Digital Strategy Recommendations for the
Clinical Nutrition Service at the Tufts Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine
HCOM512 Digital Strategies for Health Communication
Deborah Linder, DVM, DACVN
Research Assistant Professor
9/30/13
Organization
Clinical Nutrition Service at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Executive Summary
A digital strategy is performed to help an organization develop and accomplish a
digital outreach program in a systematic manner. This process allows for the
organization to achieve specific goals while following the organization’s mission
and vision. This paper will explore the current digital strategy of the Tufts
Veterinary Clinical Nutrition Service, a specialty department within the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. In order to develop recommendations
for a revised digital strategy, the current digital strategy will be assessed for key
strengths and weaknesses, and then goals with measures for success will be
selected. Personas will be developed to better understand how to meet the
needs of the target user population and a competitive analysis will compare other
organizations that those personas may use. Finally, this analysis will result in
justified decisions on design, content, and technology, which will form the basis
for recommended initiatives as the revised recommended digital strategy.
Methods for ongoing evaluation will be included in the strategy to help the
Clinical Nutrition Service continue to adapt its digital strategy and meet its goals
and vision in an ever-changing digital environment.
Rationale
A study of compliance by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)
showed that although 90% of pet owners expect a nutritional recommendation at
their pet’s veterinary visit, only 15% of pet owners perceive being given one
(AAHA, 2010). These numbers support the notion that pet owners are actively
seeking pet nutrition information from experts. What is concerning, beyond the
lack of communication by veterinarians about pet nutrition, is where pet owners
receive pet nutrition information if not from trusted sources such as their
veterinarian. A recent survey of local veterinary practices found that 35% of pet
owners decided what to feed their pet based on information they found from the
internet (Linder, unpublished data). Pet owners are no different from the general
public, where studies have shown 59% of all adults and 80% of all internet users
have used the internet to look up health information on various health topics
(Fox, 2011). Furthermore, 20% of all adults and 27% of internet users have used
the internet for their own health monitoring, including weight, diet, or exercise
tracking (Fox, 2011). A review of patient internet use for health information
concluded that there has been a shift in the role of patient from passive recipient
of knowledge to a more active consumer of health information (McMullan, 2006).
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Health professionals can use this shift to their advantage in collaborating with
patients and guiding them to reliable and accurate health information websites to
increase compliance and adherence to treatments and recommendations
(McMullan, 2006).
As healthcare providers, health organizations have a duty to provide
accurate and relevant health information to their patients and clients in the
interest of improving public health. With the growing trend of digital health
information and communication, it is not enough to simply put health information
online, but a digital strategy is necessary to aptly reach target user audiences
and meet health information needs. A digital presence may allow an organization
to provide information, but without a strategy that truly understands the user
population, those with low health literacy or language barriers, for example, may
misunderstand recommendations and be considered noncompliant if information
is not tailored to their particular needs (Easton et al, 2013). A digital strategy
allows an organization to achieve specific goals and evaluate their strategy on a
consistent basis to continue to meet the needs of their ever-changing
demographic.
This is true not only for pet owners in the veterinary profession, but also
fellow colleagues, where internet use is growing. A study by Tenhaven et al.
(2013) comparing established veterinarians with younger veterinary students
found that internet use is prevalent in both populations, though veterinary
students use the internet significantly more for learning (85.8%) compared to the
older generation of established veterinarians (46.4%). This trend towards seeking
out information and learning in an online atmosphere is also something that
veterinary hospitals need to consider for referring populations and clients as well
(see Table 1). A digital strategy would include information such as this to better
inform decisions about use of a website for its target user population. Without a
strategy, target users may not be aware of the organization, or they may chose
not to use their services by false impressions interpreted from the organization’s
online presence. Similarly, as evidenced by this study, the needs of the user
population are constantly changing and organizations can quickly become
irrelevant to their target audience if they do not continue to update and modify
their digital strategy as needed.
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Table 1. Internet Use by Vets and Veterinary Students (Tenhaven et al, 2013)
A well-developed and creatively constructed digital strategy can improve
awareness of an organization, increase membership or clientele, and provide
important information to those that need it most to improve veterinary and human
health. The Tufts Clinical Nutrition Service will soon become obsolete if it does
not respond to the growing need of the pet owning and veterinary healthcare
provider populations for credible and relevant online pet nutrition information.
Tufts Veterinary Clinical Nutrition Service
Description
The Clinical Nutrition Service at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine in 2009 consisted of one faculty member, a board-certified veterinary
nutritionist. In the past 4 years, this department has rapidly grown to have three
full-time board-certified veterinary nutritionists (the most at any veterinary
hospital or veterinary school in the country), three graduates of its nutrition
residency program, a specialty Obesity Clinic for Animals, and is currently
seeking a specialty nutrition technician. The department is one of many specialty
services within the Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the only veterinary school
in New England, the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. The Clinical
Nutrition Service provides nutritional management of hospitalized patients at the
Foster Hospital for Small Animals as well as outpatient management and phone
consultations for veterinarians and pet owners. The types of services provided by
the Clinical Nutrition Service can range from helping clinicians in the intensive
care unit decide between a feeding tube or intravenous nutrition for a critically ill
pet to advising the owners of a new puppy about appropriate diets and
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discussing nutrition myths they may have previously heard. In addition to patient
care, the faculty and residents of the Clinical Nutrition Service also teach courses
for students at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and engage in
clinical research, in which they investigate ways to optimize nutritional
management of companion animals and understand the links between nutrition
and disease for optimal patient care and treatment.
Selection Rationale
As the newest faculty member of the Tufts Clinical Nutrition Service and the head
of the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals, I frequently saw that many patients and
veterinarians could benefit from our service and knowledge. However, these pet
owners and veterinarians either did not know the Clinical Nutrition Service
existed, nor did they understand what type of services were offered. While
promoting the newly established Obesity Clinic for Animals last year, I visited
many local veterinary hospitals where doctors were unaware that Tufts had
board-certified veterinary nutritionists, that consultation for pet owners was
available, or that veterinarians were welcome to call for brief advice on nutritional
case management for free. When speaking to pet owners at local pet-related
events, many were familiar with other specialties in veterinary medicine, but were
unaware of what a veterinary nutritionist was and the level of training it involved
(including college, veterinary school, internship and specialty residency with
board-examination). When asked where they were obtaining information on pet
nutrition, pet owners and veterinarians noted pet stores, breeders, advertising
(commercials), and the internet as their sources, none of which require the level
of expertise and training as a veterinary specialist in the field. In my brief time as
faculty in the Clinical Nutrition Service, I have learned that pet owners and
veterinarians alike want the absolute best care for their companion animals and
are eager to seek out factual information from experts, particularly through digital
means. While the Clinical Nutrition Service focuses on providing excellent care to
patients, without a digital presence, we lack the ability to show our expertise as
thought leaders, breaking-edge researchers, and to provide that excellent care to
the general public through thoughtful and evidence-based digital health
communication. Previously, health communication had been an afterthought at
the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, which did not have a
marketing department and only limited web design personnel that very much
restricted the ability of the hospital (and the services that comprise it) to
communicate our strengths and knowledge. With the recent growth of the Clinical
Nutrition Service, and the new hiring of a marketing department for the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the timing is perfect for a revised
digital strategy of health communication for the Clinical Nutrition Service.
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Vision
A vision statement for an organization shows what that organization ideally wants
and how it wants to be perceived. While the Tufts Clinical Nutrition Service does
not have a specific vision apart from the university, the department shares and
follows the vision of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine:
In hospitals, laboratories and communities worldwide, the
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
educates veterinary and graduate students who advance health
and wellness for all species with compassion, curiosity and
commitment to evidence-based medicine. Our healing, learning,
research and active citizenship enable animals and humans to live
healthier lives.
With this vision in mind, the Clinical Nutrition Services particularly shares the
commitment to advancing health and wellness with compassion through
evidence-based medicine to enable animals and humans to live healthier lives.
Mission
The mission statement of an organization defines the purpose of that
organization and how it intends on achieving its vision. Again, the Tufts Clinical
Nutrition Service shares the mission of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine:
The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine improves and
promotes the health and well-being of animals, people and
ecosystems we share.
Both the vision and the mission statement are clearly stated on the main Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary website: www.tufts.edu/vet
Values and Goals
After discussing the values and goals of the Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine with our marketing and administrative department, I was
directed to the greater values of Tufts University. These values and goals are
clearly stated on the main university page and include: Learning, Teaching and
the Search for Knowledge, Citizenship, Diversity, Global Orientation, and Fiscal
Responsibility (www.tufts.edu). However, when discussing the goals and values
of the Clinical Nutrition Service, we felt these goals were too broad for our
service and instead chose to focus on the traditional goals of a teaching hospital
which include: 1) Excellence in Clinical Service and Patient Care, 2) Teaching
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and Inspiring Learning within all at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine, and 3) Innovative and Evidence-Based Research.
Planning Horizon
A planning horizon describes the timeline under which new initiatives are
intended to be implemented. This particular revised digital strategy is unique in
the timeliness and receptiveness of the organization to implement a new digital
strategy. The Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is currently
initiating a one year web and marketing strategy reform. After discussions with
the head of the marketing department, public relations department, and our web
design programmer, digital pilot programs are welcome at any time and they are
currently conducting focus groups within the staff and faculty to develop and
implement a final strategy for the veterinary school as a whole. The marketing
department has welcomed input for the school strategy that has a longer yearlong timeline as well as encouraged individual departments of the school to work
with them to trial new digital initiatives for each department with a shorter 1-2
month timeline. The revised digital strategy described and recommended in this
report will outline short term (1-3 month) initiatives as well as long term (6 month
to 1 year) initiatives that fall in line with the digital strategy of the Tufts Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine, which includes certain limitations on what can be
revised while still maintaining association with the veterinary school website.
SWOT Analysis
A ‘SWOT’ analysis describes the current key Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats of an organization and their current digital strategy.
This analysis highlights for the organization which positive aspects to focus on
and which potential negative aspects to minimize or avoid while developing and
implementing their strategy.
