Posts Tagged ‘clients’

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Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Once we have the Embark DNA testing going on, what does that look like from a CSR perspective, a technician, and a generalist?

Jenna Dockweiler, MS DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT: Absolutely, so we have a couple of different options with our Embark clinic testing. So the first option is you can carry the tests in clinic. You can buy them in bulk packs, do the swab right there in the exam room, and send it off. The results will go back to the veterinarian first so they have a chance to review those results and then those can be released to the client. That's option one.

Option two, for folks who maybe don't have a lot of inventory space, would be our recommend and review program. Essentially, the client orders through our website through a special QR code. They get a little bit of a discount on their test purchase and then once that results comes back, they go to the veterinarian and the client at the same time. The veterinarian's experience as far as the very detailed reporting and the support with me is not different, but the client will get the result at the same time. So just two different options for the testing.

As far as how we've seen this work best in clinics is it is very, very, very helpful to assign a genetics champion to be the one to have that initial conversation about the benefits of genetic testing with your clients. And typically that is a technician or another interested staff member. Embark will absolutely support training that person. We offer lunch and learns to get all the clinic staff kind of up to speed on what the testing looks like, how to have those initial conversations.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: I wanna talk about our educational school and that school with genetics. I'm curious to get your thoughts on where we should be going in the next five to 10 years with genetic counseling and understanding for the new graduates that are coming out of school.

Jenna Dockweiler, MS DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT: Typically we don't get much genetics education in either vet or tech schools. So typically whenever I speak, I always tell people, hey, you're gonna be reaching back to your high school biology. We're gonna be talking about Mendel's peas today. So I think that there is definitely an opportunity. I would say just doing like a brief review of the modes of inheritance, which is the way that a variant is passed on to the next generation, would be really, really helpful if we had that kind of again in vet school. Then, using some examples with either breeding dogs and how to smartly pair them, or with personalized medicine and individual dogs who may be at risk for genetic diseases.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: I think the new graduates know about this. They're excited about it, but I think they're just learning so much through mentorship and trying to get their communication under control. But I do think that this is a great opportunity for a mentorship opportunity for hospitals to teach the new grads. This is what we should do moving forward, right?

Lindsey Kock, DVM: Yeah, absolutely. I think one thing to maybe be cautious of not getting too bogged down in is, there's over 350 some odd different variants that we know of in the world of dogs. So I think if you come at it from the perspective of like, "Oh my gosh, I got to know all of the details about all of these disorders, there's a new one coming out every week, right, that may only affect a certain subpopulation or a certain breed of dog.

And so I think the recommendation to really focus on inheritance, is huge because it helps you interpret the results for the pet parent. And then making sure that when you do testing, you do it from a reputable lab that lets you know what the inheritance is as well, right? And it tells you what actual marker they're looking at, because that is also important in the interpretation of those results.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: The fact that you can talk to somebody at Embark to go over these results, I was just going to mention that. Because I know that you feel inundated if you get these results, but it's almost as if going through a ClinPath case when you're calling your reference lab, you want to walk through some of the differentials. So it's important. I'm sure you must get quite a few phone calls with that.

Jenna Dockweiler, MS DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT: Absolutely. I talk to veterinarians all day long helping them interpret their results and then again as a theriogenologist, I'm definitely able to help with the breeder clients as well.

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Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: We're chatting so much in this day and age about customized care, individualized care, and what does that mean now that we have in Embarks DNA testing kit available? What does that look like to the pet parent's perspective and to the veterinarian that we have now, like a customizable care program?

Jenna Dockweiler, MS DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT: So I think we've kind of evolved as a profession over time. You know, initially we practice medicine, and then we practice species-based care, as in cats are not small dogs. Then we started to practice breed-based medicine. Perhaps these things are more breed-associated than others. This is really the next frontier, so personalized medicine.

In addition to MDR1, there are other things that are on our genetic test that could offer some personalized care. One that comes to mind for me is a variant in the POMC gene that interferes with satiety. So if you have a fat lab who comes in, which we see every day, you're doing thyroid testing, the owner swears up and down, you know, they're not feeding the dog anything extra, but he's always hungry.

So this POMC gene really can interfere with satiety and just give a reason for why that pet might be constantly hungry and potentially, maybe overweight. I find it's very helpful to point to something to say, "Hey, this is why your dog maybe has trouble with feeling full." So he's not actually starving, you know? So we can follow this weight management plan.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Yeah, I love that.

Lindsey Kock, DVM: That is one of my favorite studies because if you dig into it, they used assistant dogs in that study and they found that dogs who were really trainable had that POMC mutation, but it makes sense, right? They were food motivated. And so, a lot of dogs that end up in assistance programs tend to be food motivated, tend to be easier to train. It tells us about satiety, and it tells us, you know, things that we wanna know about weight management.

But the other thing it tells us is making some training recommendations, right? So a dog who has the POMC variant might be more likely to be really trainable with food. But we may be able to talk to pet owners who have dogs that don't have that mutation about some other tactics that they can use for training too when they might be having a tough time at home. So it's interesting how when we learn about genetics, sometimes there's the second layer of other ways that that we can apply that information in practice, which is really cool.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: There's a practice that has this wonderful thought philosophy that says everyone is a VIP and it's very individualized for the pet and pet parent. And what they do is for every dog whether it be a rescue dog, from a breeder, a puppy, it's included in the initial visit that they already have the Embark DNA test there. What are your thoughts on that?

Jenna Dockweiler, MS DVM, DACT, CCRT, CVAT: I think that's a great way to, again, build trust between the client and the practice because everybody feels like the plan is really made together. This is individual for my dog specifically. It's not just the breed or the presumed breed mix. This is my dog so I think that's a great tactic.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Yeah and because they get so excited when they see right and I, to your point, where we're just talking about the human animal bond and we want to bond with our clients in the exam room like that. You want to be excited for them and so having that discussion about genetic testing and being a proactive approach to care I think is so powerful. What are your thoughts on that?

Lindsey Kock, DVM: One thing I think about, too, is we tend to see trends carrying over from human medicine. So I think about how people's animals are parts of the family, right? And they expect them to get the same sort of personalized treatment that a family member may have gotten or that they may have gotten. And so I think, as human medicine becomes more personalized, and we start to use genomic testing in different areas of human medicine, it's important to understand how that is going to impact clients' expectation of us as veterinarians too.

For me, this plays into expectations for personalized care based on things that those clients may seek out if they've done a consumer DNA test. If they've looked at their microbiome, if someone in their family has gone through treatment for cancer and they've done personalized care. So I think the more we start thinking about this type of technology and how we can apply it, I think it's fair to think about the big picture too and client expectations.

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