Six dogs and four cats by half past eight
On operating days, admissions start early. Owners arrive together. Each one needs to be booked in, asked whether their pet has eaten, confirm contact numbers, sign a consent form and hear the estimate. The nurse doing admissions is also supposed to be preparing theatre.
Some owners have forgotten the instructions they were given and fed their pet breakfast. Some do not have the phone number they want to be reached on. One needs to talk through the estimate at length. The queue builds, and the first operation starts late.
Why admissions take so long
Most of the admission is gathering the same information from every owner. None of it needs to happen at the desk, but there is no other route. Instructions are given at booking, sometimes weeks before, and nothing reminds the owner the evening before.
Consent forms are on paper, filled in on a clipboard, and then scanned or typed into the record.
Everyone is also told to arrive at the same time. That suits the theatre list on paper, because all patients are in the building early, but it guarantees a queue. And the owners in that queue are anxious, often holding a hungry dog or a cat in a carrier, which makes every conversation longer.
The questions themselves rarely change. Has she eaten since the time you said? Any medication this morning? Which number should we ring? Do you want the nail clip while she is under? The same list, asked ten times, at the busiest moment of the day.
What slow admissions cost
| Pressure | Effect |
|---|---|
| Queue at the desk | Stressed owners and animals, and late theatre starts |
| Instructions forgotten | Procedures postponed or rescheduled |
| Contact numbers wrong | Nobody can reach the owner during the day |
| Paper consent | Forms scanned or retyped after the rush |
| Nurse time | The theatre nurse tied up at the desk |
Pre-operative instructions and consent content are set by your vets under professional guidance. We build the route they are delivered and recorded through.
Moving the admission to the night before
- A reminder text or email the day before, with the practice's own pre-admission instructions and arrival time.
- A pre-admission form covering the questions you ask at the desk: contact numbers for the day, any recent changes owners want to mention, and confirmation of the instructions. Answers go into the patient record where your system allows.
- Digital consent and estimate the owner can read at home, with the option to sign in advance or at the desk, following your consent policy.
- An admission list for the nurses showing who has completed what, so the desk conversation focuses on what is left.
- Staggered arrival times, if you want them, offered in the reminder.
- Discharge time preferences captured at the same time, so the afternoon is planned too.
Operating mornings that start on time
Owners arrive having read the instructions the night before and answered the routine questions. The desk conversation is about the things that genuinely need a person: any worries, the estimate, a last check. Admissions move faster, the theatre nurse is back in theatre sooner, and the first operation starts closer to its planned time.
Fewer procedures are postponed on the day because an instruction was forgotten, since the reminder arrived the evening before. And the vet has contact numbers that have been confirmed, so the call to say a patient is in recovery goes to a phone that is actually answered.
The paperwork after the rush shrinks too. Consent and answers are already in digital form, so nobody spends the afternoon scanning clipboards.
Are your admission mornings like this?
- All surgical admissions arrive at the same time
- Owners forget pre-admission instructions
- Consent forms are filled in on paper at the desk
- Contact numbers for the day are often wrong
- Theatre starts late because of the admission queue