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Key Strengths
1. Association with Tufts University
and Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine
2. Reputation and tradition of an
academic institution and
teaching hospital
3. Ability to collaborate and share
knowledge with other specialties
within the hospital
4. Level of expertise and depth of
training within the service (3
board-certified nutritionists)
5. Specialty Obesity Clinic for
Animals
6. Cutting-edge, relevant and
innovative active research
program
7. Evidence-based approach to
organization and medicine
8. Desire to share depth of
knowledge with general public
9. Compassion for animals and
desire to promote optimal pet
health care
Key Weaknesses
1. Need to confine to Tufts
University and Tufts Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine
policies for web and social
media presence
2. Basic web presence with no
search ability
3. Confusing and non ‘userfriendly’ website
4. Lack of social media usage
5. No multimedia use on website
(relevant photos, videos, etc)
6. Lack of ‘what to expect’ for pet
owners and veterinarians using
the service
7. Cost associated with some of
the services
8. Separation of clinical research
(separate clinical trials website)
and clinical service
9. Poor search engine optimization
10. Poor mobile versatility
11. Static website with infrequent
updates
12. Content is frequently hidden
(e.g. can only see FAQs if you
know where to look through
tabs)
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Key Opportunities
Key Threats
1. Pet-owning population eager to
seek out information on pet
nutrition
2. Current media attention over the
newly established Obesity Clinic
for Animals
3. Media attention over high quality
research being conducted by
Clinical Nutrition Service
4. Ability to provide relevant and
practical pet nutrition information
and be established as a thought
leader
5. Receptiveness of marketing,
public relations, and web design
team to help develop and
implement strategy
1. Contradicting messaging from
those without training or medical
background (pet stores, pet food
advertising, blog sites, etc)
2. False perception by some of an
association with external
organizations (pet food
companies, etc.)
3. Potential for decreasing
reputation if negative comments
appear with increased user
participation
4. Potential for incorrect
information being disseminated
if user participation is allowed
5. Controversial nature of some
aspects of pet nutrition (raw food
diets, etc.)
Goals
The following are the eight primary goals of the digital strategy that can be
achieved either in the short term (3 month) or long term (1 year) planning
horizon. The first three are broad goals highlighting how the digital strategy will
help and affect the Clinical Nutrition Service, followed by five specific goals
highlighting specific aspects that will be addressed by the digital strategy.
Measures of success are included with each goal to highlight how this will be
achieved and modified if necessary.
1. The Clinical Nutrition Service will become a thought leader and an easily
accessible digital source of credible pet nutrition information for the public.
Measure of Success 1:
Website and social media use will be tracked by our web design and marketing
department.
Success will be measured by an increase in use of the website and social media,
as well as increased search engine optimization. Focus groups for the target
populations will also be performed to evaluate how pet owners view the Clinical
Nutrition Service as a thought leader.
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2. Increase awareness of the Clinical Nutrition Service to potential clients
through web and social media outreach.
Measure of Success 2:
On paperwork that pet owners fill out prior to appointments with us, questions will
be added to ask how they become aware of the service and if they used the
website or social media (before and after implementation of the digital strategy).
Success will be measured by an increase in clients saying they used the site or
found the service through the revised site.
3. Increase awareness of the Clinical Nutrition Service to referring
veterinarians through web and social media outreach.
Measure of Success 3:
At the fall Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association conference (October
2013), the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine has an information
booth at which veterinarians will be asked if they know of the website or Clinical
Nutrition Service. After implementation of the digital strategy, veterinarians will be
asked again at the spring Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association
conference (May 2014) about awareness of the website and service.
Success will be measured by an increased number of veterinarians aware of the
service and using the website.
4. Improve upon current static nature of website and lack of updates to
include interactive features (including a search option), videos, and photos
that pertain to the Clinical Nutrition Service. The focus of the content will
be on providing credible pet nutrition information and describing what
services the Clinical Nutrition Service provides and what to expect for
clients.
Measure of Success 4:
Success will be measured by addition of these features to the website, frequency
in updating (one new video, client story, or feature per month) and increased
engagement with these features as measured by our web design and marketing
department.
5. Inclusion of research to the digital strategy. The focus of this inclusion will
include research performed by Clinical Nutrition Service faculty, research
used by the faculty in providing recommendations, and information about
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current ongoing clinical trials in which pet owners can participate and
benefit.
Measure of Success 5:
Success will be measured by an increased research presence on the website
and in social media, as well as increased participation by clients in current
research projects through digital outreach.
6. Increase visibility by creating a social media presence through Twitter and
Facebook. This presence can be separate as well as combined with the
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine accounts.
Measure of Success 6:
Success will be measured by creating and developing a Facebook page, a
Twitter account, and allocating part of the current Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine accounts on social media. Success will also be measured by
frequency of updates (once per week for Twitter or Facebook) and user
participation on those networks.
7. Increase ease of navigation and mobile versatility of the website. Focus
will be on ensuring the site is easy to use on various devices (smartphone,
tablet, computer) and content is not hidden (only accessible through
multiple subpages).
Measure of Success 7:
Success will be measured by asking a focus group of staff and clients to navigate
through the site on mobile devices and providing positive feedback during a
formative evaluation.
8. Combine the Clinical Nutrition Service and Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals
online presence that allows for easier navigation and clarification of the
relationship between the main service and the specialty clinic within the
service.
Measure of Success 8:
Success will be measured by highlighting on the website how the Obesity Clinic
is a part of the Clinical Nutrition Service and cross-linking features such as
frequently asked questions.
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Personas
The creation of personas is a way to describe and understand the target
audience of a website. By stepping into the life of a hypothetical website user, an
organization can better consider the true needs of their audience instead of their
perceived needs, which may not be quite as applicable once a full persona is
developed and more fully understood. Understanding and addressing the well
thought-out needs of a hypothetical target user of the website allows the
organization to develop an online presence that is most effective to users in its
features and design. The following four personas were created and developed
based on personal experience, a review of key target user populations, and
informal interviews with individuals of each target population. After discussions
with the Clinical Nutrition Service and the marketing department of Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, the two primary target users are pet
owners and veterinary healthcare providers. Though other audiences were
considered such as potential donors, research collaborators, potential veterinary
school applicants, or media outlets, these two groups of pet owners and
healthcare providers were considered the priority for the Clinical Nutrition Service
at this time and other aspects of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine website are to be created to address the others more effectively. Within
the pet owner user group are subgroups that include current clients of Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and potential clients (the general
public). Within the healthcare user group, there are also subgroups of current
referring veterinarians, staff (including veterinarians, nurses and client service
staff) of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and potential
referring veterinarians. These groups were then prioritized to create personas
that would aptly help form the digital strategy to meet the overall goals of the
Clinical Nutrition Service (which broadly included increasing awareness of the
service and establishing the service as a thought leader of relevant and accurate
pet nutrition information). From the healthcare professional target group, a
veterinary nurse of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and a
local potential referring veterinarian were selected. From the pet owner group, a
current client of the Tufts at Tech low-income veterinary clinic and a local
potential client and member of the general public seeking general pet nutrition
information were selected. These selections reflect the neediest population that
could most benefit from a revised version of our online presence.
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Persona 1
Name: Dr. Irving Walsh DVM, DACVIM
Category: Potential referring veterinarian (Veterinary
Internal Medicine Specialist in Massachusetts
seeking more information on small animal clinical
nutrition)
About Irving
Dr. Irving Walsh was born and raised in Astoria,
Oregon. He had been a practicing veterinarian in Michigan for 15 years prior to
moving to New England two years ago to take a job that would allow him to
pursue research along with his clinical practice. He is a 45-year-old of EnglishGerman heritage, and lives with his wife, Irene, in a 4-bedroom house in
Concord, MA. He was a highly touted baseball recruit coming out of high school,
which earned him a scholarship to the University of Oregon. His baseball career
came to an abrupt end his sophomore year after being hit in the head by a pitch
during practice; to this day he deals with occasional migraines and bouts of
vertigo. He is active in the local cycling club, is an avid hiker, and quietly
despises who we calls ‘yuppies’ or the people who are too afraid to break a nail
to be active outdoors. His wife is a third grade teacher within the Concord public
school system, and they have two sons, Michael ‘Mikey’ (12) and Brandon (15).
His family lives a middle class lifestyle despite being well off financially, and
budget spending by limiting ‘excess’; they do however own a timeshare near
Lake Placid in Upstate New York. The past two years has seen him busier than
normal, but Irving makes sure to spend time with this family each evening, and
on the weekends. He is a staunch proponent of animal adoption, and donates to
the local animal shelters each year. He currently has two mixed breed dogs,
Lotney and Rosalita, both from shelters. Irving has a both a desktop and laptop
computer at home, and always carries his mobile smartphone, but also has a
pager for work. He checks his work and personal emails regularly. While he is
not new to Facebook and Twitter, he doesn’t use it too much. However, he is
quickly realizing its relevance in work and home after seeing his sons become
avid social media users.
A Day in the Life
Irving wakes up without an alarm clock at 5 am and takes his dogs on a 45
minute hike through one of the many nearby Minuteman trails. Upon returning
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home, he has two cups of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal, or cereal, with his family
before they all head out for the day. During breakfast, he checks his email for
anything imperative before briefly looking through the newspaper, or the most
recent of the many veterinary journals that are sent to him in email alerts,
marking any story or newly published study that piqued his interest for later
reading. Irving and his wife take turns dropping the boys off at school each
morning before heading to work. Upon arriving at work, Irving heads straight for
his receptionist, Melinda, and asks her about any updates to his upcoming
appointments, or if there are any new messages. He often takes an extra minute
to listen to her and ask about her day. He then gets to his office and checks his
email and voicemail and again goes over his schedule for the day. Today, he is
also finishing one of many recent grant proposals to fund his research project
involving medical management of canine kidney disease. Around noon he will
swing by the hospital director’s office to see about any news or updates
regarding any important deadlines. He typically leaves work around 6:00pm, but
today he’ll stay late to put the finishing touches on his grant proposal also review
the itinerary for an upcoming conference he has been chosen to speak at in
Florida. Upon reaching home, his wife and kids are just finishing up dinner, and
Brandon pulls a warm plate of macaroni and cheese from the oven while Michael
retrieves a salad from the countertop. They all sit around the table and talk about
their day, as well the boys’ school work: Mikey is writing a science report on
sloths and is really excited about it. Irving thinks about how he would make a
good vet someday and how Brandon would as well, if he just applied himself
more. With dinner finished, the boys head off to finish their homework. Irving gets
up from his chair and tells Irene to take a break and that he’ll clean things up and
then checks his email one last time. Around 8:30pm, he swings by the boys’
rooms to remind them that their bed time is coming up at 9:00pm. He tells them
both that he’s very proud of how well they’ve done in school lately and they can
stay up an extra hour, but only if they are in their bed and reading. At 9:30pm,
Irving has just finished reading a veterinary journal article on a new
pharmaceutical for kidney disease that he had marked off yesterday to read. He
lets the dogs out one last time and then heads upstairs to check in on the boys.
