Susie Samuel, MA VetMB MRCVS, VetHelpDirect, Hampshire, UK
COVID-19: The telemedicine solution
Author(s):
Susie Samuel
Updated:
MAY 01, 2020
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"The COVID-19 outbreak has meant that most veterinarians are having to consider telemedicine as a means of minimizing face-to-face contact with clients; this paper describes how the service can benefit both the clinic and its patients."
Meet the author
Susie Samuel
Dr. Samuel graduated from Cambridge University in 2001 and spent ten years working in both mixed and small animal practices. In 2006 she set up VetHelpDirect.com, a website that helps owners decide how quickly they need to seek veterinary attention for their pets. The business quickly evolved to become a specialist veterinary Internet marketing agency, winning the 2015 Veterinary Marketing Award for Practice Marketing, and Dr. Samuel eventually left practice to become managing director of the company. She also holds the Google Certificate in Internet Marketing, and trains veterinary staff in all aspects of Internet marketing.
Key Points
- Telemedicine has been around for some time, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many clinics are now starting to use video consultations for the first time.
- A dedicated video platform is to be preferred to enable delivery of a truly professional service.
- A proactive approach to marketing the video consultation will help raise client awareness of the service.
- Clients’ expectations are changing, and telemedicine may become a major part of veterinary services in the months and years ahead.
Introduction
Video consultations have very quickly become “front of mind” for the veterinary profession over the last few weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak. While there remains significant variation in levels of use between countries (for example, the UK has adopted the technology at a faster rate than other European states (Figure 1)), it is a solution that many clinics had already begun to seriously consider utilizing prior to the coronavirus pandemic. However, there remains a wide variation in legislation and regulation between countries regarding video consultations. In some, the use of telemedicine is forbidden; for example the French Veterinary Chamber is currently lobbying the national government to create emergency legislation that will allow video consultations during the coronavirus outbreak. In the UK existing restrictions on the right of the veterinarian to prescribe remotely have been relaxed by the governing body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons*, stating that “remote prescribing of POM-V medicines should be permitted where it is appropriate to do so”. [...]
About
Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
VetHelpDirect, Hampshire, UK
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