I don’t need to tell you how massive the Internet is, or that it’s here to stay. Like it or not, our clients are looking online for pet information and that’s not going to change. Although we all know “Dr. Google” is a quack, there are a lot of websites that are really helpful. Rather than fighting this, smart veterinarians and practice owners are embracing this new reality.
Here’s a list of a few websites that can be helpful to veterinarians, and a few that you might consider sending your clients to:
For veterinarians:
1) www.veterinarypartner.com Keeping a hospital library of brochures on topics from atopy to zoonotic disease is a waste of time. Unless you have an associate who has a serious interest in writing, it’s impossible to keep 10-20 brochures “up to date” with current medical findings and recommendations. Even if you did, is this the best use of their time? Veterinary Partner is a good, peer-reviewed site where you can send clients who want more information than you can provide in a 20 minute office visit. Rather than let your clients stumble around online and end up who-knows-where reading who-knows-what, guide them to a good place and let them go from there. At least you know they’re getting quality information.
2) www.vin.com No surprise here. VIN is a great resource for interacting and collaborating with colleagues, though it’s a bit cumbersome to navigate. The user interface hasn’t changed in a good 10 years, but neither has most practice management software. J VIN has a number of very well done clinical calculators (chocolate toxicity is my favorite) that alone are worth the price of admission.
3) www.marketing.grader.com Hubspot offers a very cool free service where you can enter your practice’s URL and it will “grade” you on how effective your website is from a marketing standpoint. It also gives you suggestions for how to improve your score.
For pet owners:
4) www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control is a great resource for both pet owners and veterinarians. It’s loaded with current information on drug/plant/household substance toxicities, and their database is incredibly robust. I routinely refer pet owners to this website whenever they call with a question about a toxicity that I don’t have completely memorized. There’s a $65 charge for a consult, and they provide fantastic client service and followup. Money well spent.
5) http://vet.osu.edu/nssvet This is a powerful dietary website maintained by the nutrition service at “The” Ohio State University. It has an incredible amount of information on hundreds of diets, including calculators for how much to feed, etc. It’s also a great resource to point your clients to if they start asking about the latest “organic” or “gluten-free” diets. Or if they imply that, by feeding Eukanuba, I’m slowly killing my pets. Great source for those clients who know just enough to be dangerous.
Hope this helps….any other sites you like? Let me know and I’ll keep the list updated.
