he best reason to offer Telemedicine: You’re already doing it!
It happens to all of us. Taking care of our patients even after the program it’s now in our nature. We can’t just go home and forget about the cat that we did surgery on today. We can’t just stop thinking if the owner understood how to administer the treatment.
On the other side, more often than not, owners get home, and questions about treatment or about their pet’s general well-being arise. When that happens, it’s of most importance to establish a connection with the owner to ease their anxiety.
Most of us, practice telemedicine already – because we want to give the best care possible and because we want the best outcome for every patient we have! In our day-to-day lives, we come across some, if not all, of these situations:
You or your practice team have follow-up conversations by phone, text, or email to evaluate progress or check up on patients after you have seen them for an office visit or procedure.
You speak to a client about a concern they’re having and advise them on whether they should come in for an exam or seek emergency treatment.
You have a client sending you photos of a post-op incision or a skin condition and then you provided some direction to them.
A client with whom you have a VCPR (vet-client-patient-relationship) calls or emails you to ask for advice about their pet when they are on vacation or maybe when you are on vacation. These are all examples of telemedicine, examples of times when you provided virtual care to your clients and patients.
The fact that you’re already doing it is the good news.
The bad news is that we, as well as the owners, are used for these services to be free.
But that also means that we’re undervaluing our services. That’s the thing that has to change. By implementing new telehealth tools, you can provide the same professional services by phone, text, or videoconference and actually be compensated for your services.
Think about the services you already provide as facets of telemedicine and reframe the way you practice medicine. Join us in changing the veterinary care landscape!
