helen's role primarily focuses on giving animals the best treatment and secondary to provide a great customer experience for owners.
– In many cases, the owners are responsible for giving their pet treatment, and must ultimately have an understanding of how to provide the treatment. If we can communicate efficiently with the owner, the results will eventually be better.
In her spare time, Helen enjoys her garden and mountain cabin.
– I live on the Island Askøy with my husband and two cats. We have three grown daughters who visit often. This year I'm truly grateful for my greenhouse and mountain cabin, but I also like yoga and dancing. I've always had a lot of other interests beside work, but since I started working with clinical communication, I must admit I get a bit consumed! It's such an exciting subject.
When Helen started her practice many years ago, she noticed how pet owners appreciated the use of straightforward language, and that it helped building the relationship with them.
– I've always been interested in how to do a good consultation. When I started working alone, I noticed that a good relationship with the owner made everything easier, and even improved the medical outcome, and from there, the interest grew into the position I have today. Traditionally, communication hasn't been a prioritised subject in the veterinary faculties, but good professional communication skills are vital. It means focusing on the desired outcome in a given part of the consultation, leading to better accuracy, efficiency and supportiveness. The medical result depends on our ability to build a relationship that allows collaboration with the client. I'm proud that AniCura acknowledges communication as a critical part of the veterinarian profession
Together with three colleagues, Helen attended an in-depth Train the Trainer-course with a doctor and a psychologist, who had long experience training human hospital doctors. By adding sections necessary for the veterinary profession, the course became complete.
– It's important to me that everything we teach in our courses builds on science. This is evidence-based knowledge, and it has been a huge amount of research in the field of communication in healthcare. Fortunately, we can learn from literature and studies both in the human and veterinary field. Communication abilities are not just something you are born with; it's also a clinical skill, and we should treat it as such. As important as our medical knowledge base as veterinarians and nurses, is our ability to use our communication skills efficiently and wisely in different situations. As an example, we need to know exactly which skills to use, when discussing the treatment plan with our client. If we can achieve better adherence, we will improve the medical result.
Helen understands that many new veterinarians feel somewhat unsure when starting their first job. Moreover, she acknowledges the fact that mental health for veterinarians is a hot topic in Norway, as well as in many other countries.
– We need to make sure new veterinarians, nurses and other staff get systematic and practical training, to feel confident and safe in their workplace. In Norway, mental health for veterinarians is a hot topic. The high demand for efficiency, and our own desire to deliver high quality veterinary care is sometimes a challenging balance. Time pressure can be stressful, especially when you need to talk about emotional and difficult subjects. Being able to structure your consultations and conversations properly have proved to help. Also, it's essential to know how to tackle situations when something has gone wrong, by careful communication.
In Norway, the courses in clinical communication are not just for veterinarians, but all personnel in the clinics.
– Communication skills are crucial in every part of animal health care.