WHAT HAPPENS BEFORE THE CONSULTATION APPOINTMENT

Receipt of referral form from the referring veterinarian

The clinic will receive a form from your veterinarian detailing the pertinent information about the client they wish to refer as well as the history of the patient. The referral form will ask which department, and in some cases, which doctor, they wish their client to see.

This form may be mailed or faxed. In some instances, the veterinarian may choose to send the form, along with X-rays or other information, directly with the client to the appointment.

Owner calls to schedule consultation appointment

It is helpful if the referral form has already been faxed by your veterinarian when you make the appointment. This will help the receptionist schedule you with the appropriate department (i.e. surgery, medicine, cardiology). If the referral form has not yet been sent, this is not a problem. Consider asking your veterinarian which department or doctor they would suggest.

All incoming new patients will likely be recommended to be NPO prior to the initial consultation in preparation for any procedures. This involves no food usually after 8pm the night before the procedure and no water the morning of the appointment.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING AN CRITICAL CARE CONSULTATION

Initial consultation appointment

1. Patients are first ‘checked-in’ by a technician or intern (temperature, pulse, respiration, and a brief history). If a patient is not considered stable, the technician may request permission to take them directly to ICU for immediate attention.
If this occurs, the technician will usually return to the examination room to obtain a history while the doctors tend to the patient.
2. Doctors will perform a full physical examination on each patient as well as obtain more detailed information on their history and any previous diagnostics and treatments.
3. Recommendations are made for both diagnostic procedures and therapeutic interventions.
4. An itemized written estimate is generated and discussed.
5. Appointments are scheduled for the morning and recommended procedures are usually performed that afternoon (exceptions often include anesthetic procedures such as endoscopy and CT scans – these may require overnight stays or other preparations). Patients would then be admitted as outpatients for procedures.
6. Critical care patients may be referred as emergencies at any time. They are not often scheduled as appointments. Hence, the patients are evaluated by the technicians and “triaged”; i.e. their medical status is determined and prioritized. We try to keep wait times to a minimum but with emergencies and critical care medicine, an occasional wait may occur.
Patients requiring intensive therapy and diagnostics may be admitted as inpatients.

Discharge appointments

1. If diagnostic procedures only are performed, patients are often discharged the same day. If a patient requires inpatient care, a discharge date and time will be at the discretion of the doctor and made with the agreement of the owner.
2. Doctors schedule a discharge time to meet with the owners and discuss any available results as well as pertinent instructions for home care.
3. Pending results are discussed when they become available with the owners via phone consultation.