Page 20 - Receptionist

 When are delays AVOIDABLE: Examples or poor “planning” on our part causing delays would
be:
 Surgeries taking longer than expected - We should be scheduling
surgeries for LONGER than expected.
o Note: Doctors NEVER leave or delay a surgery on a patient
under anesthesia unless it’s due to an emergency. This is
part of appropriate triaging.
o For example: A doctor would never have spay waiting
under anesthesia for the doctor to start because that doctor
is doing an appointment, phone call, or exam.
 Surgery cases that become critical – see above. This falls under
appropriate delays above.
 Our staff did not show up to work on time – see hospital policies
 Our staff did not review the records PRIOR to client arriving – see
appointment procedure
 We did not have records or treatment plans ready – See
receptionist procedures when booking.
 We did not get records from previous vets – See receptionist
procedures on getting records PRIOR to client arriving.
 We were on the phone with another client on a long conversation –
We should be able to POLITELY explain we need to see our
appointments on time and will have to call them back. If we are on
the phone too long due a critical patient it would fall under a valid
reason for a delay above.
 The last appointment took too long – We should have moved this to
and “advanced” appointment and kept the “basic” appointments on
time.
 Etc, Etc, Etc……..Too many poor excuses to list here that would
make our clients wait unnecessarily.

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