Dr. Chris Menges
Veterinary telemedicine is an idealized word that we have seen thrown around in the Veterinary industry for about the last 20-30 years. The stark reality is that we have always been practicing telemedicine, whether we like it or not. The original proponents of the word simply defined this as ‘healing at a distance’, and veterinarians have likely been fielding questions since the moments the telegram was invented. In an ever-increasing digital age, the usage of this term has skyrocketed, leading to confusion on how to utilize, move forward, and evolve your practice into this next age. Follow along with my series of blogs over the next few weeks to learn how to actually use this technology in your day to day general practice.
You Bought a Telemedicine Service – Now What?
Like many of your colleagues, you have likely been fielding a basically unending stream of emails and phone calls from services that promise a new, better way to spend time in and out of your clinic. Unfortunately, some of these services have simply slapped a zoom on to some sort of mild record keeping system and have given no thought to what to do once you actually sign up for this service. Changing phone to video calls still puts the same time pressures that we are already seeing at swamped veterinary clinics.
So, let’s ditch that telemedicine term. It is old, antiquated, and frankly not that accurate. We are moving into a realm of Connected Care, where we are able to connect disparate resources together in our veterinary clinics to become the hub of treatment and care. This evolution doesn’t occur with simply the addition of video calls but understanding that these technologies expand our practices into the digital world.
Follow along with this series as we dive into the following topics: The Connected Care VCPR, Staffing and the Digital Expansion, and Managing Connected Pet Owners.
