Page 27 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

Chapter 1 Professional Conduct and Foundation Skills 11

(a) (b)

FIGURE 1.3 (a) Closed body language. (b) Open body language.

Written Communication to an exam room where the veterinarian, technician, or
assistant calls up the patient’s file on that workstation
In veterinary practice the patients’ records are legal doc­ and begins the visit. Once the patient has been exam­
uments. They are used to record all the treatments, sur­ ined and a plan is formulated for care, all that information
geries, medications, and observations carried out by the is put into its file at that workstation. A list of charges is
veterinarian and others in the practice. It is imperative completed, and the client is asked to step to the recep­
that they are written concisely, completely, and correctly. tion desk for their bill. The receptionist calls up that
Therefore, proper grammar and spelling are essential. patient’s file and sees what fees were applied and asks for
Making sure you have the correct file is essential. If the payment. There is no waiting for paperwork to be
practice uses paper files, neat handwriting is essential. brought to the reception desk or failure to capture all
More information about what goes into records is the fees applied to that visit.
covered in Chapter 3. Because of the important role these computers have
at work they should never be used for personal emails,
surfing the internet, or have anything downloaded to
Computer Competency them as it could put the entire network in jeopardy from
viruses or malware. Each person in a practice is given a
The computers used in a veterinary practice will usually password to log into the software and the computer net­
have a practice management software package that is work. This safeguard renders them unavailable to the
very expensive to purchase and maintain but the ease of public. This is to protect client records and practice
file management, financial recording, inventory man­ financial information. It is extremely important to follow
agement, and elimination of paper shuffling pays for the guidelines set out by the practice when utilizing the
itself repeatedly. computers.
There are usually several computers networked Client records are confidential and should never be
together, referred to as workstations, which are strategi­ left open on a workstation, especially between clients. It
cally placed around the clinic. The network allows is to be hoped that the workstations will time out bet­
information placed on one computer to be accessible by ween patients, meaning they have to be logged into to
all the other computers. For example, the receptionist start the next visit. If they don’t, the previous client’s
checks in a patient, taking their chief complaint and information is there for anyone to read. This is a viola­
indicates that they are ready to be seen. They are escorted tion of client confidentiality and can result in severe