Curbside veterinary care was initially a confusing scramble for practices to find out what worked and what didn’t. However, enough time has gone by that practices have discovered what works best and effectively stands as essential in curbside veterinary care to save time and improve efficiency while serving physical distancing, safety, and client convenience.
Here are three curbside veterinary care best practices according to industry sources
Use Contactless Payment to Save Time and Improve Efficiency
People have become accustomed to the safety, time-savings, and convenience of contactless payment, and more practices are adopting the same approach for the benefit of staff and clients.
In a recent article for Today’s Veterinary Business, for example, Certified Veterinary Practice Manager Marian Rowland writes about how clients were nervous about handling cash when the pandemic hit. So, Rowland’s clinic, Park West Vet, implemented contactless payment, which not only put clients at ease but saved the practice time and improved efficiency.
As Rowland writes, using contactless payment “shaved about 45 seconds off of each transaction.” Based on this, Rowland says, “A veterinary practice that averages 40 transactions a day can save more than 12 hours a month.” Because of the overall benefits to staff and clients, Rowland notes that her clinic will continue using contactless payment in 2021 and beyond.
Use Video or Two-Way Chat to Reduce Stress for Clients During Exams
Stress doesn’t just affect pets during physical separation from their owners during in-clinic exams. Separation is just as stressful for pet owners.
As veterinarian and Certified Veterinary Journalist Natalie Marks writes in a recent article for Today’s Veterinary Business, “As curbside drop-off appointments become the norm, more clients are frustrated at leaving their pets when the dog or cat shows fearful, anxious and stressful body language.” While there’s no true replacement for pet owners being with their pets during exams, clinics like Peachtree Hills Animal Hospital and Green Cove Animal Hospital now use live video. This helps reduce client stress by allowing them to chat with veterinarians while virtually being in the exam room with their pets.
Use Mobile Check-In to Improve Practice Workflow
As recently noted by veterinary technology expert Dan Holland in the industry trade magazine Veterinary Advantage, “The most valuable resource for any veterinary industry professional is time.” Mobile check-in by phone enables clients to quickly check in for appointments (which provides client convenience) and frees practice team members from phone lines, which saves time and improves practice efficiency and workflow.
The benefits of mobile check-in extend beyond current pandemic restrictions and constraints. In normal times when clients and their pets are coming into the waiting area, mobile check-in helps prevent bottlenecks from happening at the front desk.
Petriage’s NEW Curbside Solution brings together all the essentials in curbside veterinary care—and more.
In response to the unique demands of curbside service, Petriage’s NEW curbside solution saves practices time and streamlines workflows while serving physical distancing, safety, and client convenience. Easy mobile check-in, for example, enables clients to quickly check in for appointments and frees practice team members from phone lines. Petriage’s new curbside solution also includes:
- Customizable practice intake form
- Two-way chat or live video, allowing clients to be in the exam room virtually in real time
- Convenient contactless payment processing* (optional)
- Convenient prescription pick-ups
- Available from any mobile device (Petriage app not required)
*Additional transaction fees apply.
Available in two levels, Petriage is a unique, robust, and flexible telehealth solution that enables modern-day veterinary practices to seamlessly integrate virtual care while maintaining the highest standards of patient care. Designed to optimize practice operations and efficiencies through PIMS integration for automatic medical record keeping, a patent-pending AI-driven teletriage tool, virtual telemedicine consultations, and automated remote monitoring, Petriage empowers veterinarians to remotely care for patients while strengthening client relationships and compliance.
- No setup fees
- Unlimited staff users
- Unlimited consultations
- Be up and running in as little as one week
Prices start at $49/month (USD), $69/month (CAD).
Get Started Today and Don’t Pay for 2 Months*
Save Time & Money with Petriage Premium
No minimum commitment. Offer ends March 31st, 2021.
Speak to one of our subject matter experts today.
Request your Petriage consultation
*Standard cancellation policy applies.*Offer excludes setup fees and only applies to new monthly subscriptions. Offer begins from date of sale and excludes upgrades and downgrades to existing customer solution subscriptions. Customers cannot cancel and re-purchase an existing solution subscription to receive two months free.
