Investigation of the effects of veterinarians' attire on ratings of trust, confidence, and comfort in a sample of pet owners in Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To examine companion animal owners' perceptions of appropriate veterinarian attire and investigate potential associations between a veterinarian's attire and clients' ratings of trust in, confidence in, and comfort with a veterinarian. SAMPLE: 449 pet owners. PROCEDURES: Participants were randomly assigned to complete a questionnaire containing photos of a male or female model veterinarian photographed in 8 attire types (formal attire, white dress shirt with black pants, white casual shirt with khaki pants, surgical scrubs, white casual shirt with jeans, surgical scrub top with jeans, surgical scrub top with khaki pants, and white laboratory coat with khaki pants). Participants were asked to rate their trust in, confidence in, and comfort with the pictured individual on a response scale of 1 (low) to 7 (high), rank photos according to their preferences for attire, and provide input on the importance of attire and other appearance-related subjects. Attire and gender of photographed individual and participant demographics were investigated for associations with trust, confidence, and comfort scores. RESULTS: Most (317/445 [71%]) respondents indicated veterinarians' attire was important. Attire type was significantly associated with respondents' trust, confidence, and comfort scores. Model veterinarian gender and participant education level were also associated with trust and comfort scores. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Veterinarians' attire is a form of nonverbal communication that is likely to inform clients' first impressions and may influence clients' trust in, confidence in, and comfort with a veterinarian. Veterinary personnel and veterinary management should consider how attire and general appearance represent staff members or their practice.

Evaluation of team effectiveness and personal empathy for associations with professional quality of life and job satisfaction in companion animal practice personnel.

OBJECTIVE: To examine variables of veterinary team effectiveness and personal empathy for associations with professional quality of life (ie, compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress) and job satisfaction in companion animal practice personnel. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SAMPLE: Data from 232 surveys completed by personnel from 10 companion animal veterinary practices in 2 regions of the United States between April 7 and December 20, 2016. PROCEDURES: Online surveys were used to collect practice-level data (eg, practice type, setting, and staffing) and individual-level data (eg, demographics, job position, and years in the position and profession). Instruments used in developing the surveys included the Team Effectiveness Instrument, Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Professional Quality of Life Scale, and a measure for job satisfaction. Data were evaluated for associations with professional quality of life and job satisfaction. RESULTS: Individual engagement was positively associated with job satisfaction, negatively associated with secondary traumatic stress, and moderated by levels of personal distress for compassion satisfaction and burnout. Toxic team environment was positively associated with burnout and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Empathetic concern and personal distress were both positively associated with secondary traumatic stress. Empathetic concern was moderated by team engagement for compassion satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINCAL RELEVANCE: Results indicated that variables influencing professional quality of life and job satisfaction were multimodal and included aspects of team effectiveness and empathy; therefore, workplace strategies that enhance individual and team engagement and mitigate toxic team environments could potentially improve professional quality of life and job satisfaction in veterinary personnel.