Getting into bed, he asks his wife about her day teaching and tries to listen, but
usually has lingering thoughts of his patients and his upcoming research project
that interrupt his full attention.
Scenario
After his lunch break spent working on his research project, he sees a client,
accompanied by an 8 year old neutered male yellow Labrador Retriever named
Roger. The owner has recently received bad news of worsening bloodwork
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values for Roger’s chronic kidney disease. Irving discusses possible adjustments
to their current plan with various pharmaceutical, nutritional and fluid therapy
treatment options with the owners. The owner is fine to adjust the plan in any
way Irving recommends, though he asks in particular about chews that his dog
can have, as that is Roger’s favorite past-time before he goes to bed. The owner
inquires about the nutritional content of various chews he has found and which
would be lower in phosphorus and protein, which Irving has said are the two
most important nutrients to control in chronic kidney disease. Irving is unsure of
the content off the top of his head and agrees to look into it and get back to him.
After seeing four more patients that afternoon, Irving retreats to his office to
research more about various rawhide and bone chew treats and nutritional
content. Though he searches primary literature and nutritional review articles
online, he finds nothing that would explicitly provide him an answer. Though he is
clearly knowledgeable enough to nutritionally and medically manage diseases
(including his area of research, kidney disease!), he wonders why it is so hard to
find this practical information. He also starts to think about how nutrition may
potentially be a confounding factor in the research he is doing (he always asks
about diet, but had not thought to include treats in his research analysis). At that
point, it occurs to him he may need to speak with a nutrition specialist to get this
information. As a veterinary internal medicine specialist, he goes to the nutrition
board specialty website, knowing the specialty websites tend to have a list of
specialists and where they practice. He goes to www.ACVN.org and sees there
are three board-certified veterinary nutritionists at the Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine. He goes to the Clinical Nutrition Service website from a link
on the ACVN website. Once at the Clinical Nutrition Service website, he is
surprised at how ‘old’ the website appears as the clinic he works at has an
optimized website run by an outsourced web design company and would figure a
university veterinary school like Tufts would have a more modern site. At first he
tries to search ‘kidney disease’ in the search option at the top of the page, but the
results are confusing showing links to faculty pages, but faculty show up multiple
times with ‘faculty profiles’, ‘doctor profiles’ and he’s not sure if the search
includes just nutrition faculty or others.
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He also sees a link to management of patients with heart disease, so he decides
this is not worth his time and goes back to the main Clinical Nutrition Service
page. He clicks on ‘Faculty and Residents’ subpage to find there is a nutritionist
that works there with a research and clinical interest in kidney disease. By
clicking on her name, he is able to find contact information for the nutritionist.
He’s not sure if he would be annoying her by emailing directly, so he checks on
the ‘Referring Veterinarian’ subpage and he is happy to see that the nutritionists
are willing to discuss cases
briefly for free. He emails the
nutritionist, but is surprised by
all the different steps it took
to find this information and
why he couldn’t just search
for general information on
kidney disease. He is also
curious why there isn’t more
practical information on the
website about different
diseases, especially ones
that are of interest to the
nutritionists. At that point, it is
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7pm and he has stayed later than he wanted to and realizes he needs to call his
wife to let her know he’s going to be late for dinner. Since it’s clear the website is
not updated frequently or has the information he would like on it, he decides he
will just email or call the nutritionists directly from now on to find information he
needs faster.
Persona 2
Name: Edward ‘Ed’ Brattle
Category: Potential Client and Pet Owner
About Ed
Edward is a 35-year-old tech sales representative for
Continental Resources, a tech reseller for large
corporations in Billerica, Massachusetts. He received a
BS in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and lives in Lowell with his girlfriend, Melissa, who recently moved in.
Melissa is an accountant for a nearby tax accounting firm, and has two children
from a previous relationship. He is of Irish and Italian descent, is in the middle
class, and owns a 2-story home in Lowell. He is also an internet wholesaler of toy
cars on the side, it was something he was introduced to several years back; he’s
not passionate about it at all, but the extra side money often covers most of his
bills or any frivolous purchases. He has one daughter, his first, on the way within
the next couple months, so Ed and Melissa have been spending a lot of time
getting the house and their finances in order. They have been making time for
short hikes and walks together in the late afternoon, and day trips whenever
possible on weekends. The son of a carpenter and a special education teacher,
Ed grew up in a middle class family. As a child, Edward was diagnosed with
Attention Deficit Disorder, and still occasionally exhibits the high energy and
distractibility associated with the disorder. Despite his mother being a breeder of
Yorkies, he was always very attached to the family cat. Right before they knew
Melissa was pregnant, they decided to adopt a Siamese kitten, whom they
named Ash, and he is just turning a year old this month. Ash is an indoor cat and
leads a relatively sedentary life. With the recent addition of his girlfriend and her
children moving into his house, he wants to make sure he is still providing for
Ash’s needs, especially with a baby on the way. His parents always fed their
breeding Yorkies Purina brand pet food, but when he was talking with his
girlfriend, she said she saw a commercial that warning against grain or byproducts and thinks he should switch brands. He dismissed it at the time, but
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made a mental note to look up pet nutrition later. Ed is very much into technology
and owns two laptops (one for work and one for home), a desktop with two
monitors at home that is linked to his TV, an iPad, and the newest smartphone.
A Day in the Life
Ed’s morning starts around 6:30am. He has a relatively short commute to work,
but the recent addition of children to his household is a very drastic change from
his previous days as a single guy. Melissa is an early riser, because she is used
to getting the kids ready for school on her own, but especially now since she is
due in a couple months. Ed helps the kids get ready, and usually sits down to a
bowl of oatmeal with some fruit as Melissa drives the kids to school before she
heads to work. Ed has several tech blogs bookmarked, and reads about the
latest-and-greatest new computer products, and flips through several booklets
provided by his vendors about their product lines. He finishes up, then heads to
the gym for a quick 45 minute workout before going to work. As he arrives in the
office, he greets his co-workers before sitting at his desk to check his emails,
return any calls, and work on orders from his clients. He usually eats lunch at the
company cafeteria, but today he has a meeting with a client and will grab
something quick once he is finished. Around 4:30pm he calls Melissa to tell her
that he’ll take care of dinner tonight, and will leave work before 5pm. He doesn’t
want her stressing out too much and he already thinks she shouldn’t be working
this close to the due date, but doesn’t push the issue because she says it isn’t
stressful. He takes the back roads home to avoid any major traffic, and pulls in
the driveway by 5:15pm. He’s not much of a cooker, so for dinner, he quickly
puts together some macaroni and cheese and steamed vegetables. After dinner,
they talk about their day as they watch the news and a few TV shows before bed.
As he tries to fall asleep, Melissa has a craving for pickles with peanut butter,
and he knows better than to tease her about the odd food combinations and
heads to the kitchen, with Ash following him hoping for a late night snack. He
considers giving Ash some peanut butter to lick as a treat, but then remembers
the conversation he had with Melissa earlier about the best diets for cats as
‘carnivores.’ He tells Ash, “Sorry, Bud,’ but vows this time he will find a minute to
look up what diet he should feed to Ash. He returns to bed with the snack, and
Melissa tells him to check out what his friends said about the photo they posted
on Facebook of the new nursery. He logs onto Facebook, comments and likes
some of his friends’ comments before putting the phone on the charger and
setting it down. He thinks about his upcoming life changes, but is so tired he falls
asleep within a few minutes.
18
Scenario
On the way to the gym the following morning, Ed hears a commercial for ‘Chef
Michaels’ Food for Dogs’ on the local country radio station and remembers that
he wants to look into diets for Ash. He decides to use the stationary bike at the
gym today to keep his hands free to search on his smartphone for pet food
information. He searches ‘How to Select a Pet Food’ on Google and clicks on a
site that is geared for dogs, but sounds like it will help him rank pet foods
www.dogfoodadvisor.com.
On the site he sees the
logo with the tagline
“Saving Good Dogs from
Bad Food” and is already
worried he is feeding the
wrong food to Ash. He
scrolls down and one
question and answer
catches his eye. He sees
that the answer to a
question on pets with diseases is “Unfortunately, since I’m not a veterinarian,
you’ve asked a question I don’t feel qualified to answer.” That starts to concern
Ed and he sees on the ‘About’ page that the site is run by a human dental
surgeon with no veterinary or nutrition training. Concerned at this, he starts to
search ‘veterinary nutritionist’ and ‘webinar’ to see if there are any videos he
could watch while working out to get the information he needs. He finds a
website for the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine that has a
webinar series for veterinarians on pet nutrition. He sees he has missed the first
one ‘The Real Scoop on Pet Food,’ and figures it is likely only for veterinarians.
He hadn’t thought of going to the veterinary school site before, but sees that they
have a few nutritionists that provide information on choosing pet foods. After
clicking on the link to the person giving the talk on pet food, he is brought to a
site on the Clinical Nutrition Service. He has a hard time seeing the font on the
website and it appears to be not-mobile friendly at all. At the gym and on the
bike, he has to increase the size of the screen almost 400% before he can read
the links and then had a hard time zooming back out to click on the links he
needs. He’s not sure if they have general guidelines for selecting a pet food on
there or if they provide webinars for pet owners as well. After 45 minutes
searching the dog food advisor website and trying in vain to navigate the nonmobile friendly website of the Clinical Nutrition Service, he decides to call it a day
and will just ask his veterinarian at Ash’s next check-up what she recommends.
