Hurry up and Wait

You've been watching Fluffy for a couple days now and whatever is ailing him is not resolving on its own. You call your primary care veterinarian to make an appointment but are told they can't fit you in for weeks. They suggest seeking care at the emergency clinic. So, you call the emergency clinic, and they tell you the wait time for stable pets is several hours. What?!

Now you are more than concerned. What is going on? Fluffy is sick and no one seems in a hurry to look him over. Fluffy doesn't look like he can wait weeks so off you go to the emergency clinic. On arrival, the receptionist repeats the wait times and tells you Fluffy will be seen in turn. So you think, "I don't want to take him home like this" and you wait. A member of the treatment team comes to ask questions and takes Fluffy away to obtain vitals. She brings him back to you a short while later and says Fluffy can wait with you until it's his turn to see the veterinarian. Fluffy is in your lap looking puny but he does pick his head up every time someone walks by. Meanwhile, pets are being whisked past you on gurneys racing for the treatment room whenever you hear the word STAT. How are those pets going ahead of Fluffy?

As frustrated as you are waiting, we are equally frustrated at the necessity of it. I've been in emergency veterinary medicine for a long time. I remember when it used to be a rare event to tell a client their pet will have to wait hours to be seen. Then COVID shut the world down, with a few exceptions. As an essential service, emergency veterinary practices kept their doors open during the crisis. However, we were unprepared for our patient numbers to quadruple overnight. Those patient numbers stayed high throughout the crisis. No matter how well staffed we were, there just weren't enough of us to get everyone seen and treated in a timely manner.

When pets arrive at the ER, veterinary professionals will assess your pet for stability. In short, a stable pet is one who is NOT likely to die while waiting. Any pet perceived to be in danger of dying more immediately will be called a STAT and taken to treatment as soon as possible. Any critical pet that is admitted as a STAT will be examined and treatment determined before the veterinarian moves on the next pet.

So as frustrating as it is, chances are if your pet is stable, they're better off than the pets who arrived as STATs.

COVID changed forever the way we practice veterinary medicine. We are always trying to improve our workflow to minimize wait times. Please be patient, we have not forgotten you or Fluffy.