Ernest E. Ward Jr., DVM
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IT'S 7 P.M AT THE CLINIC, AND SALLY and Emily are staring at a stack of records requiring dozens of phone calls and a list
of appointment reminders they need to fill out before going home. It's like this every night. Sally looks at Emily, rolls
her eyes, and hands her colleague half the records.
"Let's just get this done," Sally says. "I haven't read to my daughter all week."
"I know the feeling," Emily says. "I don't know how much longer I can do this. My husband is encouraging me to find another
job where I can get home at a decent hour." Just then Dr. Nolife approaches the two staff members.
"Great. I see you two are getting started on those callbacks," she chirps. "If you need anything, I'll be over here writing
up today's records. You two are so awesome." The doctor exits with a satisfied smile and a heaping armful of patient records.
"I couldn't live like that," Sally says. "She never gets home before 9 o'clock, but she doesn't seem to mind."
"I hate to say it, but we are living like that," answers Emily. "The only difference is that we can't stand being here late. We have lives outside of this
place."
So ends another day at a busy veterinary hospital in America. Employees think about quitting, the boss remains oblivious,
and clients and patients pay the price in poor service and care from the overworked, stressed-out team.
Keeping employees late is a major contributor to poor staff morale and high turnover, and it's the hospital owners who are
responsible. But there's hope. If your clinic is overwhelmed by after-hours phone duties, it's time to implement some creative
ideas. Below and on the following pages are some ways my clinic team redefined our approach to clinic-to-client communications
using the newest technology. I bet some of them will work for you too.
1. E-MAIL FOLLOW-UP- What it is: E-mail was our first foray into virtual client communication because it was low-cost, easy to implement, and widely used
by our clients. Our database of e-mail contacts and the success of our e-mail newsletters showed us that our clients would
accept this new form of communication.
- How it works: Our first step was to use e-mail to discuss pets' recent visits. We used existing callback rules to determine what types
of contact would be appropriate. For example, a callback on flea allergy dermatitis was deemed appropriate for e-mail, while
acute pancreatitis was not.
Next, we verified our clients' current e-mail addresses and asked them for their communication preferences when they were
filling out registration forms or online making an appointment. The vast majority said they preferred to be contacted by e-mail
except for emergencies. Even senior citizens proved to be more Internet-savvy than we'd anticipated.
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