19
Persona 3
Name: Ana Silva
Category: Pet Owner, Client of the Tufts at Tech
Clinic
About Ana
Ana is a 23 year old Hispanic woman who lives in
Worcester, Massachusetts. She was born in Puerto
Rico, but moved to central Massachusetts at the age
of 14 with her parents when they moved to be near
her father’s family. Ana was the oldest of three girls in the family and often acted
as caregiver for her younger siblings when her father was working and her
mother needed to run errands. She initially had trouble in high school with
English as her second language, but as an otherwise gifted student, she quickly
picked up English and was a B average student by graduation. Her family was
lower-middle class when they moved to Massachusetts, but an illness on her
mother’s side of the family still in Puerto Rico was a financial drain on the family
for the first few years they were in New England. Instead of relocating the family
back to Puerto Rico, Ana’s mother moved back to care for her ill mother while
Ana, at the time 18, began to be the primary caretaker for her younger siblings.
While Ana had aspired to attend Quinsigamond Community College in
Worcester, Massachusetts to obtain an Associate Degree in dental hygiene, she
decided to wait on college to care for her family. Once her sisters were both in
high school, at age 21, Ana started working part-time as a receptionist for a local
dentist in Worcester. Though still living with her father and two sisters in a 3
bedroom apartment in Worcester, she found time to socialize with friends at a
local salsa club, where she met Antonio, an African-American 25 year old who
has a job as a mechanic. Having dated Antonio for 2 years, she hopes to move in
with him soon, but is waiting until her sisters graduate from high school to move
out. Adding to her stress is her youngest sister’s new Chihuahua, Nino, that was
adopted from a shelter by her sister but Ana tends to care for and her father’s
recent unemployment, though Ana’s family is now eligible for the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program and other government assistance.
Though Ana looks forward to the future where she can start her own family and
her sisters can support themselves, she has a sense of pride in how well she has
cared for her sisters and father and prioritizes them above everything else. She
has even started to become attached to Nino, feeding him and taking him for
20
walks even when her sister is home. Ana has a regular text-only cell phone and
the family does not have a computer at home, though Ana is allowed to use the
computer at her work to check email or surf the internet during her breaks or
before her shifts. Ana has a Facebook and Twitter account, though she uses
them rarely as those sites are blocked at her work. Her main use of social media
is through her boyfriend’s smartphone when they are spending time together.
A Day in the Life
Ana wakes up at 6:30am when Nino starts barking and Ana gets up to make sure
her sisters are getting ready for school and have a lunch prepared. She serves
cereal and milk to her sisters and coffee to her father for breakfast. Once her
sisters are out the door, Ana washes the dishes and feeds leftovers from meals
to Nino, who appreciatively barks for more even after the dishes are put away. As
Ana fills up Nino’s bowl whenever it’s empty and makes a note to check into low
cost spay and neuter as Nino has started humping the family and furniture more
and more lately. Even though he is only 2 years old, he is quickly becoming the
boss of the house and, Ana noticed, filling out quite a bit since they adopted him.
Ana wasn’t too worried about it since he seemed so skinny and malnourished
when they first brought him home. After she lets Nino out to go to the bathroom,
she showers and gets ready for work. She walks 4 blocks to the local dentist
office for her shift starting at 9am. She tries to leave the house by 8:15am so she
can have some time to check email and use the computer at work before
appointments start and her shift begins. After checking email for 10 minutes, the
door bursts open and her co-worker, Julia, runs in to tell her about the latest
gossip she heard about their former classmates (Julia had graduated a year after
Ana and they still were friends with many of the same people from school). In
between checking in dental appointments and answering phone calls, Julia and
Ana talk about their families, boyfriends, and plans for the upcoming weekend
and where they would go salsa dancing. Ana mentions she is worried her middle
sister has started seeing a boy who seems a little too aggressive and she still
sees her as her younger baby sister who shouldn’t be dating yet. Julia says she’ll
be fine and quickly turns her attention to the TV in the lobby that has updated
news on the latest Kardashian pregnancy. At her 11:30am lunch break, Ana
looks up low cost spay and neuter clinics and finds Tufts at Tech, a new satellite
clinic of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine that offers low cost
pet care for struggling families that are eligible. She checks the requirements and
sees that since her family receives SNAP, she is eligible to go. She makes an
appointment for the following week to have Nino neutered and get any shots he
needs. By 2pm, her shift is over and she walks home to let Nino out and check
on her father, who has been very emotionally drained after being let go at his job.
21
She grabs the family car to pick up her middle sister from school so they can go
to her youngest sister’s basketball game against a rival high school. At 5pm after
the game, they all head home and Ana prepares dinner for everyone while the
girls do their homework. They watch local news on their TV with only basic local
channels after dinner and Ana asks the girls to help clean up and fold laundry.
Again, Nino gets all the scraps from their dinner and then happily goes to sleep in
Ana’s room. After doing most of the cleaning and laundry, Ana calls her boyfriend
to check in and see how his day was and then heads to bed to sleep around
10pm.
Scenario
The following week, Ana takes Nino to be neutered at the Tufts at Tech Clinic.
She is impressed that the Worcester Vocational High School has incorporated a
veterinary clinic and wishes she and her sisters had gone to the high school
there to learn a specific trade like veterinary assistant or culinary arts, some of
the departments they have there. She drops Nino off and is told she can come
back to get him in a few hours. After work, Ana comes back to get Nino and sees
along with instructions for how to care for his surgery site that they noted Nino
was obese and they recommended weight loss. Obese!? She knew he was
getting pudgy, but thought that was a good thing since he was too skinny when
they adopted him. She asks the veterinary student in charge of Nino’s discharge
how she should go about weight loss and if he needs a special diet. The student
says they have an Obesity Clinic for Animals at the Grafton campus, but it can be
expensive to see the nutritionist on top of buying special food. Ana is frustrated
because she wants to do everything she can for Nino, who is admittedly growing
on her, but can’t justify spending money on special food for the family dog when
they have trouble getting food for themselves. Another student who was nearby
mentions she heard of a clinical trial at the Obesity Clinic where patients can get
free food and free visits to the clinic if they are willing to fill out surveys for a
study. Ana thinks that is a great idea and asks where she can get more
information. The student says they don’t have flyers at the moment, but to check
out the Obesity Clinic or Nutrition website for more information. The following day
at work, Ana searches for ‘Tufts Obesity Clinic’ and the first site that comes up in
her search is the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals. On the site, she looks for
anything about the research trial or study the student was talking about. She
clicks on all the links to side and can’t seem to find it. She searches in the top
right for ‘obesity research’ and finds the results unhelpful. Julia looks over to see
what she’s searching for and Ana fills her in. Julia says she used to help out with
research at the last job she had at a hospital and tells her to look for ‘clinical
trials.’ They finally find a webpage on the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
22
Medicine website about the research studies going on at the school and how
they can be involved. Ana is excited to learn all the things she can get for Nino
for free and is glad to be giving him the best care she can without hurting her
family’s budget. She is also grateful to Julia, since she never would have found
the information on the study without her help in knowing what terms to search for.
She sends an email to the study coordinator and heads home for the day.
Persona 4
Name: Maria Mooney
Category: Healthcare Provider, veterinary nurse at the
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
About Maria
Maria is a 26 year old Caucasian woman who works as a
veterinary nurse in the intermediate care ward of the
Foster Hospital for Small Animals at the Tufts Cummings
School of Veterinary Medicine. She grew up on the South
Shore of Massachusetts and recently got married and
bought a house with her boyfriend, Allan, who works for an electrical company in
Needham, Massachusetts. She went to Norfolk Country Agricultural High School
in Walpole, Massachusetts, where she learned about animal husbandry and
care. She obtained a liberal arts degree from Cape Cod Community College and
had been working as a technician at a specialty hospital on the South Shore
since graduation. Within her first two years, she studied for and passed the
certifying exam for veterinary technicians. With her new certification, she applied
for a job in the intermediate care ward at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine and has been thrilled to have the position for the past 3 years. She
currently lives in Framingham, Massachusetts with her boyfriend, 7 year old long
haired black cat and 2 year old American Bulldog. Her work is challenging and
sometimes overwhelming, but she enjoys that she gets to see all kinds of
patients and diseases while helping to teach the veterinary students in their
clinical rotations. She likes working in the patient care ward more than anywhere
else in the hospital because she gets the most one-on-one time providing
treatments and care to animals directly. She gets to place intravenous catheters,
set up fluid lines, draw bloodwork, feed, walk, and change bandages on the
animal patients regularly. She works the 3pm-11pm shift and specially likes that
time when most of the faculty and students leave for the day and the owners
come visit and she gets to see first-hand how all her patients are loved and cared
23
for at home. She enjoys discussing treatments and diseases with pet owners as
much as she can, but always knows when to defer them back to speaking with
the veterinarian on the case if she’s not sure about an answer or diagnosis. In
this ward, patients usually stay for 2-4 days and are not critically ill, but need to
be monitored at all times by at least one nurse in the area. Maria likes that she is
challenged but not overly stressed as the nurses in the ER or critical care unit.
Though she is trained for it, the thought of needing to help stabilize a trauma
patient or perform CPR is very nerve-wracking to her. Outside of work, she loves
caring for and riding horses and recently got her 10th tattoo. She is also an avid
Boston Bruins fan and never misses a game on TV and goes to as many events
as possible when they’re playing at home (and she’s not working). She also loves
cooking and trying new recipes with her husband.
