This article follows on and expands on my presentation at the aesthetic nursing conference in January 2019. The main basis of this article will explore how we as a company collaborate with other individuals and organisations, and our view that this is a great thing to do. Several examples of how we achieve this as a company will be provided, as well as examples of how collaboration has a positive effect on individual practitioners and companies as a whole.
This will be explored by looking at collaboration by several difference viewpoints, all of which we incorporate into our daily business activities. These include social media, training, clinical supervision, evidence-based practice and associate practitioners.
Social media
In today's market, tools such as Facebook, Instagram and twitter are essential components of our businesses (Gould et al, 2016), and we use them on a daily basis. And yet, it is easy to overlook the importance of them. To get the most out of these tools, it is essential that practitioners understand what they are using them for. Is it to drive people to the clinic's website, or is it to drive sales? Economides et al (2018) suggested that these are totally valid reasons for using social media; however, as a company, we use these tools in slightly different ways.
We use social media as a barometer of the business. We have social media ambassadors—these are people we contact on a regular basis to ‘test out’ our social media campaigns and education campaigns. These people can be current clients, people who have shown an interest in the company or indeed, in some cases, people who have previously enquired but never actually undergone any treatment from us as a company.
Kubiak and Lindberg (2016) stated that people are more likely to view social media favourably if the company is portrayed in a professional manner. So this is exactly the questions we put to our social media ambassadors—does this post serve to educate our clients? Does it appear professional? We take this feedback and adapt our posts accordingly, wherever required. This enables us to reach and connect with our target audience and maintain our high professional standards.
Another valuable tool we use on social media is before and after pictures. Now it is important to stress that there is a very specific way in which we do this. We never directly ask our clients if we can use their before and after pictures—we only use them if we are invited to. Sometimes, clients will send us a picture a couple of days after treatment, saying they are happy with the results. It is only at this point that we ask them if they would mind our using the images on social media. We already add this into our consent process, but we don't do anything with it until the client contacts us, as we don't want to put any undue pressure on our clients.
This is often an effective tool, not only for marketing, but also because these images can also be used as an educational tool for existing and perspective clients. Palacios-González (2015) stated that it is not only good practice to ask consent for photographs to be used, but also for these images to be anonymised. We don't fully agree with the latter aspect of this statement—we always ask the client if they would like to be anonymised—but some clients are more than happy to be recognisable in the photos, and we believe that this is their choice.
It is also important to discuss what we don't do on social media. We have seen lots of video clips on YouTube and other social media sites of clinical procedures being carried out, along with explanations of what is happening. While we understand that this can be valuable as an educational tool, we also understand that there are some potential clients who will watch these videos and either get unrealistic expectations of what the treatment can do for them, or believe that they are able to do the procedure themselves. There has been an increase in reports of patients self-treating with dermal fillers, and we certainly don't want to be responsible for this. It is also concerning that these videos are being used to educate practitioners, when any training and education should really be provided by a recognised training company.
However, Reissis et al (2016) support the view that social media can be used as a force for good, as it provides education for potential clients.
Training and education
Another major aspect of our business is training, and we find that this is a rapidly expanding area. It is important to focus on what this means for the company. Not only is it a valuable income generator, it is also an effective marketing and educational tool. By delivering training, we are able to impart our knowledge in order to assist with other professionals' development.
Walker et al (2017) suggested that it is becoming so commonplace for professionals to undergo aesthetic training that perhaps it should be included in pre-registration education for nurses. While we agree that there is a need for professional training in this branch of healthcare, and we would rather professionals receive high-quality training, we don't believe that this should be done pre-registration.
As a company, we usually look for a minimum of 3 years' experience post qualification before we are willing to train a practitioner in medical aesthetics, as it is felt that this allows the professional not only to consolidate their pre-registration training, but it also allows practitioners to develop a professional rapport with their clients, and we believe that this only comes with experiences and time. This view is supported by McGloin (2017), who also supports the idea that registered nurses require at least 3 years' experience post-qualifying before training in the field of aesthetics.
Withey et al (2018) raised another important issue. The Keogh report identified areas where clients have little or no redress with non-surgical aesthetics, and demonstrated how this can be a field of health with poorly-defined standards of training. For this reason, we believe in only training people that are professionally qualified. To ensure safety, it is sensible to choose not to train anyone other than nurses, doctors or dentists. It is important to stress that this isn't professional snobbery; it is a standard we uphold in order to ensure that we are maintaining high standards of training.
This is echoed by Wondergem (2017), who suggests that healthcare professionals must adhere to ethical principles when providing care. We incorporate this into our training philosophy, as we believe we have a duty of care to the people we treat as clients and the people we train as professionals.
Unfortunately, like in most local areas, we are surrounded by people who provide dermal fillers and toxin with little or no training and certainly a massive lack of understanding. One provider near to our own clinic boasts that they are ‘self-trained’ and have never received any formal training. This is beyond dangerous, and it is shocking that this is being used as a selling point for this particular practitioner.