With the rise of new technologies, most veterinary clinics have been able to expand their equipment to offer faster and better services to their patients.
Additionally, more and more hospitals and clinics are using telemedicine to keep in touch with their regular patients. Online vet medicine is now a reality, which you too can incorporate into your business. Shall we explain how?
Is Online Veterinary Medicine Legal?
First of all, let’s answer a common question: is this practice legal? In the United States, online veterinary medicine is legal. However, it comes with some limitations.
You can only practice telemedicine if a veterinarian-patient relationship is already established. In the absence of such a relationship, the veterinarian will only be able to share general advice, and will not be able to diagnose or treat the patient.
What Kinds of Services Can Veterinarians Offer?
Having dealt with the legal side of things, let’s look at how you can take advantage of new technologies to offer expanded services to your regular customers.
Online Consultations
It’s not uncommon for people who have questions about their pet’s care to turn to Google to find an answer. But, how can they be sure that the information is reliable?
To help them, you can set up a system to answer your clients’ questions with accurate information through online consultations.
Postoperative Follow-up
In some cases, it is not necessary to hospitalise an animal after an operation. However, it is advisable to monitor their progress. To do this, you can offer an online visit along with the use of a multiparametric harness to monitor their vital signs.
Preventive Medicine
It is true that in some cases it is necessary for the patient to make a physical visit in order to provide vaccinations or deworming. However, it’s also possible to do certain preventive medicine visits online.
What Veterinary Services Should You Offer Online?
To be able to offer this type of service, you do not need many tools beyond a computer or a mobile device with an internet connection. However, you can complement online visits by using wearables for more accurate patient follow-up.
To schedule visits, use an appointment manager (such as Calendly, HubSpot or Google Calendar) to make the process easier for your clients. Additionally, don’t forget to keep a record of the patient’s history through software.
Take Advantage of Technology to Improve Your Online Communication
Social media and search engines have allowed small and medium-sized businesses to have their own promotional channels. But these platforms have many more advantages! They can also be very useful for:
- Educating families who want to adopt a new pet.
- Disseminating general animal health advice.
- Raising awareness of the importance of supporting animal health and welfare.
These channels will help you spread the word about best practices when it comes to caring for animals, and you can raise awareness of your clinic.
Why Should You Offer Online Veterinary Consultations?
Although veterinary clinics are here to stay, it is increasingly necessary to modernise the way we offer services to patients.
If you are one of the first to offer online services, you will be able to differentiate yourself from other practices and offer greater convenience to your clients. You will also help them avoid trips to the clinic, which can be stressful for the animals.
In short, opting for online vet medicine will allow your clinic to continue to grow, offer a more complete services, and improve access to animal healthcare, so that pets are well taken care of wherever they are.
