Front desk
Patient check-in: how to save a minute on every arrival
A client arrives, sometimes with an animal in pain. The front desk has no time to fill in twelve fields. Four are enough to get started.
4 min read
Check-in is the most repeated task in a practice. It is also the one where you are most often interrupted: the phone rings, another client is waiting, the animal is restless. Every mandatory field too many means a longer queue.
The client is already known
Most of the time, the record already exists. The whole challenge is to find it fast, whatever information the client gives you.
- By the animal's name, the one owners always remember.
- By the owner's name, or just its first few letters.
- By phone number, without worrying about spaces or dots.
- By microchip number, typed in or read by a scanner.
Once the animal is found, two things are left to note: the reason for the visit and, if the scales are at the front desk, today's weight. The animal is then in the waiting room.
The client is new
Four pieces of information are enough to open a record, in two clear groups: the owner, then the animal. Everything else can wait for the consultation, or the end of the visit.
The owner's surname
First name and address can be added later.
Their phone number
To call them back, and to recognise them on their next visit.
The animal's name
That is how the whole team will refer to it.
Its species
It guides the consultation and, later on, the reference ranges for tests.
The rest takes little typing: the breed is picked from a list, and you enter either the age or the date of birth, whichever you have. The microchip is read from the health booklet at the front desk; the vet then checks it with a scanner during the consultation.
Avoiding duplicates without slowing down
Duplicate records almost always come from the front desk: you create one because you couldn't find one. Good software warns you as you type, as soon as the phone number or microchip already exists, and offers to pick up the existing record.