News & Updates

Tech-enabled services are growing and changing rapidly in the veterinary industry! From the days of printing and mailing reminders to email and text capability, companies offering tech-enabled services found ways to integrate with our PIMS to send out reminders with a click of a button. We then moved to individualized apps for appointment requests, appointment reminders, and prescription requests or refills. Then, we arrived at a point where we could give clients access to their medical records and see test results from home while the doctor reviewed them over the phone. Now, here we are in 2023 moving towards the capability of telemedicine for follow-up appointments and hospice care.   I remember a time early in my career when I was undergoing training to be a receptionist — it was a Saturday morning — we were only open for 5 hours, but the schedule was packed. At the clinic, we offered boarding services, and we also took walk-ins and work-ins. The phones were ringing off the hook. I had multiple clients in front of me with a gauntlet of needs:   “I need a refill on Heartgard” “I am here to pick up my pet's medicine" “I am here to pick up my pet” “I am dropping my pet off for boarding” “I have arrived for my pet's appointment” “I am ready to check out” “I don’t have an appointment but my dog's nail is ripped and it’s bleeding”   “I need to schedule a recheck appointment”   Addressing a client's needs is overwhelming when you are new, let alone a seasoned staff member! The instruction from my trainer (which I remember almost 20 years later) was, “Do not make eye contact with a client until you are ready to help them." So I would keep my head down so they knew I was busy until I finished my task. The thought process was if you look at someone, then they think you are not busy, you are ready to help them and this will get you off track. Some see multitasking is an important skill, but it leaves vets burnt out and does not allow for QUALITY customer service and patient care. Allowing your team to be able to focus on customers and patients that are IN your hospital seems like a dream! Before I discovered GuardianVets I had no idea that this level of service was available for a small practice. I managed a small animal hospital for 6 years and would have loved the ability to have a “call center” to field calls for scheduling and refills. Another huge benefit that GuardianVets offers is Triage Services. That’s right! Triage Services. Take the burden of phone calls off your team so that your in-house staff can focus on patient care and customer service. GuardianVets uses technology to provide a remote team as an extension of your in-house veterinary support staff. I made a career move to GuardianVets when I needed a better work-life balance as a new mother. After I was trained and started working, I immediately saw the impact we were making on the hospitals we worked with. As someone who has worked in general practice as well as emergency medicine, I can empathize with the client and patient experience in both scenarios. Most importantly, I see how beneficial our services are to the entire veterinary teams in practice! There are many different ways that hospitals can utilize virtual teams to tailor services to each practice’s needs. Our practice solution can meet any level of demand; we work with small animal, large animal, exotics, specialty, and emergency hospitals.   Options include, but will not be limited to: VCSR (virtual client service representative) Triage after hours Triage and Overflow during hours   As a triage technician, I take pride in the fact that GuardianVets requires our technicians to be credentialed. When I take a call for a practice my number one goal is to properly triage the patient. If the patient needs immediate care I am able to facilitate that according to the hospital’s specific protocols.   When a hospital is closed, our virtual team is there to answer incoming client calls. They never get a voicemail! If the doctor is on-call, I can see the hours they are available and which patients and emergencies they are able to see. If the pet does not fall into these guidelines or if there is not a doctor on-call, I can refer your patient to the preferred emergency hospital or urgent care. If the pet is stable and does not need to be seen right away, I am able to offer reassurance and a professional recommendation to the client. If the hospital allows it, I can schedule an appointment right then and there. If the pet has ingested a potential poison I can refer them to the appropriate hotline and also provide emergency options when warranted.  Virtual teams are also a huge asset to emergency hospitals. Before working in an emergency hospital,  I never realized that wait times could get over 4 hours. It never crossed my mind. Then I realized that wait times can get to 8-12 hours, especially during nights and weekends. On top of caring for critical emergencies as an in-person emergency technician, I also had the task of letting the owners of stable patients know the wait times. This is a huge stressor. If you get to a point where your emergency room is at capacity, you still need to triage the patient and interact with the client to make sure you are making the best recommendation. In practice, sending a client to another emergency hospital can be one of the hardest tasks. It also takes away from your time with hospitalized pets and owners of UNSTABLE patients. As a triage technician, I am so happy that I can help emergency teams with this burden. The patients get triaged properly, and I can alert them of possible wait times, exam costs, and payment options. If the hospital is at capacity, I refer them out accordingly. THIS IS A BIG DEAL! It allows teams in the hospital to prioritize patient care while still providing exceptional customer service. You get to focus on why you got into veterinary medicine. QUALITY! With virtual teams, your practice can unlock limitless capacity to meet any demand and provide quality customer service through and through.

