Every pet—even a puppy bouncing off the walls or a kitten curled up in a lap—should undergo diagnostic screenings as part of wellness visits.

Below, we'll examine the advantages of diagnostic screenings and how emerging technology can help your team have more effective and effortless conversations while balancing time constraints, patient discomfort, and cost concerns.

How Technology Can Support DX Screening Discussions

Diagnostic screenings are a combination of routine tests, including blood work, fecal exams, and testing for heartworm and vector-borne diseases, used to assess a pet's overall health and guide preventive care. The results can uncover hidden health changes, establish baseline values, enhance early disease detection, and inform treatment decisions. With early diagnosis, treatment can often be more effective and less expensive. There is no age constraint or minimum for this type of testing—even seemingly healthy, young pets benefit from this proactive screening.

Conversations that connect diagnostic screenings to a pet's life stage, future health, or even cost savings through prevention can elevate the client's perception of value, boost compliance, and help build trust with the veterinary team.

Common Conversation Barriers

Despite knowing the importance of diagnostic screening, veterinarians may struggle to communicate this information to pet owners. From time constraints to interpersonal discomfort, common barriers to these conversations include:

• Lack of time: Busy schedules and back-to-back appointments often mean there isnt always enough time for in-depth conversations. As a result, clients may miss out on the 'why' behind preventitive screening, which is key to understanding its value.

• Uncertainty: Teams may be unsure when to introduce the idea of diagnostic screenings or their role in pet health. If veterinarians and technicians seem wary, clients may not understand the benefit of the testing.

• Patient anxiety: Hearing that veterinarians are screening their beloved pet for a serious illness may alarm clients. Veterinary teams should clearly convey the rationale behind preventive testing to assuage concerns.

• Cost sensitivity: Cost-conscious pet owners may be hesitant to add additional services, especially when their pet seems healthy. This reticence can make it difficult for veterinary teams to discuss costs and effectively communicate the value of care.

• Outcome confusion: When results come back negative, it's something to be celebrated, but it can be difficult or anxiety-inducing for veterinarians to communicate back and justify the cost of screening where no underlying issue were revealed.

Using Technology To Enhance Diagnostic Discussions

Sometimes, veterinarians may be hesitant to discuss all available screening options because they are uncomfortable introducing additional costs or assume the pet owner will decline due to financial limitations. By incorporating emerging veterinary technologies, practices can bypass common challenges and help clients say yes with confidence. Below, we'll explore ways practices can leverage digital veterinary technology to encourage and support in-person conversations.

Set Expectations With Pre-Visit Communication

Modern technology, including mobile apps, helps practices manage pre-visit communication through automated messaging and pre-visit emails. These digital touchpoints help prepare clients for upcoming visits by providing details about services, such as potential diagnostic screenings, before arrival. Pre-visit communications can help practices by establishing expectations, including:

• Setting the scene: Share if you'll be ordering diagnostic screenings ahead of time. Explain which tests you recommend, what they entail, and why you ordered them to reduce client concerns.

• Providing instructions: No one wants to arrive unprepared. Communicate pre-visit instructions and expectations, including any fasting requirements or instructions for providing fecal and urine samples.

• Adding context: Direct patients to trusted resources that will alleviate their concerns. Share educational resources, such as videos, blog posts, or FAQ pages, to increase understanding without raising alarm.

• Sending reminders: Too often, preventive care falls through the cracks. Encourage compliance through automated reminders and educational campaigns tailored to the pet's life stage, helping clients understand the importance of recommended diagnostics.

Support In-Room Conversations

Pre-visit communication lays the groundwork for complicated diagnostic conversations. When veterinarians share housekeeping and general updates in advance, they have more time for focused conversation during the appointment.

Teams can also utilize modern client engagement tools enabling clients to review recommendations, get education, and indicate interest ahead of the appointments. This allows for in-room discussions to be more comfortable for staff who already know that clients are interested or not. Thus, enabling them to tailor the conversation and avoid uncomfortable discussions. Teams can also utilize veterinary technology to improve in-room communcation by sharing addtional resources, saving time, and providing visual tools, with benefits including:

• Focused conversations: Veterinary teams can turn their attention to the conversation when they use AI-powered note-taking tools that act as a voice-automated scribe.

• Visual aids: Many people are visual learners and benefit from seeing infographics and charts that clearly illustrate statistics and studies.

• Chart access: Catch issues as they arise by accessing a digital chart to track and compare the pet's previous and current test results in real time.

• Practice records: Establish credibility by sharing anonymized, real-life examples of other in-practice pets who had significant findings on their diagnostic screening.

• Additional resources: Provide vetted educational content, such as videos, interactive quizzes, or checklists, via a tablet that clients can peruse in the office.

• Cost concerns: Avoid sticker shock by sharing cost comparisons of routine testing versus treatment for undetected disease.

Follow Up With Clarity and Care

The veterinarian-pet relationship continues long after the appointment ends. Modern veterinary technology helps teams continue the diagnostic conversation virtually.

Creating connection points between routine visits gives teams the opportunity to reinforce key messaging while clients have time to absorb information, ask questions, and review resources at their own pace.

The once tedious process of manually communicating with clients has become a simple, streamlined process with the aid of automation, secure portals, and messaging technology. Examples of post-visit communication enabled by veterinary technology include:

• Secure communication: Use secure portals or messaging channels to share test results and discuss next steps.

• Automated reminders: Set up time-saving automated follow-up communications based on diagnostic results for an added personal touch.

• Recap the visit: Send educational materials via text or email for further learning.

• Regular reminders: Schedule regular follow-up messages and appointment reminders to bridge the gap between routine visits and strengthen trust.

Building a Technology Toolbox for Better Diagnostic Conversations

Veterinary diagnostics are evolving, and so is the way veterinary professionals connect with clients about them. With the help of emerging veterinary technology, diagnostic screening conversations are becoming less clinical and more collaborative. This results in not only timely screenings for pets, but stronger client bonds for a lifetime of greater care.

Here are a few ways veterinary technology supports clear, confident diagnostic discussions:

• Client communication platforms: Keep the conversation flowing with a secure portal for direct messaging, including reminders, inquiries, and follow-up.

• Digital whiteboards and in-room displays: Visual aids enhance recommended testing by adding value and increasing understanding and accessibility through eye-catching or interactive images, videos, and charts.

• Interactive tablets and apps: Handheld devices, like tablets, allow team members to show results, explain testing options, and guide clients through decisions in real time from anywhere in the clinic.

• Online patient portals: Share test results, reports, and educational resources with your clients via a private portal they can access anytime, anywhere.

• QR codes and smart handouts: Instead of scouring the clinic for a relevant flyer or brochure, provide instant access to a digital library of trusted, updated materials that clients can review at their convenience.

Technology Builds Confidence on Both Sides of the Table

Pets aren't the only ones who win when teams use veterinary technology to enhance diagnostic conversations. Digital tools can help veterinarians explain complex topics more clearly, answer complex questions confidently, and lead educational conversations —not persuasive ones. Empowering team members with the tools to get the job done not only encourages client compliance, but it also fosters long-term success through stronger bonds, increased trust, and improved patient outcomes.