A Day in the Life
Maria usually wakes up at 8am when her husband leaves for work, but she easily
and quickly falls back asleep until 10am when her alarm goes off. She hops out
of bed and goes for a walk with her dog as long as it’s not too hot or cold for her
sensitive dog’s liking. After her walk, she usually goes for a run in the summer or
heads to the gym in the winter for a Zumba midday workout class. After the gym,
she showers and puts on her scrubs for work. She had a light lunch of salad and
a ham sandwich before packing up leftovers from the lasagna dinner her and
Allan prepared the night before on her day off. She lets her dog out one more
time, then drives her 20 minute commute to work. She does a quick check of the
in-patient board that alerts students of any new patients that have been
transferred to their care for a heads up of any new cats or dogs that might be in
her ward that evening. She greets the nurses finishing up the 7am-3pm shift and
goes on 20 minute rounds taking notes of all the patients, their primary diagnosis,
and any special treatment orders or special ‘caution’ patients that may be in pain,
prone to bite, or have special needs (there’s always one small dog that will only
go to the bathroom on grass and without a leash on!). Today there is the typical
variety of post-surgery patients (a Labrador that ate a corn cob, a Dachshund
recovering from back surgery) and internal medicine patients (a chronically
vomiting Yorkie in need of an intestinal biopsy, a chronic kidney disease patient
on fluid therapy). Maria’s shift consists of admitting patients who are being
dropped off for a surgery the next morning, caring for the hospitalized patients,
assisting pet owners in their visitation, and discharging any patients that are
ready to go home by discussing at home care and explaining any questions
owners have from their written instructions from the doctor. At 10:30pm, the
overnight shift comes in and Maria rounds them on the current patients and then
heads home to Allan who is just getting ready for bed. Maria says a quick hello,
24
they chat about their days and then Allan goes to sleep while Maria stays up to
check out her friends and family’s posts on Facebook and Twitter. She likes to
check Twitter on her mobile smartphone, but uses her laptop at home for
Facebook as she is discouraged from checking it at work. Her wedding photos
were recently finalized and she is excited to be uploading and sharing the best
ones on Facebook and is obsessively checking who comments and likes each
photo she posts. Afterwards, she checks the gossip sites, TMZ and Perez Hilton,
for celebrity gossip and around 1am finally joins Allan in bed.
Scenario
At her next shift, Maria is paged to admit a patient who is being dropped off the
night before an orthopedic surgery in the morning. Maria goes to the front lobby
to discuss the timeline with the owners, when they can expect to hear from the
surgery team, and ensure they understand the risks of any anesthesia and the
purpose of the surgery (to repair a torn ligament in their dog’s knee). Though all
of this was discussed at the time of the diagnosis and original appointment,
owners tend to forget these things when they’re worrying about their pet, so
Maria thinks it helps to remind them of what to expect. As a final note, she
reminds them that their dog will need to be fasted overnight, but as soon as she
is awake and hungry, they will happily feed her after the operation. She double
checks what food the dog is currently on and asks if the owners brought food or if
they have a similar one at the hospital they can feed. The owners ask her to wait
a minute as they go to the car to get a bag of food they had forgotten. Maria
recognizes the bag as soon as the owners come in and worries about the
conversation she is about to have. On inspecting the pet food bag and brand,
Nature’s Variety Instinct, she confirms what she had feared – though the pet food
is a dry kibble, it has a raw diet spray coating that is against the policy of the
hospital. She politely educates the owners that a component of the pet food is
raw and unfortunately carries the same risk as any raw meat food, which is not
allowed in the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine for safety reasons.
The owner gets visibly upset and notes that this is the brand the breeder fed and
highly recommended it. She said she bought it from a very high quality pet food
store, Especially for Pets, and the store manager assured her it was one of the
best (and most expensive, too!). Maria again tried to explain the risks of raw diets
to animals and humans, particularly in a hospital setting when immune systems
may be compromised. The owners demanded to see the policy or speak to a
manager as they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Maria excused herself
to go check as she knows there is a raw food handout and policy for just this type
of situation. Unfortunately, the handout box was empty and Maria quickly went to
the Clinical Nutrition Service website to try to print out the policy, which she was
25
sure must be on the site. While she had used handouts from the nutrition service
before, she had never been on the website and was really confused about where
to go to find the handouts and information she needed in a hurry. She looked
through the frequently asked questions dropdown link, but only saw general pet
nutrition, home-cooked diets, and feeding tubes, none of which she thought
would cover raw. At that point, she started to become very worried that upset and
angry pet owners were brewing in the lobby. Trying one more option, she went to
the search bar and typed in ‘raw’ which luckily brought up an option of a pdf of
the handout on raw food policy that she could give the owners. She was curious
that the policy looked like a lot of writing and not much design, but it talked about
the policy, myths, and literature supporting the policy, so she printed it out an
gave it to the owners.
By then, luckily, the pet owners had calmed down in the lobby and apologized for
yelling previously. They admitted they were just nervous about their pet’s surgery
and would bring in another version of the Nature’s Variety they felt comfortable
with that was not coated with a raw spray. Maria recommended they make an
appointment with the nutrition service if they had any questions on how to select
the best food for their pet and gave the owners the website, though worried in her
mind that they would likely have the same trouble finding helpful information on
the site as she did. She also made sure to give them the number of a client
liaison that could answer more questions about the policy and nutrition
department tomorrow if they wanted. The owners seemed interested, but were
curious to know what they should expect from a nutrition consultation and Maria
26
told them that information should all be on the website. After admitting the patient
into the ward, Maria made sure to email the nutrition staff about the lack of
handouts and asking if they could make a section on the website just for
handouts in case they ever run out and need more copies quickly.
Persona Summary
When considering the use of the Clinical Nutrition Service website by the four
previously described personas, most are searching for the site for credible pet
nutrition information from those with expertise in the field. Though each persona
had a different reason for accessing the site, all shared the main reason of
ensuring the best health for the pets in their care, including accurate information
on selecting pet food and how to nutritionally manage their pets. Though the
Obesity Clinic for Animals can be found easily through a search engine due to
the media attention the recent opening of the clinic received, the Clinical Nutrition
Service was not found by Ed nor Irving in their searches for pet nutrition or
veterinary nutritionist in New England. Ed found the site indirectly through the
Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine’s continuing education webpage
and Irving found a link to the site from the American College of Veterinary
Nutrition website’s nutritionist directory. Once on the site, all users had difficulty
finding the information they needed in a quick and efficient manner.
Unfortunately, though the information that Ana, Ed, and Maria all wanted was
held within the site, it was not easy to navigate and find, so they either gave up or
looked elsewhere. Especially for Ed, there is a whole section on how to select a
pet food that covers some of the myths his girlfriend Melissa was telling him
about, but because the site was not mobile-friendly, Ed’s time was more
important and he chose to look elsewhere (his local veterinarian). Additionally,
many of the personas use social media frequently and would likely be interested
in keeping up with pet nutrition information through this easily digestible format.
Though the association with Tufts University and the Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine is strong and supports the credibility of the Clinical Nutrition
Service, the appeal of the site and the static nature gives the impression the
service is not modern and up-to-date with information (exactly the opposite!).
Due to the poor usability and difficulty of obtaining their goals (finding a particular
piece of information quickly and easily), even those that found what they were
looking for (Irving and a contact to discuss kidney nutrition, or Maria and the raw
food policy handout), they had no interest in repeat use of the site and
questioned recommending it as a resource to others. This is of particular concern
with staff within the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary School and local
referring veterinarians as reputation and positive promotion are very critical in the
veterinary nutrition field. Pet owners only want to trust their pet’s care with
27
someone their veterinarian or healthcare provider recommends. That first
impression a pet owner has is usually based on a digital presence when they
seek out more information and the current website does not accurately reflect the
first impression of credible and cutting-edge information providers that is the
foundation of the Clinical Nutrition Service. These persona show that while there
is a lot of great information that is currently on the website or could be added,
redesign with a focus on usability is necessary in making the Clinical Nutrition
Service a thought leader with an effective digital presence.
Competitive Analysis
A competitive analysis is an in-depth review of all aspects of an organization and
its competitor’s online presence. This serves as a way to evaluate an
organization objectively and compare it to others that may be targeting a similar
audience or providing the same type of messaging or health information. Key
strengths and weaknesses will be highlighted for all organizations keeping in
mind how each persona might react or respond to the following criteria with a
conclusion at the end summarizing the findings and what can be learned,
avoided, borrowed, or used to distinguish the organization for competitors.
Selection Rationale
1. American College of Veterinary Nutrition (www.acvn.org)
28
The first selection was the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. The
organization was chosen as it is the governing body of all board-certified
veterinary nutritionists and a site that many specialists or veterinarians would
look for to find a veterinary nutritionist or further information.
2. The Whole Dog Journal (http://www.whole-dog-journal.com)
The second selection was the Whole Dog Journal. Many clients of the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine currently subscribe to this newsletter,
which has a heavy focus on companion animal nutrition. They are a well-known
source of pet nutrition information and while subscription membership is not
made publicly available, there are over 64,000 ‘likes’ on their Facebook page.
29
3. Pet Nutrition Consulting (www.petnutritionconsulting.com)
The third selection was Pet Nutrition Consulting as a true competitor to those
who are seeking pet nutrition information or clinical nutrition services for their
companion animal. This site had a high search engine optimization and always
appeared first on Google searches for ‘pet nutrition advice’ and ‘pet nutrition
consultation.’ Though the business is not physically located near the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, they focus on remote consultations,
which the Clinical Nutrition Service also provides.
30
Tufts Clinical
Nutrition Service
(www.tufts.edu/ve
t/nutrition)
1. Purpose
2. Users
3. Organizational
branding
4. External
affiliations
Purpose and goal of
clinical service is clear
and is the only
significant text on the
home page. Lacking goal
of providing health
information. Logo and
tagline of Tufts show
association and are well
placed and clearly laid
out at the top of the
screen.
The primary target
audience is unclear
whether it is for
veterinarians, clients or
both. The sterile
appearance and specific,
technical language is
atypical of a page aimed
at the general public.
There are no client
stories.
The Tufts name and logo
is clearly displayed and
is the preeminent name
on the page. ‘Tufts’ is
displayed 6 different
times. There is no ‘About
Us’ section.
There are no noticeable
external affiliations
aside from Tufts
University. The
resources page does
links to outside sources,
but all are presented as
text based hyperlinks.
Whole Dog
American College
Journal
of Veterinary
(http://www.whol
Nutrition
e-dog(www.acvn.org)
journal.com/)
Pet Nutrition
Consulting
(www.petnutritio
nconsulting.com)
Mission statement is
clear and concise.