‍ Finding Balance and Success on the Farm: Sarai's Story ‍ Working on the farm is not just a job, it is a lifestyle. From early mornings milking the cows to horseback riding in the evenings, GuardianVets staff member Sarai has found that her work provides her with a work-life balance that allows her to support her family and chase her dreams. ‍ In this interview, we discussed how GuardianVets enables Sarai to have a flexible work schedule while still providing the support she needs to care for her family and pursue her passions. We also discussed how working for GuardianVets allows Sarai to gain valuable skills in animal care, farming, and ranching, as well as how she balances all of these tasks daily. ‍ ‍ How long have you been working at GuardianVets? -I've been working with GuardianVets for almost three years. ‍ Can you tell us more about your passion for animals and how you manage the daily responsibilities of running a farm while also providing for your family?  -Life on the farm is busy! Every afternoon consists of feeding chickens and gathering eggs, feeding the horses, milking my Jersey cow, feeding our calves, tending to the rabbits, and everything in between! I take an active role in running the farm, the animals are my passion project, but my husband and two daughters are involved in the daily happenings as well. ‍ It's very cool to provide for my family and be self-sufficient in any area that I can. Yearly, I grow a big garden to supply our animals with food as well as ourselves. I can lots of vegetables as well as homemade sauces too. We have a steady supply of eggs and chickens, and my cow gives us about two and a half gallons of milk every single day! I use fresh milk to make cheese, butter, coffee creamer, and ice cream! I also make a lot of sourdough bread! ‍ ‍ ‍ Fascinating! What kind of animals do you have? -I have three cows, four horses, a handful of Holland Lop rabbits, a flock of chickens, and your usual mismatched group of farm dogs! ‍ My horses are my passion, and racehorses specifically have stolen my heart since I grew up watching racing in Kentucky. I have adopted three ex-racehorses and one ex-pacing racehorse (Standardbred). They are all amazing athletes and beautiful examples of the temperament and personality these racehorses can have. ‍ One of the racehorses that I own came from the famous female jockey Rosie Napravnik! This same racehorse was formerly owned by (and named after) ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit! ( I included one of his race-win photos!) ‍ ‍ You mentioned that you work for a non-profit that focuses on horses. Can you describe what that experience like? -I work part-time as the Equine Manager for a non-profit that offers horseback/ground lessons with some amazing horses. We offer lessons and programs for war veterans, and individuals with mental/physical/emotional disorders/disabilities, as well as partnering with some amazing companies that support at-risk youth, the hospice house, grief counseling, drug, and alcohol rehab, etc. ‍ It is an amazing opportunity to be able to be involved in a program that brings so much joy and possibility to such a wide range of individuals. I specifically care for the horses daily, keeping up on their feed and supplements, and managing their health records, as well as just the daily care. The horses are the heart and soul of our program and watching them move and exist so carefully around their clients and partners is amazing. The horses know they need to be careful with certain riders/handlers and it is lovely to watch. You can check out all that PALS (People & Animal Learning Services) is about at palstherapy.org! ‍ How has the support you've received from GuardianVets helped you pursue your personal and professional goals, and how have the friendships you've developed with your coworkers impacted your experience working there? -Working for GuardianVets has given me SO many opportunities to support my family and chase my dreams. It has been such a tremendous blessing to learn and grow with this company over the last three years. The flexibility it offers with scheduling, the support from the management, and the investment they've given me are all priceless. I could not do what I'm doing without GuardianVets, and I'm forever thankful for that. I'm a part of this company for the long haul, and I am grateful for the continued support and opportunity that has come with this job! I have developed few friendships with coworkers that are now such close friends that we talk daily — about anything and everything — that is invaluable to me. ‍

