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So what’s on tap for the new AAHA
president? Knutson discussed how she plans on helping veterinarians adapt to changing times, as well as why she sees her presidency as a platform for advocat- ing dentistry and preventive care to both practice teams and pet owners.
Maintaining a flexible approach through turbulent times In Knutson’s eyes, the profession has
“I really do believe if we can get veterinarians and staff on board with understanding the importance of preventive health care, that we can also relay that to the clients.”
reached a period of time as disruptive to veterinarians as when Henry Ford fired up his assembly line and began replacing horses with cars. Considering the influx of new technology and innovative procedures combined with the growing number of challenges such as crushing student debt, fewer client visits and more veterinary graduates, Knutson said, “I think we’re at the same sort of profound moment now.” Knutson said her career up until now
has taught her that just when you think you have it all figured out, some new diag- nostic test, economic model, procedure, or way of thinking will come along and cancel out your previous mode of think- ing. And that’s a good thing for AAHA, she said, as it has given her an openness to change that will help AAHA navigate uncharted territory under her guidance. “Flexibility is critical and what you
learned last year might not be relevant for this year. That mindset is crucial for our profession and is important for me as the incoming AAHA president,” she said. “We are experiencing a lot of turbulence and instability now and have to learn how to come up with viable business and health care models to ensure the sustain- ability of companion animal medicine.”
A veterinarian enamored with enamel Knutson’s eyes light up when she men-
tions her biggest passion: dentistry. She even signs her board book with “ETIAP” (Every Tooth is a Patient). She explained that her interest in animal health has roots in dentistry and branches out to other niches within animal health. “If you provide excellent dentistry for your patients, you give them a really
Trends magazine, April 2013
good quality of life. They can live longer and be healthier. So loving teeth means I’m also interested in senior care,” she said. “If you take really good care of your patients’ oral health, it means they’re going to live long enough to get cancer, so I’m really interested in oncology.” One of the projects Knutson is most
enthused about during her presidential tenure is the publication of AAHA’s revised dental guidelines. She said the guidelines will give her the opportunity to further spread the word about how veterinarians can better handle patients’ dental needs. “The thing that’s really exciting about
that for me is being able to talk about the revised dental guidelines and being able to go out and champion for making the changes the dental committee feels need to be made to make us better practitio- ners,” she said.
Building lengthy client relationships through preventive care Knutson also plans on furthering the
veterinary profession’s efforts to embrace pet wellness. It’s a subject she gravitated toward early in her career, when she purchased a vaccine clinic in 1997 and quickly converted it into a wellness hos- pital. The focus on preventive care fits closely with her goal to help pets live long and healthy lives, she said. “I’m really thrilled to go talk to peo-
ple about the importance of wellness and why it’s so much more rewarding to practice wellness medicine than disaster medicine,” she said. According to Knutson, there is an
apparent communication disconnect keeping many health care teams from adequately explaining the importance of preventive health care to their clients, which is a contributing factor to declining patient visits. Discovering the source of that disconnect and fixing it could set the industry on the path to increased patient volume and healthier pets, she said. “I really do believe if we can get vet- erinarians and staff on board with under- standing the importance of preventive health care, that we can also relay that to
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