Displayed in rotating
banner at the top of the
page.
Mission statement is
not evident, but layout
and format is clearly
indicative of a
newsletter.
Clearly stated purpose
and goals. Generic logo
is at the top of the page
with no tagline.
Clearly defined
separate portals for
veterinarians, students,
media, and pet owners.
The primary target
audience is clearly the
pet owner. Tag lines
include catchy: ‘Tip of
the Week’ and ‘How To
Decipher Veterinary
Code’.
Clearly stated; ‘Our
Client Families’ links to
pictures of clients pets
and stories.
Clear mission
statement on “About”
page. Logo is present
but unmemorable.
Large pictures on
homepage brand
organization.
Clearly marked at
bottom of page as
‘Statements and
Endorsements’. Links
for pet food nutritional
guidelines and pet food
recalls.
Logo in main header,
and at page bottom.
Generic name and logo
are unremarkable.
Large display of raw
materials for homecooking gives the site a
‘healthy’ and ‘natural’
appearance.
Advertising links to
herbal supplement
suppliers, and a pet toy
company.
31
There are no ads, and
no obvious external
links. Reviews of
various dog foods are
available on main
header menu.
5. Design
6. Section
organization
7. Layout and
navigation
8. Expert content
9. Authorship
and oversight
The overall design is
sterile and concise, as
expected from an
academic hospital. It
presents the necessary
information and little
more, it is not engaging
or enticing.
There are separate
sections for ‘Referring
Veterinarians’ and for
‘Booking an
appointment’. There is
no secondary language,
or separate portal for
clients.
Navigation and layout is
basic and
straightforward - the
main Nutrition Services
page contains 7 links to
other pages of content.
‘Frequently Asked
Questions’ comes off as
very cluttered.
Professional and clean
design and engaging
layout. Easily
navigable. Pictures well
done and emphasize
mission statement.
These strengthen the
brand.
Header menu is well
organized, easy to read,
and user-friendly;
Sections are clear and
specific.
Very standard
newsletter style format,
but provides a lot of
information in a
reasonably organized
and visually appealing
format.
Very basic and dated
website layout, though
large photos are
visually appealing.
Menu is poorly
organized with
redundant links.
Well laid out website
for the large amount of
information it provides.
Sections are clear and
defined.
Menu across top below
header is organized
and clear. However,
some sections are
poorly defined, others
are poorly utilized.
Clean, concise, and well
thought out. Clear
hierarchy without any
overly dominant
characteristics.
Layout and navigation
are clearly listed along
the top, though
navigation among all
the sections is not
intuitive. Integration of
Informative content in
“Frequently Asked
Questions” though it is
not visually appealing
and overwhelming to
look through at once.
Informative content in
“Frequently Asked
Questions”. Otherwise
links to ‘Nutrition
Resources’ below FAQ
section.
Authors are not listed
for articles. Faculty and
staff are listed with their
credentials, but it is
uncertain how much
authorship they
provided for the page.
Authors are not listed
for articles.
Very standard
newsletter format
provides the user with
a lot of information
without seeming
overwhelming and
overly cluttered.
Sections are specific
and defined. Sections
for user interaction
throughout provide an
engaging and
personalized
experience.
Lots of articles and
stories are provided
throughout the
website, however
credentials to the
author’s expertise are
not noted, and could
likely not be a
veterinarian.
Authors are listed for
information on
website, but
credentials are not. It is
not clear if the pet
nutrition articles’
authors are board
certified nutritionists.
32
Information is
provided in ‘Frequently
Asked Questions’ but
can be confusing.
Authors of testimonials
are listed and
presented in PDF
format. There are
otherwise no credited
articles, though it
appears that the author
of everything is the
(*Though from
personal knowledge, I
know they’re not!)
10. Currency
11. Health literacy
and readability
Many things on website
are not updated often.
Majority of pages were
last updated over 6
months ago.
Unclear when last
update occurred, but
most dated material is
externally linked. Links
are from varying date
ranges 2007 - present.
New issues published
monthly. News stories
are current and
relevant.
Content is basic, but use
of medical jargon seems
to show the page might
be for professionals of a
higher health literacy
level.
Content is well
organized and very
easily read. Sections
are tailored to appeal
to the veterinarian, as
well as the pet owner.
English Only
English Only
Very easy to read and
understand. Written for
the pet owner in mind.
Few, if any,
abbreviations and
there is a
straightforward writing
style for low health
literacy users.
English Only
There is no user
generated content.
There is no user
generated content
There is no policy
beyond: all content and
materials on website are
protected by US
copyright law. (*There is
a social media policy at
Tufts, though it is not
displayed here.)
There is no policy
beyond all content and
materials on website
are protected by US
copyright law.
PhD who is described
under one of the
navigation panels and
her credentials are
described in detail on
that subpage.
Likely not current. It is
unclear when it was
last updated, but blog
has one entry dated Oct
2012. Many
testimonials date to
2010.
Easy to read, although
text can be confusing.
Very few abbreviations
and/or medical jargon.
English Only
12. Language
13. User-generated
content
14. Policies
33
Yes. Reader poll,
Facebook feed, and
comments section in a
weekly pet blog
provide a personalized
and engaging
experience for users.
Concerning privacy
policy for website: The
Material may contain
inaccuracies or
typographical errors.
We make no
representations about
the accuracy, reliability,
completeness, or
timeliness of the Sites or
the Material. The use of
the Sites and the
Material is at your own
risk.”
Testimonials were
written by client, but
posted in pdf format.
The page can be ‘like’d
on Facebook.
Limited policy beyond:
all content and
materials on website
are protected by US
copyright law.
Additional privacy
policy states: “No
medical advice can be
provided by Pet
Nutrition Consulting.”
There is no registration
or profile ability.
No registration. Simple
submission form for
questions, only need
name and email. There
is a password
protected area for
board-certified
diplomats and
members of the college.
No notifications.
Yes, subscription
requires login.
Webstore sells various
books about dog
ownership. Many full
length articles are not
accessible without
subscription.
There is no registration
or profile ability.
Free ‘tip of the week’
email, and monthly
newsletter.
No notifications.
There is nothing for
purchase. (*Note:
Donations can be made,
but only through the
main Tufts site.)
There is nothing for
purchase.
Purchase subscriptions,
and books about dog
ownership.
There is no app or
mobile website and the
website viewing on a
smartphone is small and
illegible.
Tufts Vet School has a
Facebook that is not
very active but
sometimes shares
nutrition stories (news
pieces). Tufts Vet School
and Dr. Linder have
Twitter accounts that
promote Vet School and
Obesity Clinic related
information,
respectively.
Positive: Clear and
concise. Frequently
Asked Questions content
was very well written
and easily
understandable.
There is no app or
mobile website but the
site is ok to read on a
mobile phone.
There is no app or
mobile website but the
site is ok to read on a
mobile phone.
There is no social
media or user
participation.
Facebook feed on main
page. Twitter link on
top of main page. Both
have active
participation by users.
There is a book for
purchase with a large
pay via PayPal logo.
Consulting services are
listed under the
‘Pricing’ subpage and
allow purchase of
various levels of
consultation on the
website via paypal.
There is no mobile site
and the website is
relatively difficult to
read on a mobile
phone.
There is an opportunity
to ‘like’ their page on
Facebook, but no active
feed. User participation
is low on social media
and the last update on
the Facebook site was
October 2012.
Positive: Clean, easy to
read, and well-laid out.
Pictures are well placed
and quietly underline
mission statement.
Links are well placed
and easily located.
Positive: Provides very
personalized and
engaging experience,
coupled with a wealth
of articles, aimed at the
pet owner. Articles are
very easy to read.
Social media presence.
15. Registration/
purchasing
No notifications.
16. Notifications
17. Transactions
18. Mobile
19. Social media
and user
participation
20. Overall
assessment
Negative: Design is
34
Positive: Text in main
menu is easily
readable, and
navigable. Social media
presence.
Negative: Dated design
sterile, uninteresting,
and not engaging. ‘Tufts’
name and logo is
overwhelming, Nutrition
Services is marginalized
on their own page - the
‘Parking’ section on the
Directions page is the
same location and text
size.
Negative: No news
section with updated
information. Some
linked material is dated
(2007). No mobile
version of website
available. Website itself
is not great resource
for primary
information, rather it is
a collection of external
links. No user
participation or social
media.
Negative: Dated design
and layout, hasn’t
stayed up with changes
in technology; Lack of
author credentials, and
highly concerning
privacy policy.
and poor layout.
Generic and
unremarkable name
and logo. Menu options
are poorly organized.
Dated material, and
website is not updated
frequently. The most
recent update to either
the page or the
Facebook account
appears to be October
2012.
Competitive Analysis Summary
Borrow






Interactive Features and User Participation: A poll or weekly/monthly
blog with a comments section can quickly and easily increase user
engagement, and creates a sense of being consistently updated as
Whole Dog Journal does exceptionally well.
Social Media: The simple ability to ‘Like’ on Facebook can help spread
the word about the website and business, and creates a feeling of
community.
Pictures and Imagery: Visual appeal can create a powerful message
that subtly supports and emphasizes the mission statement, which the
ACVN does very well on their home page.
Separate Portals: Pages catering to referring veterinarians and another
targeted toward pet owners would help clarify what content is meant
for different needs and health literacy levels.
Testimonials: Success stories and satisfied clients are free advertising,
and help sell the service while providing information on what to expect
for potential clients.
Design and Navigation: Whole Dog Journal and ACVN have very easy
to navigate homepages that allows users to scan and select content
that is interesting to them, but also find information they need quickly.
35
Avoid



Outdated Layout and Format: Information or pages that are not
updated or changed within months to a year give a poor first
impression (such as blogs from 2012 on Pet Nutrition Consulting).
Confusing Text and Medical Jargon: Avoid contradiction (such as
describing expert-driven content, but having a disclaimer that states
users cannot legally rely on the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or
timeliness of the sites or the material).
