21 Sept 2022
Incoming BVA president Malcolm Morley believes early training on how to guide human behaviour during conversations will help the profession to produce better practitioners.
John Bonner
Job Title
Malcolm Morley. Image © BVA
Incoming BVA president Malcolm Morley believes veterinary students should be given more training on how to guide human behaviour during consultations.
The Hampshire-based equine practitioner, who will be made head of the association’s officer team at its annual meeting in Cambridge on 29 September, believes early training in human behavioural psychology will help produce better practitioners.
He said: “The consultation is the core of what we do as veterinary surgeons. When I qualified from Bristol in 1993, consultation skills were really something you learned after graduation.
“There is more attention given to communication skills by the schools these days, but I think we could be doing more.
“Successful veterinary treatment depends on being able to persuade the animal owner to follow our advice. The so-called ‘soft skills’ are not something that should be an add-on to the veterinary curriculum; they are a central aspect of being a vet.”
Dr Morley continued: “We need to train our undergrads in guiding human behaviour change through techniques such as motivational interviewing. If that training is embedded within the undergraduate curriculum, our students will be more effective vets and much happier in their careers.”
The theme Dr Morley has chosen for his presidential year is “Investing in people”, a theme he feels better suited to the modern veterinary profession than “the traditional idea of being there to put animals back together when they are broken”.
He added: “Our role is to establish relationships with people, and to work in collaboration with clients, staff and the broader animal-owning public. If you look at three of the main issues that the BVA will be trying to address over the next year – the popularity of brachycephalic dog breeds, the emergence of unregulated canine fertility clinics and the challenge of antimicrobial resistance – none of those are strictly animal welfare problems.
“It is all about human attitudes, and trying to modify behaviour for the benefit of animals and their owners.”
Two of the biggest challenges Dr Morley will face during his presidency will be leading the BVA response to the manpower shortages affecting all branches of the vet profession and the looming cost of living crisis.
But despite the size of these twin challenges, Dr Morley is clearly relishing the task.
He said: “Yes, there are big challenges ahead, but these are things that we can do something about and so I am looking forward to it.
“If there is a recession, that doesn’t mean our profession will be wiped out, but we do know that on previous occasions when there has been financial hardship in this country, we have seen people cutting back on veterinary care. As an association and as individual vets, we need to be aware of this and to keep a close eye on the animal welfare situation.”
By working with the other main veterinary organisations, Dr Morley believes the BVA has a better opportunity to address the other major problem for the profession – retaining its experienced workforce.
He said: “I don’t mind if colleagues are going off to do things like working for an overseas development charity where they are using their veterinary training. What I don’t like to see is colleagues just fleeing practice for good. This is happening and it’s our problem – there is nobody going to come and help us, we have to sort it out ourselves.
“The first step is to listen to our members and find out exactly what the root problems are. Much of this has already been done by my predecessor Gudrun Ravetz and her good veterinary workplace group.
“Now, it is our job to identify and act on the changes that are needed to create more sustainable practices.”
Dr Morley added: “Much of this is about highlighting those ways some practices are already doing things right. The future of veterinary practice is already here around us; it is just not distributed equally.
“I don’t want to spend the next year on transmit, constantly telling people what they need to do in order to tick the ‘good veterinary practice’ boxes. I want to learn myself how people are doing great things and to use that knowledge to inspire others.”
