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\u201cBut my dog just had bloodwork done two weeks ago. Can\u2019t you get those records from my regular vet?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cBut my dog just had bloodwork done two weeks ago. Can\u2019t you get those records from my regular vet?\u201d<\/p>\n
These words are a common refrain at the emergency veterinary hospital. Concerned pet owners ask this question of us on at least a weekly basis. And I understand why. We\u2019re all used to human healthcare where we can access our own medical records at any time, day or night, through an electronic portal. Unfortunately, veterinary medicine is often several years behind the human healthcare information technology curve. And if your primary care veterinary clinic isn\u2019t open for business, there *probably isn\u2019t any way for a separate emergency veterinary facility to access those medical records. But while that\u2019s unfortunate, the reality is that unless your pet\u2019s bloodwork was performed that very day, those records really won\u2019t be helpful, and they certainly won\u2019t prevent us from having to repeat tests. <\/p>\n
If your pet is seeing us for an emergency condition, it\u2019s essential that we check how your pet is doing right now \u2013 rather than review how he or she was doing one, two, or three weeks ago. Bloodwork and x-rays only serve as a snapshot of your pet\u2019s health (pun intended) at the time they were done. Don\u2019t get me wrong – it is nice to also have the diagnostic results from a couple of weeks ago. Those results could help us establish whether or not your pet\u2019s illness is acute or may have been developing for some time. Regardless, new testing will need to be done in order to determine the most appropriate treatment for what is happening with your pet, right now.<\/p>\n
If your veterinarian is open, we will contact them for your pet\u2019s medical records. Our emergency veterinarian may also speak with your family veterinarian to learn more about why he or she has referred your pet to us. After your pet leaves our hospital, all of his or her emergency medical records will be sent to your family veterinarian, so your clinic is always kept in the loop about what is happening with your pet. <\/p>\n
If your pet is undergoing a lot of medical treatment and you anticipate that emergency treatment may be in his or her future, you may want to have your clinic email diagnostic results directly to you. If your clinic has an app or a portal through which you are able to access those results when needed, even better.<\/p>\n
We all just want to help your pet\u2019s treatment for illness or injury go as smoothly as possible! <\/p>\n
*There are web-based software systems that enable emergency clinics to access your pet\u2019s primary care records, and vice versa. But both the emergency clinic and the primary care clinic have to be paid users of the program in order for the emergency clinic to see the primary care records. <\/p>\n
By Heidi Brenegan, MBA, CVPM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cBut my dog just had bloodwork done two weeks ago. Can\u2019t you get those records from my regular vet?\u201d These words are a common refrain at the emergency veterinary hospital. Concerned pet owners ask this question of us on at least a weekly basis. And I understand why. We\u2019re all used to human healthcare where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n