Beth Davidow spotlights patient safety in private practice
Bottom line
Patient safety is getting fresh attention in private veterinary practice through a new Instinct “Pick the Brain” podcast episode featuring Beth Davidow, DVM, DACVECC, co-founder and CEO of Timberline Veterinary Emergency & Specialty. In the episode, Davidow discusses how practices can strengthen patient safety protocols, while related coverage from dvm360 underscores a broader industry message: most medical errors in veterinary settings don’t stem from one dramatic mistake, but from a chain of smaller failures, communication gaps, and system weaknesses. Instinct launched the short-form podcast series in April 2026 as part of its practice leadership content, and the Davidow episode fits into a growing conversation around safety culture, error reporting, and quality improvement in veterinary medicine. (instinct.vet)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the takeaway is less about adding blame and more about building systems that catch problems early. Davidow’s published work on hospital quality and safety emphasizes communication, leadership, staff input, and continuous improvement, while dvm360 and AAHA coverage point to psychological safety and a “just culture” as essential if teams are going to report near misses and adverse events without fear. That matters in private practice, where formal patient safety infrastructure is still limited and safety processes often depend on local leadership rather than external accreditation requirements. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: Expect more discussion around practical safety tools, including checklists, reporting systems, workflow design, and team communication training, as patient safety science gains traction in everyday veterinary practice. (ihi.org)
A new Instinct “Pick the Brain” podcast episode is putting patient safety in private veterinary practice back in focus, with Beth Davidow, DVM, DACVECC, offering guidance on how hospitals can improve safety protocols before errors reach patients. The episode, highlighted on Instinct’s blog, comes as veterinary media and safety leaders continue to push the profession toward a more structured, less punitive approach to medical error prevention. (instinct.vet)
The timing matters because patient safety remains an emerging discipline in veterinary medicine, not a mature one. In a 2021 review article indexed by PubMed, Davidow wrote that cultures centered on communication, open discussion, and continuous improvement are linked to better patient survival and fewer medical errors. More recently, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement described veterinary patient safety culture as “nascent but growing,” noting that while checklists and reporting systems are more familiar than they once were, the field still lacks a widely shared language around safety and quality. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Instinct’s broader positioning also helps explain why this topic is surfacing now. The company introduced its “Pick the Brain” podcast in April 2026 as a weekly, short-form series for veterinary leaders, and its product and brand messaging repeatedly ties workflow design to patient safety. Instinct says its software ecosystem is built to support safer, smarter decision-making, with built-in alerts, structured workflows, and safety warnings intended to reduce reliance on memory and informal handoffs. That doesn’t make the podcast a neutral academic forum, but it does show how commercial veterinary technology companies are increasingly framing safety as both a clinical and operational priority. (instinct.vet)
The underlying message from Davidow aligns closely with recent reporting from dvm360 and AAHA: veterinary errors are usually systemic, not simply personal failings. In dvm360’s recent Q&A on medication errors, Theresa Cosper-Roberts said mistakes often arise even in well-run hospitals and argued that teams need to normalize conversations about error instead of treating them as individual moral failures. AAHA has echoed that view, urging practices to stop blaming people and start fixing systems, especially by creating psychological safety so team members will report adverse events and near misses. (dvm360.com)
There’s also a growing expert chorus around the same themes. Lydia Love, DVM, DACVAA, CPPS, told the Institute for Healthcare Improvement this year that dedicated patient safety roles are still rare in veterinary medicine, but teamwork, communication, and error recovery skills can improve both care outcomes and clinician well-being. Recent research on veterinary error culture among support staff in German-speaking countries similarly found that organizational conditions, hierarchy, and interpersonal dynamics shape whether people feel able to speak up about mistakes. Together, those sources suggest Davidow’s advice is part of a larger shift toward systems thinking in veterinary care. (ihi.org)
Why it matters: For private practices, this is a management issue as much as a medical one. Many hospitals don’t have dedicated quality departments, formal safety officers, or robust event-reporting systems, so the burden falls on practice leaders to create routines that make safe care more repeatable. That can include structured case handoffs, medication double-checks, briefings before high-risk procedures, nonpunitive incident review, and clearer communication with pet parents after adverse events. The evidence base in veterinary medicine is still developing, but the direction is increasingly clear: safer systems support better patient care and may also reduce the professional distress that follows mistakes. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
What to watch: The next phase will likely be less about awareness and more about adoption, whether through continuing education, hospital protocols, software-based safety nets, or curriculum changes in veterinary training programs. Watch for more private practices to formalize near-miss reporting, checklist use, and team communication training as patient safety moves from a niche interest to a core operational expectation. (ihi.org)