Organize your clinic references
It goes without saying that it’s busy on clinics – especially now! – and there’s a lot of information that clinicians need to remember to execute best practice treatment plans. Even seasoned veterinarians sometimes need to look up and confirm the details of clinical protocols and drug dosages to be sure. For prescribing alone, an individual veterinarian consults an average of 6 different types of resources (over a 6 month period; or 3 resources on a monthly basis) in order to find what they need to prescribe a drug*.
Knowing how and where to access the information you need quickly is important for swift and stress-free clinical decision making. With so many options and prescribing resources out there (and limited time to keep them organized), what you can you do today to start finding what you need quickly?
Finding information that is new to you:
- When it comes to finding information that is new to you, this can be the most time-consuming. With so many resources available to choose from, make sure that your favorites are easily locatable and within reach in clinics.
- Some simple things that you can do today to get started (if it’s not done already): designate a central location in the clinic for shared physical books, bookmark and group commonly referenced websites on clinic computers, and group clinical apps all on one place on your phone.
Finding information that is familiar to you:
- For prescribing information that you are familiar with but still refer to on a regular basis (e.g., drug dosages), consider adding a personal pocket formulary, like our RX Book to your regimen to consolidate the Cliffs-notes version of your learnings all into one place. Whenever you learn about a new drug, dosage, or contraindication, add your quick notes to your personal formulary during the course of daily clinical practice so that it’s easier to find the next time around.
For more great tips, click on the link below:
* Data based on a voluntary self-reported survey of 45 practicing veterinarians conducted by mini mammoth founder & CEO Becky Lossing, DVM in Nov 2020. Veterinarians had graduated from 9 different vet schools, were > 5 years out of school, and practicing in varying specialties from small animal GP and cardiology to zoo & lab animal medicine. The average number of resources that a veterinarian consulted in the last 6 months when trying to find info about how to properly Rx a drug was 6 (the range was 1-11 with a median of 6). The average number of resources consulted on a monthly basis was 3 (range 1-6, median 3).