The ‘Glamorous’ Life Of A Veterinarian
A Typical Day During Pandemic In One Word: Hectic
By Margot K. Vahrenwald, DVM, CVJ
Minutes can make a huge difference. It can take only a minute to save a life or change the life of patient. But on the other side, minutes can be frustrating – why hasn’t the veterinarian called me back? Why can’t I get in to see my veterinarian with my pet today like I used to be able to?
We are hearing and seeing this frustration on a daily basis, but owners can’t see nor know what our days are like in our roles in the veterinary team. That frustration sometimes comes out in verbal abuse to the one who answered the phone or a rapidly written, angry review — neither of which helps owner, pet and veterinary team.
You may see us smiling and joking in our positions because stress handled with humor is better than a breakdown into tears. But like ducks, we’re trying to keep it calm and smooth above the surface when below we’re paddling like mad.
Know that this is not just a local issue to Denver area veterinary practices, but also is global in scale. There were already pressures on the veterinary industry, but the pandemic has literally ripped a hole in the fabric of daily practice. Demand for care exploded at the same time that we physically lost team members to the new demands of childcare, remote/home schooling, parent or grandparent care and more. As we come out of pandemic restrictions, we continue to lose people to burnout, or the desire to have a different worklife.
At least once a week we receive emails from our area emergency hospitals informing us they can only receive critical cases or cannot take any more cases at all because of volume. And, we try as best able to help them, by admitting and working in more urgent cases at our practices – with fewer staff.
The following is a typical veterinarian’s day in our pandemic era. I’m breaking it down to minutes because I think the impact is more significant when you see how it looks on our end:
• Scheduled appointments: 14 or more seen as a daily average = 420-480 minutes
• Admits/work-ins: 1 to 4 patients daily per doctor = 30 to 120-plus minutes
• 15-25 callbacks/emails per day: 75 to 200-plus minutes
• 3-8 same-day urgent calls/emails from owners: 30-160 minutes
• 10-20 prescription requests (refills, written, online pharmacy): 30-60 minutes
• 4-10 cases needing further research, review of referral records from specialists/ER or calling/emailing specialists about patients, etc.: 60-90 minutes
• Finishing exam notes: 30-90 minutes
• Total day’s minutes average: 938 minutes (15.6 hours)
For one of our receptionists, pre-pandemic they might have answered 50 to 60 phone calls personally, checked voicemail for a few messages every hour, fielded 25-50 emails in/out, checked out 20-30 clients, hauled a few cases and bags of dog food, cleaned exam rooms and more. Now the call volume maxes out our multiple lines so frequently that there are many more voicemails to check and very few times of day when the phone lines are not constantly ringing. The juggle of what can be scheduled becomes difficult and cages are full of our day’s procedure pets and admitted patients.
Know that we want to help as many patients as possible no matter the practice, but that the tidal wave of needed care is going to take a while to normalize. We squeeze and push in as much as we can humanly do in this field – and, we will continue to do so. But we cannot do it all all the time.
Dr. Margot Vahrenwald is the owner of Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center at 2255 Oneida St. For more information, visit www.parkhillvet.com.