Irrelevant Visual Material: Inclusion of imagery not in line with the
product or mission statement is confusing for users (such as stock
photos on the Clinical Nutrition Service website).
Distinguish
 Patient Care: Success stories, particularly ones that overcome
significant medical problems with nutritional guidance can show
expertise and results that other sites cannot provide (only Tufts can
see patients in person compared to these competitor sites).
 Research: Outside of academia, few involved in veterinary nutrition
participate in clinical trials. Highlighting that faculty at the Clinical
Nutrition Service are completing ground-breaking research and clients
can actively participate clearly sets the Clinical Nutrition Service apart
from most all competitors.
 Unique Associations: The association with a major academic institution
should be highlighted for the benefits that association allows
(collaboration, resources, etc.). Additionally, the Obesity Clinic for
Small Animals is a non-existent presence, more a minor footnote on
the page, when it could be highlighted as a unique entity of the service
that is currently in various news pieces and media.
Decisions
Design Decisions
1. Visual Appeal and Versatility
Pet owners and veterinarians need an easier way to access material
targeted to them in a visually appealing and versatile manner. It should not
be sterile and clinical, but instead should be easy to read and engaging
with relevant photos and material than can be scanned and skimmed,
making users stay on the website longer and have it be more memorable
for them. This will not only increase the likelihood they will return (which
36
2.
3.
none of the personas did with the current site), but also pass the link along
to others. This helps to achieve goals 1, 2, and 3 of increasing awareness
and improving frequency of updates, and goal 7 of increasing mobile
versatility.
Interactive Features and User Participation
Interactive features such as polls, topic articles with thought-provoking
questions, and client experience videos and stories can quickly and easily
increase user engagement. Allowing comments can create active
feedback with pet owners and referring veterinarians, and it develops a
relationship when the author will return comments. These features foster
an engaging experience and encourage repeated use. This helps to
achieve goals 1, 2 and 3 of increasing awareness and becoming a thought
leader, but also goal 4 of improving the static nature of the site and goal 5
if research trials are included in the interactive features.
Branding
The unique features of the Clinical Nutrition Service can easily and
positively distinguish them from competitors. As found in the competitive
analysis, the association with the Obesity Clinic for Animals and Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine can be more clearly defined and
celebrated as positive aspects. The association with the Obesity Clinic can
build on the recent media outreach and provide updated news features
that help other decisions and draw people to the site by a closer
association (the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals website is mentioned in a
few news articles and brings people to the site). This will help achieve
goals 1, 2 and 3 of being a thought leader with increased awareness, and
goal 8 of clarifying the association of the Clinical Nutrition Service with the
Obesity Clinic and Tufts.
Content Decisions
1. Repackaging of Expert Content
The depth of knowledge on pet nutrition by the Clinical Nutrition Service is
excellent and showcased within the Frequently Asked Questions. The
content itself doesn’t need to be drastically changed (as the information on
the site was sought after by the personas). However, it does need to be
repackaged to be more easily accessible by users in a visually appealing
format. This will enable more target users to access the information and
share it with others who might need it and return for more information or
different topics. This achieves goals 1, 2 and 3 of increasing awareness
and being a thought leader with easily accessible pet nutriton information.
2. Research
37
Information on published research studies, current clinical trials, and
literature that is used to inform daily nutrition decisions is not included as
content currently on the Clinical Nutrition Site. As found out by a persona,
it is not possible to link to the current clinical trials website from the Clinical
Nutrition Service website, though all three faculty are actively engaged in
research with current trials asking for client participation. The addition of
this content would not only serve to increase the credibility of the service
as a thought leader (goal 1), but would also provide user participation in
studies and benefits to clients (in many cases compensation or free
healthcare they would not otherwise receive), which supports goal 4 of
user participation and goal 5 of research inclusion to the site.
3. Client Stories and Experiences
As evidenced by the Pew Report (Fox, 2011), people are not only going
online to look for health information, but also share their experience and
seek out others with similar health concerns. Inclusion of client
experiences or stories help differentiate the Clinical Nutrition Service who
is able to see a variety of different types of critically ill and health patients
from competitors with remote-only consultation. Client stories also allows
for potential clients to better get a sense of what to expect (which our
persona Maria hoped was on the website for a client), and increases user
participation. Increasing awareness of the services offered meets goals 2
and 3, while increased user participation supports goal 4.
Technology Decisions
1. Facebook
Facebook is the #1 social media platform in the world, with 750 million
unique monthly users, and is the 2nd most visited website in the world.
Creating a simple Facebook page will allow users to ‘Like” the
organization. It will send them updates, which will show up in the user’s
daily feed and lets their friends know about the service as well. This can
create a constant presence in the user’s home if updates are made
regularly. All these foster an engaging experience that encourages
repeated use (which addresses goals 1, 2, and 3 for awareness and goal
6 for social media outreach). Frequent updating is required as posts are
expected at least weekly if not more by users.
2. Twitter
Twitter is the #2 most used social media site in the world with 250 million
unique monthly users. It allows for short and quick updates in real time.
Sharing a picture of today's success story or a simple web link to the latest
client testimonial will help increase visibility and draw users back to the
38
main website (which also addresses goals 1, 2, and 3 for awareness and
goal 6 for social media outreach). Twitter allows for easy interaction with
pet owners, as tweets are instantly sent to all followers, and are easily 'retweeted' to be shared among their followers and friends. Again, frequent
updating is required as followers expect at least 1-2 tweets per week to
continue to pique their interest.
3. StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds websites based entirely off
of user preferences and past browsing history. Users can endorse sites
with quality material by giving it a 'thumbs up', and will in turn link more
users to the website. This would help share the Clinical Nutrition Service
website to others with a similar interest (supporting goals 2 and 3 for
awareness), and very low maintenance is required for this feature.
Evaluation Decisions
1. Formative Evaluation
Formative evaluation is a process that helps to evaluate usability, design,
appeal and effectiveness, especially for the early stages of a project, such
as the idea phase or pilot phase. The goal is to obtain information during
development of a digital strategy to modify that strategy as needed based
on input received before a final product is reviewed and might need to be
redone. In formative evaluation, people close to the target audience are
asked to use a pilot version of a feature or website design. During their
use, they are asked to ‘think aloud’ and bring the creator of the strategy on
a journey with them as they navigate and explore the website and try to
achieve a goal (finding information, etc). While this occurs, a scribe
records their expectations, and then after they perform task or navigate
the site to achieve their goal, they also describe what they thought and felt
about the process compared to their expectations. These results are then
compiled and analyzed to provide a priority list for modification of the
digital strategy to optimize the usability, design, appeal and effectiveness.
This aspect of evaluation will be critical in measuring the success of the
design, navigation, and social media revision recommendations for
various user groups.
2. Search Engine Optimization and Website Traffic Evaluation
Search engine optimization is the process of assessing the visibility of a
site in various search engine when users search for results pertaining to
their area of search interest. Search engine optimization evaluation will
help inform the content and design of the Clinical Nutrition Service
website. Unfortunately, the current search engine optimization is very low
39
as evidenced by multiple persona. Few reach the Clinical Nutrition Site
through an organic (unpaid) search on a site like Google, for example.
Search engine optimization evaluation and overall website traffic will allow
for better evaluation of content or design that is popular or in need of
revision to increase this online search visibility. The marketing department
at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is very supportive of
this initiative and has agreed to help with this evaluation.
3. Focus Groups and Interviews
Focus groups are a collection of a representative sample of a target user
audience. Those individuals are a small sample of a much larger
population and can help explain what a larger group may be thinking
without engaging in a large and expensive study. As described in goal 3,
an example of an informal focus group is planned with local referring
veterinarians and potential referring veterinarians at two upcoming
Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association Conferences (one prior to
any change in October, and one after many initiatives have gone into
effect in May 2014). This interview and focus group process will help
inform if the goals are being met and if any personas or needs of the
target user populations should be revised.
Revised Digital Strategy
Recommended Initiatives with Justification
1. Creation of a Social Media Presence
As many of the personas showed, pet owners and veterinarians are using
social media and would benefit from receiving pet nutrition information in
an easily digestible format, particularly for quick facts or up-to-date
information. This long term initiative involves two platforms based on the
decisions about technology and goals of increased user participation and
interactive features. The Clinical Nutrition Service will create a Facebook
page that highlights the goals and purpose of the organization on its
‘about me’ section. Postings will be equally rotated throughout the faculty
and residents, with help from the marketing and public relations
department. To highlight the many frequently asked questions and
answers that are displayed on the website, there will be a ‘FAQ Friday’
where one current FAQ from the website will be highlight and posted to
Facebook for users to comment on, and will also include a link back to the
website. Additionally, every Monday, a poll or question will be asked of the
users for open posting and commenting, for example “Are you doing
anything nutritionally for your pet’s dental health?.” A faculty or resident
40
will be assigned every week to create a post and then follow up every
Tuesday to provide limited feedback on responses. Selected posts will
also be shared by the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Facebook page to encourage cross-linking and increased visibility and
association of the two entities. The second part of this initiative involves
creating a Clinical Nutrition Service Twitter account to share a ‘Tip of the
Week’ and make quick announcements about new studies being
performed or published (by the service and by others). Again, this duty will
be shared among the 3 faculty and 1 current resident of the Clinical
Nutrition Service. Evaluation for this initiative will include website traffic
monitoring and user participation in the postings. After 6 months, the
faculty and residents of the Clinical Nutrition Service will meet with the
marketing and public relations departments to assess how the social
media aspect is going and re-evaluate whether the benefits of increased
user participation and awareness are justifying the amount of resources
needed to upkeep this initiative.
