What's Taking So Long?

Wellness, or preventive care, visits often hold the majority of bookings at veterinary practices, and workflows are relatively standardized, yet these visits tend to run longer than sick appointments—sometimes even running late due to these common delays:

• Late arrivals
• Safely moving reactive patients from the parking lot to the exam room
• Unscheduled changes (e.g., the client brings the wrong pet, or previously undisclosed concerns turn the appointment into a sick visit)
• Anxious or fearful pets
• Forgotten stool or urine samples
• Lengthy patient history intake or client questions
• Review and explanation of recommended services
• Unplanned medication refills

Although many of these unplanned events require only a few minutes to address, the veterinary team has to take that time from the current appointment or the ones in waiting. When a single wellness appointment can incur multiple delays, it's easy to see how such small deviations can damage an entire shift's overall productivity.

Pre-Visit Veterinary Technology Streamlines Appointment Workflow

Engaging clients in the days before their scheduled appointment ensures greater clarity, readiness, and understanding by the pet owner and the veterinary team. By employing simple and convenient pre-visit tools, such as personalized appointment reminders, pre-appointment forms, and emails or text messages detailing a pet's recommended services, veterinary teams can provide a more focused, efficient, and productive experience without disrupting the schedule.

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Appointment Reminders Confirm Important Details

Text or email communications ensure clients understand the time, date, and nature of their pet's upcoming appointment. In addition to the where and when, these communications can relay other important details, including services due and specific actions required from the client, such as:

• Arriving early to complete paperwork
• Bringing stool or urine samples
• Specific drop-off and pick-up times to prevent crowding in the lobby
• Fasting the patient for blood work or age-related screening diagnostics
• Requesting medication or parasite preventive refills
• Meeting a team member at a separate entrance to accommodate a stressed pet
• Waiting in the client's vehicle until notified via text or call

Recommended Services Establish Clear Goals for the Visit

Customized pre-visit educational materials can help clients see the value and benefit of recommended services, such as wellness blood work, vector-borne disease screenings, and vaccines. These communications can include:

• Detailed emails that describe each recommendation's benefit
• Text reminders that include links to appropriate online information (e.g., specific articles or blog posts on your practice website)
• Guidance for new clients on what to expect during their visit (e.g., low-stress pet handling methods, appointment flow or routine, and payment procedures)
• Passive channels of education such as your social media profiles or on-hold phone recordings explaining the overall value of preventive care and setting the visit epectation
• A link for owners to request a treatment plan or price quote, if desired

Clients with advanced access to this information arrive with a better understanding of what their pet needs and why, ready to talk with the veterinarian about the wellness recommendations. This creates a more patient-focused—instead of service-focused—discussion and assessment, and relieves the potential stress from the veterinarian to broach these subjects.

In addition, establishing the visit's goals prior to the patient and client's arrival can help pet owners understand how the appointment will unfold and what will be completed or achieved in the allotted time. If the goal doesn't align with the client's expectations (e.g., the client thinks they are coming for vaccines, but the pet is due for a heartworm test and a six-month patient exam), they can contact the practice and avoid confusion or frustration on appointment day.

Pre-Visit Forms Expedite the Check-In Process

Pre-appointment check-in forms can save time during the patient visit by streamlining and enhancing the history-taking process. Customizable forms may invite clients to answer standard history questions, grade their pet's comfort or pain, describe their pet's daily exercise and food intake, and list their concerns or questions for the veterinarian.

Because clients can complete the check-in form at their convenience—rather than in the potentially distracting or stressful veterinary environment—they will likely provide more detailed information than they would with a traditional verbal history. Team members can review client answers and more thoroughly prepare for the appointment (e.g., gather necessary resources, contact the client for follow-up information, request missing records, or recommend rescheduling for an expanded or sick pet visit).

Pre-Visit Communications Help Make Every Second Count

Leveraging pre-visit communication technology can expand the veterinary conversation beyond the practice walls, which allows veterinary teams to streamline their processes, build value and understanding for important services, minimize frustrating delays, and maximize personal client and pet interactions. Expanded client communication optimizes workflows and enables the team to deliver more personalized and attentive care for sick and healthy pets by ensuring each appointment stays on schedule.

Embracing communication apps and strategies to engage with clients before their arrival helps ensure that veterinary professionals and pet owners enjoy a partnership with greater clarity, collaboration, and compliance, which leads to better relationships and outcomes.