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One of our recent after-hour emergencies involved this beautiful girl Molly, who chased a roo into a dam and the roo cut into her thoracic cavity with its back foot.
My Nurse and I were able to save her which was amazing and why we offer an after-hours service, however, it’s important that we have the correct management and support of this service for our team.
Sharing our after-hours service with another clinic not only halves our time on call, but also increases the business when we are on call. This works out well as our team would prefer to be doing something rather than sitting around waiting and both clinics involved are very happy with the system we have negotiated.
When our clients call the clinic after-hours, our answering machine informs them of our opening hours and that they can book a consult time online. If it’s an emergency, they are also given the number for the vet on duty and informed that the after-hours fee will be x amount. We’ve found that providing this information stops the silly (non-emergency) calls that we used to get.
The nurse provides support to not only the vet but to the patient as well. Together they can do great work and it certainly reduces the stress of trying to get an x-ray done on a bull arab on your own!
Our vets can make $2000 on the weekend which can certainly make an after-hours shift worth their time.
I have lots of ways of doing this which I can discuss in another blog post.
Our team are never required to do home visits as part of our after-hours service. This helps our team feel safe as they know they will only ever have to do after-hours at our clinic.
If our after-hours vet does not feel comfortable going to the clinic for any reason, for example, the client sounds drunk or angry, they do not go. If the vet doesn’t feel completely safe, the client is told that they will need to find another vet, they’re thanked for calling and if necessary, their number is blocked.
The clients we attend are always appreciative of our care, and that we are there for them.
Our vets always have access to our PMS which makes it very easy to retrieve information about the client and patient before agreeing to go to the clinic.
If not having enough vets to provide an after-hours service became an issue, I would:
Providing an after-hours service is a great way to hone veterinary and people skills, but like anything in a veterinary clinic, our vets need training, support, and preparation for it to be successful.
The satisfaction of dealing with an emergency using our skills and ability and saving an animal is one of the reasons we are vets, but we cannot continue to do things the way we always did.
Many of the old ways of doing things no longer work and we need to recognise that there are now many different options available. As a profession, we need to embrace and action these new opportunities if we are to continue to not only succeed but to grow.
Do you have any questions about successfully managing an after-hours service at your veterinary clinic? Ask Jocelyn in the Comments section below…
Dr Jocelyn Birch Baker graduated in 1983. She worked in clinical practice for a number of years, as well as in the beef cattle space and also had 2 children. She then returned to clinical work as a single parent and was fortunate to work in a practice where her family's live was never questioned. She was supported and encouraged which meant she was not only able to be involved in as much clinical work as possible but also completed post-graduate courses. Both of her children are now professionals in their own fields. She now owns and manages High Street Veterinary Surgery in Queensland - a VERY female-oriented practice that provides both the flexibility and necessary structure to ensure the mums on her team are happy and confident to return to work after maternity leave. She now strongly believes it is time for her to share her learnings and support with as many women in the veterinary industry as she can, so they too can experience the wonderful opportunity to have children and also have a fantastic career in the clinical veterinary space. If you would like to find ways of moving back to clinical work with knowledge and confidence...
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