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Relationship-Centered Care

Exceptional Veterinary Team, November 5, 2009

Anthony L. Suchman, MD, of the University of Rochester defines relationship-centered care (RCC) as a clinical philosophy that stresses partnership, careful attention to relational process, shared decision-making, and self-awareness.¹ The term was originated in a milestone monograph written in 1994 by the Pew-Fetzer Task Force entitled Health Professions Education and Relationship-Centered Care.

While founded in human medicine, the four principles of RCC also apply to relationships with animal health care providers. They are:

Emotional Intelligence

Exceptional Veterinary Team, May 2, 2009

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the “it” factor—not education, experience, intellect, or charisma—that helps predict personal achievement, happiness, and professional success. EI is the ability to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them. Biologically, it results from effective communication between the rational and emotional centers of the brain.¹

MBTI Temperaments

Exceptional Veterinary Team, July 2, 2009

Because applying the implications of the 16 MBTI personality types to ourselves and those around us can be daunting, psychologist David West Keirsey, PhD, grouped the types into four more easily understood temperaments.¹