Case: Creature Care Animal Clinic

It has been three years since Dr. Julia Barr opened Creature Care Animal Clinic, a suburban
veterinary clinic. Dr. Barr thought that by now, she would be enjoying having her own practice. She
had spent many years in college and worked to save money to start a business. Instead, she felt
overwhelmed by the business problems that were facing the clinic. She thought to herself: “I don’t
produce anything. I just provide a service doing something I enjoy. How can this be so complicated?”
Company Background
Dr. Barr opened Creature Care Animal Clinic as a veterinary clinic specializing in caring for dogs and
cats. The clinic was set to operate Monday through Friday during regular business hours, with half
days on Saturday and extended hours on Wednesday evening. Dr. Barr hired another full-time
veterinarian, Dr. Gene Yen, a staff of three nurses, an office manager, and an office assistant. Both
doctors were to work the week and rotate the shift for Wednesday evenings and Saturdays. A similar
schedule was set up for the nurses. The office manager worked during regular business hours, and
the assistant worked on Wednesday evenings and Saturdays. Dr. Barr set up this schedule based on
a clinic she had observed as a resident and thought it sounded reasonable. Since the clinic was
small, Dr. Barr did not have a formal inventory management system. All physicians and nurses were
allowed to place purchase orders based on need. Initially, this system worked well, but after a few
months, problems started developing. Frequently, there was an excess inventory of certain items, and
in many cases, there were multiple brands of the same product. Sometimes medications passed their
expiration dates and had to be thrown away. At the same time, the clinic often unexpectedly ran out
of stock of certain supplies, and rush orders had to be placed. On one occasion, the clinic ran so low
on bandages that the assistant had to be sent to the local drugstore. Dr. Barr continued to rotate with
Dr. Yen for coverage on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings. However, demand was increasing
rapidly on Saturdays, and one doctor was insufficient to provide needed coverage. Also, the Friday
afternoon schedule was usually so packed that the staff frequently had to stay late in the evening. At
the same time, there was little demand on Wednesday evenings, and Dr. Barr found herself working
on paperwork while the nurse and office assistant performed menial office tasks.
INTRODUCTION

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BACKGROUND

Dr. Julia Barr opened Creature Care Animal Clinic as a veterinary clinic specializing in caring
for dogs and cats. Since the clinic was small, Dr. Barr did not have a formal inventory management
system. All physicians and nurses were allowed to place purchase orders based on need. Initially,
this system worked well, but after a few months, problems started developing. Dr. Barr operations
management problems consists planning, organizing, scheduling, managing inventory, which we can
say that Dr. Barr has no clear operation strategy. Since Dr. Barr is new to managing her own
business, she had committed several lapses when it comes to operations management.

MAIN ISSUE

Dr. Julia Barr felt overwhelmed by the business problems that were facing the clinic. Since the
clinic was small, Dr. Barr did not have a formal inventory management system. All physicians and
nurses were allowed to place purchase orders based on need. Initially, this system worked well, but
after a few months, problems started developing. Dr. Barr also sets up this schedule based on a clinic
she had observed as a resident and thought it sounded reasonable.

CRITICAL VARIABLES

Since the clinic was small, Dr. Barr did not have a formal inventory management system. All
physicians and nurses were allowed to place purchase orders based on need. Initially, this system
worked well, but after a few months, problems started developing. Frequently, there was an excess
inventory of certain items, and in many cases, there were multiple brands of the same product.
Sometimes medications passed their expiration dates and had to be thrown away. At the same time,
the clinic often unexpectedly ran out of stock of certain supplies, and rush orders had to be placed.
On one occasion, the clinic ran so low on bandages that the assistant had to be sent to the local
drugstore.
ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION

Outline various alternative courses of action by proposing distinct strategies or approaches to

address the identified issue. Evaluate each option's potential benefits and drawbacks, providing a
concise summary of the key considerations to guide decision-making in the analysis.

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RECOMMENDATION

We would like to recommend Dr Julia Barr to have a formal inventory management system.
Having a record of the items purchased, as well as supplies, could have prevented the items on
reaching their expiration date. In addition, it is a good way to monitor the quantity of supplies left in
the clinic. It also allows you to buy and keep track of the items your customers order the most.
Therefore, you will avoid keeping products that your customers don’t buy as much. Inventory
management systems make it easy for you to restrict the people who can access a business’s stock.
It keeps the company’s internal systems private from vendors, reducing the chances of data
breaches.

We would also like to recommend Dr Julia Barr to create a better and more reasonable
schedule of her staffs. By doing this, her staffs will know not only how the business is expected to be
ran but also how they are expected to act as a professional within her clinic. Dr. Barr also should
possibly send out a survey within the community to gather information on type of pets that are within
the community as well as the type of people. This will not only give her a better idea of the hours that
would most benefit her and the community but also allow her to know what needs to be maintained
within the inventory because if there are more dogs than cats, she would more than likely deal with
more dog sickness or issues and therefore need to maintain a higher inventory for the dog rather than
the cat.
 She should reevaluate her scheduling with her employees. As of now she can have an idea
what are her slow and heavy days, so she should schedule according to that. She should also
change her hours of operation. She should try and get some customers feedback on some times that
may be convenient for them to bring their pets in. This not only could get the name of her business
out their but also keeping her hours of service booked to capacity. Overall, she should hire an
operations manager to keep her business on track and keep production moving.

SUMMARY / INTEGRATION

Dr. Julia Barr felt overwhelmed by the business problems that were facing the clinic. Dr. Barr
did not have a formal inventory management system. This leads her clinic to have difficulties in
tracking their medications and supplies on hand. This also leads to overspending on inventory. Dr.
Barr set up their schedule based on a clinic she had observed as a resident which sounded
unreasonable. This leads their clinic to have a chaos in their company’s operations. Having a poor
employee scheduling may lead to inaccurate headcounts or even if headcount is met, there may be a
poor skill mix leading to inefficient workflows and loss of productivity.
After having a thorough analysis about Dr. Julia Barr’s case, the researchers came up with an
alternative course of action that led to recommendation, the researchers concluded that having a
record of the items purchased, as well as supplies, could have prevented the items on reaching their
expiration date. In addition, it is a good way to monitor the quantity of supplies left in the clinic. And
also, scheduling helps you make the most of your available resources. Scheduling also helps us to
take on tasks that we can handle effectively. Work schedules ensure that everyone on the team
receives the correct tasks and time allocation to level the playing field. Therefore, improving animal
welfare is a responsibility that we all share. Hence, taking steps to promote it can have a positive
impact on animals and humans alike.