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Integrating MLS® Laser into Practice - we are here to help
Thinking about integrating a Laser Therapy Service into your practice? Not sure where to start or how it will be received? We are here to help!
Laser therapy is a safe, non-invasive and well-tolerated treatment modality to include in painful and inflammatory conditions as well as aid tissue healing (for further information visit link). For this reason, it is a brilliant tool to add to your service and can be delivered by vets, nurses, and other members of your team trained specifically on the device.
Spreading the word
Despite this some practices have concerns about how to integrate it into their practice, and how well it will be received by clients. In our wealth of experience, most practices are surprised how quickly clients learn about the new laser service offered for their pets’ health and are keen to pay for a course to see if it will help their pet’s long-standing osteoarthritic or lick granuloma disorder.
When you start a laser service within your practice it is essential to market it properly to your customers. This can be done easily via social media forums and e-newsletters which are an ideal and inexpensive route to highlight the laser therapy to your customer base. We provide social media start-up templates and client information leaflets and blogs to get you going and as soon as you have some success stories to tell it becomes easier and easier. Get clients involved who have had successful treatments of their pets to endorse it too!
Waiting room advertising on televisions, posters and client leaflets will provide instant information to clients, and we can also support you with this with a package of marketing literature, videos, photos and case studies.
To further increase client awareness and adoption of the new laser service, we recommend having laser therapy within a post-operative care package option on all the operation and dental forms. It may also be worthwhile generating a little booklet of your own case success stories and client testimonials present in the waiting room and posted on the website. This helps clients appreciate the benefits and results, plus keeps vets and nurses working in unison together on ensuring new cases are provided due to the success stories generated.
Involving the client, where possible, during laser sessions not only helps in educating clients and recording improvements over the course of treatments, but may also lead to clients promoting laser therapy amongst the animal-owning community.
Charging
Most laser therapy courses involve an initial six session induction course for chronic conditions and orthopaedic post-surgical rehabilitation over a 2-3 week period, with fewer sessions required for acute or superficial injuries. Dental and simple skin injuries may only have two sessions a couple of days apart.
For ongoing conditions such as chronic allergic skin or osteoarthritic conditions, treatment can continue life-long. Each animal is assessed at the end of the induction course and an exact maintenance protocol plan is devised at this stage to ensure long-term management with or without other therapies.
On average, for an osteoarthritis case, most practices charge £30-35 for a 20 minute session delivered by a nurse. Sometimes a discount for booking batches of treatments is offered. If multiple joints are requiring laser therapy, an extended fee charge may be applied due to the extra time required. For the majority of skin, post-operative, and dental conditions, treatments are very quick and can be delivered at the end of a standard consultation. In this case a smaller fee (~£10) is added to the cost of the surgery or consultation fee.
Returns and adding value
Our ASA Lasers are exceptional value and based on the daily use across pain management, wounds, soft tissue injuries and post-surgery rehabilitation cases, no piece of veterinary equipment can fit so easily into medical and surgical routines. Owner compliance tends to be excellent, and because the service can be operated and run by physiotherapists or nurses working in conjunction with veterinary supervision, the potential return on investment is rapid and considerable.
Offering Class 4 Laser Therapy not only provides new therapeutic options for treatment of chronic, tricky-to-manage conditions as well as acute painful conditions (safely alongside most other treatment modalities), but it can also significantly encourage footfall and increase interactions with clients. The involvement in laser sessions by pet owners is a rewarding experience for all, encourages bond-building and helps significantly in self-marketing this new piece of cutting-edge technology for the practice.
As an example of potential return on investment, figures from a UK one-and-a-half-vet practice shows that just one laser treatment per day makes a profit for the practice. Most practices treat 4-10 cases daily! Below is an example return on investment calculation per week for a small practice.
Installation and training
It is essential that training of all staff using the machine occurs to ensure proper and safe laser use within the practice. We pride ourselves on provide full training, including education on the science, uses, practicalities and hazards of using laser therapy within the veterinary practice. We will help you to safely incorporate a Laser Service into your practice, ensuring that all staff are clear on how to use and market the laser therapy to customers, with on-going support as required.
Conclusion
In the last decade, the knowledge and scientific understanding on photobiomodulation has grown exponentially and modern therapeutic lasers have a solid foundation on the underlying mechanisms. ASA’s own ASAcampus Research Devision focuses specifically on their MLS® products honing the technology and protocols and pushing scientific boundaries. Providing a Laser Service to your patients will not only improve patient outcomes, but add value to your service, generate income and improve staff satisfaction.
References
830 nm laser irradiation induces varicosity formation, reduces mitochondrial membrane potential and blocks fast axonal flow in small and medium diameter rat dorsal root ganglion neurons: implications for the analgesic effects of 830 nm laser. Chow RT, David MA, Armati PJ. J Peripher Nerv Syst. 2007 Mar;12(1):28-39.
COX-2 mRNA expression decreases in the subplantar muscle of rat paw subjected to carrageenan-induced inflammation after low level laser therapy. Albertini R, Aimbire F, Villaverde AB, Silva JA Jr, Costa MS. Inflamm Res. 2007 Jun;56(6):228-9.
A randomized blind placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on canine elbow osteoarthritis. Andrea L. Looney, Janice L. Huntingford, Lauren L.Blaeser, Sabine Mann. The Canadian Veterinary Journal. 2018. 59(9):959-966
Management of the articular degenerative disease of the dog: comparison of physical and pharmacological therapies S. Meggiolaro, S. Tention, G.M. De Benedictis. Energy For Health. 2016. Vol 17 page 22-25
Near Infra red Laser Therapy on the Management of Feline Stomatitis. Paolo Squarzoni, Daniele Bani, Francesca Cialdai and Monica Monici. 2017. SM Dermatology Journal.
A measure of post-operative satisfaction after application of Mphi therapeutic laser for pain management in patients with surgical extraction of impacted third molars. N. Doan, L. Nguyen-Pham, S. Cokim. Energy For Health. 2016. Vol 15 page 4-8
Should open excisions and sutured incisions be treated differently? A review and meta-analysis of animal wound models following low-level laser therapy. Peter Gál, Martin Bjørn Stausholm, Ivan Kováč , Erik Dosedla, Ján Luczy, František Sabol, Jan Magnus Bjordal. Lasers Med Sci. 2018. 33(6):1351-1362
Preliminary data on the efficacy of multi-wave (multi-wavelength) diode laser on bacteria in superficial canine pyoderma. C. S. Cabassi, G. Ghibaudo, S. Flisi, C. Spadini, M. Monici. Energy For Health, ASA. 2019. Issue 18 page 12-19.