As a former veterinary technician, Vet Radar Business Development Executive Brydie Chapman has experienced first-hand the impact patient care software can have on a practice’s clinical processes.
We caught up with Brydie to learn more about Vet Radar and how going digital can help veterinary practices work more efficiently and deliver a better standard of patient care.
The headaches of paper-based systems
Brydie’s been around animals all her life. She grew up on a farm near Rotorua, a lakeside town in New Zealand’s North Island, and later went on to study a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology at Massey University. After graduating, she spent three years working in various clinics in New Zealand and abroad, where she was exposed to a range of different practice management systems.
While she loved the hands-on aspects of veterinary life - radiography and phlebotomy, in particular - the admin-heavy, paper-based systems that powered the clinics often held her back from doing the work she actually enjoyed.
“It was messy,” Brydie recalls. “Really messy. We had three whiteboards in three different areas. They all displayed similar information, but you’d have to update them all manually. Every patient that came through the door needed their own set of paperwork - usually three documents, minimum - which would have to be manually scanned into the system and then filed away in a cabinet for seven years. It just required so much effort in terms of maintenance and upkeep.”
In late 2020, Brydie made the transition from the veterinary industry to the tech world, drawing on her experience to bring valuable insight to her new role at Vet Radar. There, she discovered a team of talented developers working alongside other former veterinary professionals and industry experts to create the exact type of software she’d always dreamed of back when she was working as a vet tech.
Finding solutions in the cloud
Vet Radar is a patient care solution that extends from ezyVet. The two applications are deeply integrated, which makes for a smoother user experience and allows billable product lists in ezyVet to be pulled through automatically into Vet Radar with no manual data entry.
Whereas ezyVet is an all-in-one practice management solution, Vet Radar focuses more on the patient side of things, helping veterinary staff solve many of the logistical challenges associated with patient care - including access to information. As a cloud-based solution, Vet Radar allows every member of the practice to access patient data from any device, regardless of whether they’re in clinic, at home, or on the road.
“Let’s say I’m a receptionist and I get a call from a client,” Brydie says. “I’ve been at the front desk all day so I don’t know what’s going on out the back. Normally, I’d have to leave my station to go and look at the whiteboard or chase someone down for an update. But with Vet Radar, I can see what’s happening with that patient in real-time and have an informed conversation with the client right then and there.”
“Or, maybe I’m a vet, and I want to check up on an anesthetized patient in another room. With Vet Radar, I can quickly look at the patient’s information directly on my smartphone or tablet without running around to get an update.”
Today, Brydie’s an integral part of the Vet Radar business development team, working with veterinarians and practice managers all over the world to understand their goals and align them with a solution that suits their needs.
“It's been incredibly rewarding to help people with their frustrations in the hospital, knowing exactly what they've gone through.”
While the main advantages of Vet Radar revolve around patient care, there are also major operational benefits to consider, such as the reduction of missed charges.
“Most of the time when you’re doing a procedure, you don’t care about inventory management,” Brydie says. “In that moment, the patient’s survival is so much more important than how much money the practice is making, so accurate billing goes out the window a lot of the time. Then, at the end of an exhausting day, you pick up the piece of paper and realize you didn’t write anything down. You can’t remember everything you did and you have no idea what you’re supposed to charge.”
Vet Radar helps reduce missed charges by automatically capturing all billable products and services that are used during a procedure. Billed items are passed through to ezyVet and automatically added to the invoice, minimizing the risk of human error and helping clinics stay on track with their revenue goals. Reducing the administrative burden allows staff to spend less time worrying about paperwork and more time on patient care.
Brydie’s vision for the future
Historically, the veterinary sector has lagged behind other industries when it comes to the uptake of cloud-based technology. Brydie hopes that this will change in the years ahead and wants to see more veterinary practices make the leap to the cloud - a move that she thinks will benefit clinics, patients, and staff alike.
“There's such a big struggle in the industry with mental health. Anything that can make life easier for veterinary staff is a win for me. That's really important to me. In a couple of years, I'd love to still be doing what I'm doing - helping people find the right solution for their needs.”
Some paper-based veterinary hospitals are resistant to changing their clinical processes, especially when disrupting the status quo costs money. However, as Brydie explains, the time and effort that practices save in the long run by switching to a patient care solution like Vet Radar tend to far outweigh the costs.
“Sometimes, clinics feel like they can’t justify the cost. And I get where they’re coming from - if your current system is free, why would you pay for something like Vet Radar? But I think a lot of people forget that there’s also a cost to using an outdated system. You lose time, you lose revenue, your staff get frustrated. All those things add up. Solving these problems directly helps practices save money and increase profits. In my experience, most clinics find that the returns on Vet Radar are absolutely worth the investment.”
Schedule a Vet Radar demo
If Brydie’s story resonates with you, it might be time to think about upgrading your patient care system. Schedule a free Vet Radar demo and find out how Vet Radar can help you save time, deliver better patient care, and drive business performance.