Objectives: To investigate the effect of client complaints on small animal veterinary internists' welfare, job satisfaction and medical practices. Materials and MethOds: Cross-sectional anonymous survey study. Between February 1 and March 31, 2017, a web-based questionnaire was made available through the American College Veterinary Internal Medicine sub-specialty Small Animal Internal Medicine E-mail List Serve. results: A total of 92 completed surveys were available for review. Fifty-nine (64•1%) respondents received a client complaint during the previous 6 months with cost of care the most common reason (53•3%). Eighty-nine (96•7%) respondents worry about client complaints being made against them with 33 (35•8%) stating they worry "most of the time" or "all of the time." Thirty-two (34•8%) reported being verbally assaulted by a client in the previous 6 months and 27 (29•4%) reported being threatened with litigation during the previous 6 months. Sixty-six (71•7%) have reported changing the way they practice medicine to avoid a client complaint and 40 (43•5%) have considered changing their career because of complaints made against them. clinical relevance: Client complaints are a frequent problem among small animal veterinary internists that have detrimental effects on job satisfaction, psychological distress and medical practices.

Previous studies in human medicine have found that patients prefer their doctors to be more formally attired, and that this influences their trust and confidence in their physician. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how veterinarians’ attire affected owners’ impressions and trust in the small animal specialty medicine setting. A questionnaire based study conducted during a 2‐month period at an urban based small animal private practice specialty hospital. Respondents completed a written survey after reviewing pictures of the same male and female veterinarian in five different dress styles. Respondents were asked for their preference for male and female veterinarian attire in different clinical scenarios and whether it would affect their willingness to discuss sensitive issues. Two hundred and thirty‐eight questionnaires were completed during the study period with 76.1% of respondents being female. Female respondents did not have a preference to how a male or female veterinarian was attired with the attire examples provided. However, male respondents tended to have fairly equal response rates between no preference and preferring a male veterinarian to be in either clinical or professional attire. Male owners either had no preference or preferred their male veterinarian to be attired in clinical or professional attire and had no preference or preferred their female veterinarian to be clinical attire. Most respondents do not feel it is necessary for a veterinarian to wear a white coat or neck ties and most do not feel it is inappropriate for a veterinarian to wear blue jeans, have coloured hair, or have visible tattoos.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency and perception of veterinary insurance among owners' at a small animal specialty hospital around a large urban city. Materials and MethOds:A questionnaire evaluated the prevalence and perception of insurance among owners at a small animal specialty hospital over a 2 month period. Respondents provided demographic information including age, sex, educational level and household income. Respondents without insurance were asked reasons for not having insurance, approximate cost of insurance per month desired and percentage of coverage of medical expenses they would want insurance to provide. Respondents with insurance were asked how they chose their current plan, how it affects their medical decisions for their pet and their overall satisfaction. results: Sixty-seven (28.5%) owners reporting having insurance for at least one pet. Owners most commonly selected their current insurance plan based on online research (27, 40.3%). Fifty-two respondents (77.6%) reported being satisfied with their insurance plan and 49 (73.2%) stated that would recommend their current insurance plan to a friend. clinical significance: Insurance had a relatively high prevalence in this study group with most owners being satisfied with their current plan and would be likely to recommend it to a friend. The role of insurance in how it affects owner's medical decisions, care for their pet and interactions with veterinarians in companion animal medicine requires further evaluation.