2. Revision of Web Design Platform and Navigation
Similar to the ACVN webpage, and highlighted in the competitive analysis,
users should be greeted by visual imagery that is relevant to the Clinical
Nutrition Service, one that sets the tone for the user to know what to
expect ahead. The visual could include a scrolling banner of highlights and
topics for each of the main menu links, encouraging the user to ask
questions and explore what the website and what the Clinical Nutrition
Service has to offer. The top right corner should have a search function to
allow users specify the content they are looking for. Immediately below
can be the social media icons to make users aware of the social media
presence, clicking these icons will open a new window directly to the
service's social media page. The Obesity Clinic for Animals should be
highlighted on the page as a part of the Clinical Nutrition Service and a
link to more information on that specialty part of the Clinical Nutrition
Service. The current navigation menu will be moved to the top of the page
with associated visuals to help catch the user’s attention (such as meet
the faculty with clinical interests and a photo highlighted, which would
have helped persona Irving). Frequently Asked Questions will be divided
up and placed into one section will more interactive material, stories,
research study links, and relevant photos. The content and language will
be lowered to that of the neediest user with low health literacy levels, as
even those with high health literacy still prefer content at lower literacy
levels. This long term initiative will require the most resources and time.
41
However, the Web Design Personnel and Marketing Department are
already creating similar user-friendly and versatile content for the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine site, and have agreed to help in
this undertaking. Formative evaluations and focus groups will be
instrumental in assessing and developing the final web design that best
meets the needs of the target user population. Though this initiative is very
time-intensive, the work is justified in the anticipated immense payback in
search engine optimization and website traffic (including repeat traffic).
3. Inclusion of User-Generated Content
As described in the decisions on content, user-generated content is highly
sought after by pet owners. For example, Irving might direct his clients to
the Clinical Nutrition Website if there were user-generated content and
client stories about a dog with chronic kidney disease so the pet owners
could share stories and relate to one another. One aspect not mentioned
in the personas, but could be addressed by user-generated content is a
fear of pet owners towards placing and maintaining feeding tubes. Pet
owners are frequently hesitant to do this and worry about the amount of
care. While we can point them to our Feeding Tube FAQs, we will
sometimes ask if previous clients would be willing to speak to new clients
to discuss their experience. Having a client story or example on a
temporary feeding tube in a pet still experiencing an excellent quality of life
may assuage pet owner fears and allow for better care of their animals
with feeding assistance if indicated. Additionally, with the news outreach of
the Obesity Clinic for Animals, many clinic patients were featured in news
articles and an update on their progress with interactive video clips on the
website would be engaging and inspirational for other pet owners (for
example: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/09/14/pets-like-humansstruggle-with-obesity/). Resources would be needed to obtain permission
to place this content on the website and ensure links are working and
updated and this content is refreshed and rotated every few months.
However, as more stories and diseases are represented, a wonderful
archive of general pet nutrition information becomes available for
searching on the website and able to be shared to others with similar
interests. Evaluation of this initiative will occur by tracking website traffic,
and search engine optimization, as well as sharing on social media and
StumbleUpon.
4. Inclusion of Research Activity
As highlighted in goal 5, one of the personas, the competitive analysis,
and the decisions on content, research is one of the three core values of
42
the Clinical Nutrition Service and should be included on the website in
various ways. This not only distinguishes the service from competitors, but
provides a service to users (for those who want to participate), and
provides an explanation for the nutritional choices and recommendations
that are made. Research can be included in multiple formats. One section
of the website should be devoted to highlighting previous faculty research
and establishing the expertise of the Clinical Nutrition Service. Beyond
that, opportunities for pet owners or veterinarians to engage in research
can be a part of the main site, but also promoted through Facebook
postings, tweets, and in interactive features. This initiative will include
resources on behalf of the Clinical Nutrition Service to keep information on
research current (requires frequent updating) as well as the public
relations department to coordinate publishing embargoes and news
coverage of upcoming research publications. Evaluation of this initiative
will be measured through increased participation in clinical trials and
website traffic and sharing of research-related content.
Wild Initiative
If there were no budgetary, staffing, patient liability or privacy concerns, one wild
initiative I would recommend (and implement myself) would be a Joint Pet Owner
and Pet Weight Loss Immersion Program. The objective of this initiative would be
to pair overweight pet owners with their overweight pets for an interactive and
highly digitized and individualized weight loss program. From clinical experience,
pet owners have higher compliance with pet weight loss when they are
consistently and frequently coached and given feedback during the program.
Many pet owners have anecdotally said that ‘One of their main motivations for
sticking to the plan that week was knowing that I would be emailing or meeting
with them for a weigh in and they did not want to disappoint their healthcare
provider.’ This anecdotal idea has more evidence in the human literature, where
Dr. Joe Kvedar with Connected Health has researched the idea of a virtual
coach, and shown that participants were better able to maintain physical activity
levels when they met with an automated, animated computer agent that ran on
their home computers, and acted as a virtual coach that set goals, and provided
personalized feedback (Watson et al, 2012). Because an integrated program
such as this would require visits to a human physician and dietician, as well a
veterinary nutritionist, a virtual coach could encompass the knowledge of all three
providers, who can also use the self-report data of the client to refine goals and
monitor progress remotely. Wellness programs for pet owners and their pets
have proven beneficial in the past; the Pets and People Exercising Together
(PPET) study showed that people exercising with their pets were more likely to
43
adhere to the program and not drop out, as well as have health benefits (Kushner
et al, 2006). Pet owners and pets would have initial appointments with their
veterinary and human healthcare providers and then enroll in this immersion
program. Pedometers would be used to monitor activity on the pets (likely only
dogs for now) as well as the pet owners. This data would automatically be
uploaded to an online program. Commercially available scales are also available
that are calibrated to weigh small dogs, large dogs, and pet owners, which would
also upload information to an online program. In addition, for pet owners, human
foods with nutrition labels could be scanned by a smartphone into a database to
collect dietary information and for pets, automatic feeders can be utilized to
portion and monitor the amount of pet food a dog is getting at each meal. With all
this information, healthcare providers can help monitor and adjust weight
management plans through an online portal. The online program would have a
weight coach built in who provides reminders, feedback, and has frequently
asked questions pre-recorded for common problems that may occur during
programs (such as, What can I do for exercise when it’s snowing outside?).
Finally, feedback and evaluation would be quick and modifiable for this initiative
with the immense amount of data collection (and would likely include formative
evaluations, pilot studies, and focus groups during development). This kind of
initiative would be the first of its kind due to its innovative immersion into
technology, as well as joint veterinary and human medical health collaboration.
Conclusions
The Clinical Nutrition Service at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary
Medicine has great potential to establish itself as a credible thought leader and
provide excellent pet nutrition information to those in need and improve pet
health on a broad scale. This digital strategy highlighted the many strengths of
the organization, while also providing many recommendations for harnessing
those strengths. The current digital strategy does not meet the needs of the
target user population, nor does it help support the overall mission and vision of
the organization. Equipped with the revised recommendations and digital
strategy, important health information will be able to be disseminated to pet
owners and veterinarians, which will truly allow the Tuft Veterinary Clinical
Nutrition Service to live up to its vision of advancing health and wellness with
compassion through evidence-based medicine to enable animals and humans to
live healthier lives.
44
References
American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA). 2010. Nutrition: The 5th Vital
Assessment. http://www.everypeteverytime.com/docs/en-us/5VA-QRG-FNLONLINE.pdf (accessed 20 September 2013)
Fox, S. 2013. The Social Life of Health Information. Pew Research Center’s
Internet and American Life Project. http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/
Reports/2011/PIP_Social_Life_of_Health_Info.pdf (accessed 26 September
2013).
McMullan M. 2006. Patients using the Internet to obtain health information: how
this affects the patient-health professional relationship. Patient Educ Couns.
63(1-2):24-8.
Easton P, Entwistle VA, Williams B. 2013. How the stigma of low literacy can
impair patient-professional spoken interactions and affect health: insights from a
qualitative investigation. BMC Health Serv Res. 13:319-332.
Tenhaven C, Tipold A, Fischer MR, Ehlers JP. 2013. Is there a "net generation"
in veterinary medicine? A comparative study on the use of the Internet and Web
2.0 by students and the veterinary profession. GMS Z Med Ausbild. 30(1):Doc.
Watson A, Bickmore T, Cange A, Kulshreshtha A, Kvedar J. 2012. An internetbased virtual coach to promote physical activity adherence in overweight adults:
randomized controlled trial. J Med Internet Res. 14(1):e1.
Kushner RF, Blatner DJ, Jewell DE, Rudloff K. 2006. The PPET Study: people
and pets exercising together. Obesity. 14(10):1762-70.
Appendix A: What did you learn in the process of doing this research?
While it is important to be enthusiastic and have a desire to reach out to the
general public with health communication, in order to have an effective online
presence that achieves the goals of an organization, it is even more critical to
engage in a systematic process that thoughtfully develops, implements, and
evaluates a digital strategy. Many sites and individuals are well-intentioned, but
hard work and much time and effort can be misplaced or lost without employing a
carefully developed strategy. I personally had complained about the static nature
of the website for the Tufts Clinical Nutrition Service and thought it would be an
easy undertaking to revitalize our online presence if only given the approval.
However, to get the most out of a plan, it is so important to think of all the
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working pieces behind an online presence, such as personas, competitive
analysis, and how to critically evaluate the plan along the way. I had no idea how
difficult it was to navigate within our site or find pertinent information until I had
truly developed the personas and understood how others may be using our site.
Working with others such as faculty, staff, clients, marketing, administration, web
design and public relations are all critical in obtaining input and utilizing
resources that can truly make or break a website! On a personal note, I am
overwhelmingly grateful to the many outstanding individuals who encouraged my
creativity and interest in this project, as well as offered to continue to help provide
resources and help implementing some of these ideas. I hope to be able to share
some of the wonderful changes we make with the professor and future classes!
Appendix B: About the Author
Dr. Deborah Linder is a 2009 graduate of the Tufts
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. After veterinary
school, she completed a one year internship before
returning to the Cummings School to complete a residency
in clinical nutrition. She is board-certified in nutrition by the
American College of Veterinary Nutrition. Dr. Linder's
interests include obesity management and effective client
education. Dr. Linder has focused her
research on safe and effective weight
loss strategies for pets as well as the
effect of obesity on pet well-being. As
the head of the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals, her goal is to
continue helping overweight animals live longer and healthier
lives. In her leisure time, Dr. Linder is training to run in the
BAA Half Marathon this October, and enjoys spending time
volunteering in the Tufts Paws for People Animal Therapy
Group with her rescue dog, MD, (which stands for ‘My Dog’).
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