A number of veterinarian clinics across Prince George have started using a phone service called VetTriage to respond to emergency calls after hours.
Ospika Animal Clinic started a trial run with the service last week to ease the overwhelming amount of emergency calls they receive on a daily basis.
To access the service, users must have an account with Vet Triage set up, pay a $50 USD fee and then a vet will assess the animal over the phone and contact the nearest veterinarian if emergency medical attention is required.
Some pet owners in Prince George raised concerns about the service, however, Ally Rennhack, Head Vet Technician at Ospika Animal Hospital reassured pet parents of some of their concerns.
“One of the main concerns was in an emergency how fast can you access the service and it takes no longer than our previous call service did,” said Rennhack, “within 1 to 3 minutes you’re connected with a veterinarian.”
Pet owners also claimed to be uneasy about speaking to an American veterinarian, as the Vet Triage website claims their vets are located across the United States.
Rennhack explained that the Vet Triage workers are actually located all across North America, and their location won’t have an impact on the speed of the service.
“They’re licensed veterinarians from North America, not just American doctors, which a lot of people are worried about but it’s not a big difference as they’re all licensed the same and they all go through the same schooling,” explained Rennhack.
Prior to using the service, Rennhack and her team at Ospika were using a local service to field the calls, however, because the previous service workers couldn’t provide medical advice, they had to direct all emergency calls to the doctors.
“We chose to make the switch to hopefully save people money and have people not coming in if it’s not truly an emergency but also to improve our doctor’s quality of life so we don’t lose them,” said Rennhack, “because doctors are exhausted and burnt out.”
She says the clinic has seen a staggering amount of emergency calls recently, with vets seeing 10 plus emergencies during office hours then managing phone calls throughout the night.
However, since starting their Vet Triage trial, the clinic has seen a huge improvement in office morale and doctors are already getting more sleep at night when they’re on call.
“I think taking the weight of determining the seriousness of emergencies off of the receptionist’s shoulders and minimizing those coming in for non-emergencies… it’s making a big difference,” she explained.
The clinic only forwards calls to Vet Triage when they’re closed, but the service is available 24-hours a day and Rennhack says even with the fee, it can save pet owners from the cost of a potentially unnecessary visit to the clinic.
Rennhack added they’ve had a mostly positive response from their customer-base that has used the service so far, but can decide to relinquish the service if needed.