In the fourth episode of the Inventory Nation Podcast, I’m delighted to be joined by Rebecca Regan, the inventory manager and certified veterinary technician at Big Sky Animal Medical Center, a general practice, specialty, and emergency practice located in Montana.

Rebecca attended the Bel-Rae Institute of Animal Technology and graduated in 2004. Afterward, she worked in Denver for a few years, at two different clinics. Rebecca got homesick and moved back to Montana and started working at Big Sky Animal Medical Center in 2008, which at that time it was a General Practice/Referral clinic but was an ER as a call-in basis. After working there for a while, Rebecca transitioned to a traveling vet tech. For a little over 4 years, she would travel, with her boss, doing surgeries at other clinics around the state. She moved to overnight ER vet tech after the practice changed to 24/7 where she has been for the last 6 years. Rebecca was asked to help with Inventory about 2 years ago and has been managing inventory ever since. She says, “trial, error, and a lot of help from Nicole Clausen, and other inventory managers on Facebook groups. I have managed to bring our clinic to a more efficient practice”.

Rebecca has a special interest in surgical nursing and emergency and critical care. She’s also married with 3 kids plus a bonus stepdaughter, and has the most tolerant Chihuahua you will ever meet.

During our conversation, Rebecca shares her advice with other inventory managers: “Find your support system and keep doing you. You are going to have those hard times and you are going to struggle sometimes, but it’s all going to be okay. You are going to find your niche and it’s going to be so much easier. It’s going to be okay.”

• Reorder Tags – Your distributors have free reorder tags that you can place on your inventory items. Note from Nicole: I recommend using reorder tags on products that aren’t tracked well in your practice management system (ie. syringes, gauze, needles, etc) or for things you want an added, double-check reorder point for.
• Vetcove (veterinary-specific purchasing platform) – https://www.vetcove.com
• Veterinary Inventory Management Group on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/groups/veterinaryinventory/