Are we a good fit?

For anyone that’s interviewed for a job or been nominated for an award, the word ‘vet’ conjures up interviews, background checks and interrogation of ones’ philosophy. You may not think about this, but you can also vet your healthcare providers, and they may vet you as well. It’s kind of like a little dating game.For me as a clinician, there is no better feeling than meeting with a client and clicking with them. It’s great when I know what the client expects of me and I can make good on my deliverables. It’s important to me for clients to be happy with my service. I reach out to my clients after their visit to see if they have questions, comments or feedback. When I don’t hear anything, I think they are either busy or disappointed with my service.Over the years, I have gotten better at vetting my clients. I don’t want to waste a person’s time if I don’t think I can help them or have them waste my time by cancelling or no showing at the last minute. If an individual asks for diet and health advice that I am not familiar with, I refer them to another clinician. I want to help people, not pretend I know something that I don’t.Often times, I am the one being vetted. A potential client may call and ask my philosophy or knowledge about a certain diet or health condition. If I don’t think I can help them, the best advice is to let them go and send them to another dietitian. This happened to me earlier today. A woman called and asked if I performed genetic testing for food intolerances or knew much about functional nutrition. This is not my forte. Nutrition is not a catch-all field. Just like any other discipline, there are general practitioners (like me) or specialists that focus on eating disorders, cancer and so on. Kind of like in medicine- you have pediatrics and adult medicine and specialties from there. Attorneys practice different types of law. Athletes use different equipment for different sports. You get the drift.