Making appointments
Emergency calls
Updates for hospitalized pets
Clients evaluating prices between hospitals – “price shopping”
Angry callers
Request for a refill of medication and nutrition
It is important to represent the hospital as compassionate and caring. Being a good listener is one way to do this. All health‐care team members should be courteous and respectful when talking with clients on the phone. You will hear the same questions throughout your career, but remember the clients are asking because either they do not know or the situation is new to them. Health‐care team members must be empathetic and calm and respond with common courtesy and proper etiquette.
Every telephone call has the potential to turn into an appointment. Remember your pleasant and confident communication can help a potential client to immediately feel comfortable and that they matter, and helps them to feel as though they can ask questions. Calls answered in a polite, educated, and unhurried manner are more likely to result in an appointment with the veterinary hospital. The team member should ask open‐ended questions to generate conversation. Closed questions typically result in a one‐word answer whereas open‐ended questions allow for discussion. Providing value and education to a pet owner increases the likelihood that the veterinary hospital will gain a new patient and owner. Always ask if you can make an appointment at the end of a phone conversation. Additionally, end the call with compassion and ensure the caller’s needs have been met.
Example:“Mrs. Smith, thank you for calling AAA Veterinary Hospital. Have I answered all your questions today? My name is Lori; please call back with any other questions you may have.”
Scheduling appointments is a big and important task in the veterinary hospital. Appointments help to control the flow of the hospital – from the examination room, to boarding, to surgery, to urgent needs patients, to full emergencies. Scheduling also helps in scheduling the veterinary team, as well as improving the workflow of team members. By having the proper number of team members during heavily scheduled appointment times, hospital needs as well as client needs can be met.
Veterinary team members should understand and be trained on the hospital’s appointment scheduling program. This includes understanding which appointments are scheduled for specific lengths of time, why those lengths of times are important, and how each appointment affects the entire team and the smooth functioning of the veterinary hospital.
Office procedures
Forward booking
If after a patient has received service at the veterinary hospital and another appointment is needed, best practice indicates that appointment should be made before the pet owner leaves the veterinary hospital. Booking appointments prior to the pet owner and patient leaving the hospital is known as forward booking. It is in the best interest of the patient for the hospital team to forward book medical progress examinations, booster vaccines, follow‐up laboratory work, and annual examinations. These appointments should be made while the owner is still in the practice and prior to accepting payment for services.
It has been shown that the majority of clients return for follow‐up appointments when they have been scheduled prior to checkout of the earlier appointment. This is similar to the practice in human dentistry. Most clients have an appointment for a 6‐month cleaning while still with the hygienist. It is important that veterinary medicine follow suit, as this helps with the patient’s overall health. The veterinary team should then provide pet owners with multiple reminders in multiple formats and allow for rescheduling when needed.
Whenever a client (or potential client) asks questions regarding the price of services, team members should be able to educate the client on service itself and “wow” the client with the value they will receive when coming to the practice.
Patient behavior upon arrival
Not all pets love to visit the veterinary hospital. The veterinary team must monitor patients as they arrive as they may be anxious and fearful. The team must monitor the patient’s signs and implement stress‐reducing approaches such as the following.
Place patients expeditiously into the exam rooms to limit interactions with other patients.
Place pheromones in examination rooms and allow time for the pet to acclimate prior to beginning the examination.
Play soft, classical music in the examination room. This will aid with relaxation of both pet owners and patients.
If appropriate for the patient, offer a few treats to help calm the pet.
Thundershirts® provide pets with a sense of safety and have a calming effect. These can be applied to anxious pets in the exam room.
Advise team members that a fearful or stressed patient is in the examination room.
Forms
There are a number of forms that are used in the veterinary hospital and all team members must be familiar with all forms. Clients may be asked to complete forms with their personal contact information, their pet’s information, the pet’s history, and potentially various release forms. The veterinary team is responsible for ensuring the forms are filled out completely and correctly. Owner contact information is essential for the veterinary team to connect with the owner regarding updates to the pet’s health. Ensure the owner’s address is correct at every visit to ensure reminders can be mailed for vaccines, tests, and medication refills. In addition, the client must sign the bottom of the form, which should state that they are responsible for any charges. Remember to ask clients if there is another caretaker who should be listed on the medical record. This helps to ensure that only the owner(s) with name(s) listed in the medical record can authorize treatment for the pet. Additionally, this allows for an overdue invoice to be discussed with those names listed in the medical record.
The patient’s information is obviously an important section of the record. The form should include details regarding species, gender, neutered status, date of birth, breed, and color. It is important for team members to know the breeds within a species (see Chapter 7) as owners can be easily offended when team members are unfamiliar with the pet’s breed or guess incorrectly. Be sure the documents are scanned into and become part of the patient’s medical record, especially if a signature is included indicating the client agrees to payment terms.
Medical record
Every animal that is seen at the veterinary hospital should have its own medical record. The record should be dated each time an entry is made; the presenting problems should be listed, and the author must initial this entry. Veterinary hospitals vary – they may use paper medical records, be paperless, or paper light. Paper medical records must be kept on 8½ × 11 in. sheets of paper. It is important to note that index cards are no longer acceptable as the medical record. Every client interaction, every client conversation, consent form, laboratory report, consultation, physical examination, and medication administered and dispensed must be documented in the medical record. If it is not in the patient’s medical record, then “it never happened.” Many veterinary hospitals have moved to paperless medical records. Paperless hospitals have the benefit of being able to access client records, laboratory results, and radiographs at any computer station.
Consent forms
There are also a number of consent forms which pet owners may be asked to sign before various treatments and procedures can be performed on their pets. Every member of the veterinary team must be able to explain the meaning of every form