6 Tips for Creating a Seamless Veterinary Appointment Scheduling System

Sometimes, scheduling veterinary appointments can be one of the hardest parts of running a veterinary clinic. Finding a time that works for you and your client is harder than ever. Creating a seamless veterinary appointment scheduling system aims to make life easier for your staff and clients. 

Here are 6 tips for creating a veterinary appointment scheduling system that will have your clinic running like a well-oiled machine. 

1. Start Scheduling for Your Veterinary Clinic at Noon

When scheduling veterinary appointments, ask your staff to begin scheduling morning appointments from noon and backward. For afternoon appointments, have them begin at noon and go forward. By scheduling this way, you’ll have better time management throughout the day. 

If there are blocks of time in the morning or the afternoon that aren’t filled, your team can use that time for non-patient care tasks, team trainings, or meetings. If you’re trying to save on overhead, you could allow staff to come in late or leave early. 

2. Remind Veterinary Clients About Appointments via Text or Email

Automated appointment reminders significantly increase appointment confirmations, reduce no-shows, and increase overall scheduling efficiency. Try using these reminders to reiterate helpful information about the upcoming appointment. For example, you can remind the client to fast their pet before specific procedures or bring a fecal sample.   

Also, when your clients arrive for their appointment, whether they are new or returning clients, forms typically need to be filled out. Usually, these forms are filled out when they are waiting to be seen, but that can create a backlog of clients needing to be seen and the waiting area gets crowded. 

Instead of having clients do paperwork in person in the waiting area, have them fill out digital forms (such as check-in, drop-off, consent for surgery or dental, and new client forms) that can be created and sent from the PetDesk dashboard. This simplifies the whole check-in process and reduces the time clients and their pets have to wait. 

3. Automate Common Messages and Responses to Routine Veterinary Questions

With PetDesk’s Two-way Texting, your staff can send messages about upcoming appointments and answer clients’ questions without picking up the phone. PetDesk allows your team to create and store up to 40 templates for messages in the dashboard that the team sends frequently to save time and allow staff to respond to clients promptly. Quickly share surgery aftercare instructions, kindly remind a client that their pet is overdue for essential services, send instructions to new clients, and more!  

4. Create a Veterinary Patient Waiting List

Unfortunately, there will be last-minute cancellations from time to time. You can fill that time by creating a patient waiting list. The patient waiting list allows you to fill a newly open slot so you don’t lose revenue and helps clients whose appointments are further out. When there’s a cancellation, you can use the patient waiting list to call the next client in line.   

5. Send an Email and Push Notification to All Veterinary Clients

Email is a great way to reach out to your clients to relay any important messages or clinic campaigns. For example, should you have to close the clinic for unforeseen circumstances, you can send a notification to clients stating their appointment will be canceled for the day and it will need to be rescheduled. Clinic updates such as traffic delays or construction, special promotions for Dental Health Month or other services can also be sent. With PetDesk, these messages simultaneously go out via the PetDesk platform and includes push notification so clients receive these important messages through email as well as through their mobile app. 

6. Prioritize Critical Veterinary Appointments

When your staff are scheduling appointments, have them use their best judgment to determine when to schedule the patient. Sometimes, a problem can be addressed with an email or telemedicine appointment; other times, you may want to schedule the patient as soon as possible. Prioritizing appointments ensures that the patients who need immediate attention are seen right away. 

Seamless Veterinary Appointment Scheduling System Works for Everyone

When you have a seamless veterinary appointment scheduling system, everyone benefits. Your clients can make appointments in advance with forward booking, so have your staff ask if they’d like to book an appointment in advance during checkout. They can access forms you share with them through the PetDesk app, thus reducing the possibility of them losing essential documents. 

Your team can focus on patient-related tasks to ensure they receive the highest quality of patient care possible. On top of all of that, you can be reassured that your clinic is running efficiently, your clients are happy, your patients are receiving quality care, and your bottom line is looking pretty good!