Technology has revolutionized the way Veterinarians operate their clinics. Utilizing technology, Veterinarians can increase revenue and customer satisfaction by providing after-hours triage, virtual front desk, callback and automatic scheduling services. This helps to offload work from the clinic staff and also provides a better service to customers. With the help of technology, Veterinarians can provide an easier way for customers to request appointments and receive timely responses from their clinic. By using technology in their practice, Veterinarians can ensure that they are providing the best possible service to their clients while also increasing revenue for their business. Virtual Front Desk acts as an extension of your Vet staff that helps businesses triage calls, provide on-call advice, offload work, and eliminate long hold times. It allows businesses to handle more calls and book more appointments in a shorter amount of time. With the help of Virtual Front Desk, clinics can save time and money while giving their customers the best possible service. The technology works by using a remote triage team to understand customer needs and automatically route them to the appropriate next step — whether that be: setting up an appointment request or refer out to a ER if there is a more immediate need. The remote triage team can also help to identify patterns in pet owner’s cases and suggest better ways of handling them in the future. By leveraging these technologies, Virtual Front Desk can help hospitals better manage their incoming calls and increase customer satisfaction. After hours triage is an effective way for businesses to keep their operations in house and provide customers with the best service possible. It allows businesses to provide on-call advice and triage calls from customers, enabling them to make smarter scheduling decisions and handle appointment requests more efficiently. This can help businesses maximize their resources, increase customer satisfaction and ultimately increase the number of appointments they are able to take on. Combining tech-enabled services is a great way to create a complete user experience for both the clinic and the pet owner. By providing an omni-channel experience, clinics can reduce hold times and provide smarter scheduling. This helps to reduce stress for both the clinic and pet owners, while allowing them to increase their bandwidth and achieve better work-life balance. Tech-enabled services can provide clinics with more efficient ways of managing their operations, from scheduling appointments to handling payments. Additionally, they can help create a more personalized user experience for pet owners by making it easier for them to book appointments, check on their pets' health records, and receive updates about upcoming appointments or treatments. With these features in place, clinics are able to provide a complete user experience that is beneficial for both parties involved. GuardianVets’ team of licensed Veterinary professionals work to help clinics increase the number of patient appointments through our tech-enabled services. By providing after hours triage overnight & virtual front desk support during the day, our team is able to seamlessly integrate with a clinic’s portal — our team can even handle callbacks and scheduling requests to keep business in house. These services provide a more efficient way for clinics to manage their work-life balance & rev up the revenue in general practices. Furthermore, with callback features & scheduling request capabilities, GuardianVets can help clinics streamline their appointment processes & reduce wait times for patients. Curious to know more about how veterinary answering services can revolutionize animal hospitals? Ask your animal doctor about GuardianVets! If you are a Practice Owner/Manager & would like to take the next step, contact Sales at sales@prod.guardianvets.com.com to know more. ‍

What would you do in times of emergency? As a pet owner there is added pressure to look out for your own well-being as well as your animal’s when preparing for natural disasters. Depending on where you live, hurricane preparation may be necessary. If you have to respond to a tornado warning or a looming blizzard, planning ahead is generally a wiser approach. Here are a few things to think through when doing disaster prep: Have a plan: Make sure you and your family have a plan in place for when disaster strikes. Have a designated safe space where everyone meets in the house, and make sure one or more people are in charge of getting the pets safely there as well. Medical Records: Always have a copy of your pets up to date Vaccine and medical records on hand, also consider backing up medical records virtually. Microchips & Tags: One way to track your animals is to microchip them in case you get seperated. Many animals are afraid of storms and might run away thinking they can get away from it. Tags with contact information help emergency responders know that the pet/animal has an owner and help return it to you. Be prepared: Prepare yourself with plenty of water and non-perishable foods for you and your animals. If you have farm animals, make sure you have at least 2 weeks of animal feed stocked, along with a designated safe space for them. Do not: Evacuate, unless told to do so! It may be more dangerous to be outside. ‍ Helpful tips and things to have on hand:  Multiple flash lights with extra batteries Battery operated radio to follow the storm, and evacuation plan if necessary Fire extinguishers Clothing Blankets, pillows Pee pads for dogs, litter box for cats Garbage bags for waste Ready to eat food, non-perishable items, water First aid kit All Rx medications Cash Tarps ‍ GuardianVets offers Virtual Care solutions to make medical care accessible even in times of disasters. We can take over calls for clinics and triage clients while the clinic is unable to. Ask your animal doctor about GuardianVets! If you are a Practice Owner/Manager contact Sales at sales@prod.guardianvets.com.com to know more.