Editor’s note: The University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a sponsor of Chambanamoms.com.
Wait, wait … don’t tell me!
It’s a great name for a radio quiz show. But it is not the hoped-for experience when you’re at a medical facility with an ill or injured loved one.
At the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital, we understand how nerve-wracking it can be to wait in the lobby while your animal disappears into the emergency room for evaluation.
What’s going on back there? When will someone share news about my pet?
That’s why we recently implemented WaitWell, an online system to help speed the check-in process for an emergency service visit and give clients a way to track their patient’s position in the queue.
How Does It Work?
Using the WaitWell app, clients of our emergency service can begin the registration process from their phones, tablets, or laptops even before they arrive at our hospital. (Use our short URL — go.vetmed.illinois.edu/CheckIn — or the QR code to access the site.) They can also register via our convenient lobby kiosk or borrow a tablet from our front desk after they arrive.
Having clients enter their own information may save time and reduce the potential for errors. It also alerts our ER staff that a new patient is on the way, allowing them to prepare for the case.
If they prefer to have a client services representative enter the information after they arrive, we can do that too!
All clients must stop at our front desk to finalize registration and pay the emergency examination fee before their animal can be evaluated by the care team.
Next Steps
After the registration is complete, the patient will be evaluated by our triage team, who will assign a color-coded triage category to reflect the severity of the patient’s condition.
Highest priority patients, those with the most critical conditions, are always evaluated before patients that are not in immediate danger. Patients with stable conditions are assigned to three levels of urgency. Within those levels, they are seen in the order in which they arrived.
Using the WaitWell app, you can track your animal’s position in line. It’s important to remember that your animal’s position may move further from the front of the line if more critically ill patients arrive while you are waiting.
Communications
The University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital is one of very few facilities in our region that remains open 24/7, every day of the year. Emergency cases travel to Urbana from more than 100 miles away, and we sometimes see 50 or more cases a day.
Due to the demands of a busy ER, members of the care team may be unable to leave their patients and update waiting clients. WaitWell allows clients to enter a message that will be visible to the staff working in the ER. When staff are able, they can reply via the app, providing a quicker means for communication with pet owners. Remember, though, that staff are often very busy and may not respond to messages promptly. Clients are always welcome to notify the front desk if they need to send an urgent message to the care team.
Because WaitWell keeps lines of communication open, owners may leave the hospital after they’ve agreed upon a care plan with the doctor. This allows clients to run errands or grab a bite to eat while staying in the loop on their pet’s status. Clients who choose to depart can communicate their departure and return via the app, rather than wait in line to let the front desk staff know.
Making the Best of a Difficult Time
Unfortunately, pet owners from out of town sometimes find themselves at our hospital for many hours — even overnight — while their animal receives care. They may even have young family members with them. We know this can be very difficult, so the hospital offers a selection of games to help pass the time as well as cots if someone would like to lie down in one of the unused exam rooms.
During a challenging time, you can feel confident that experienced caregivers are managing your pet’s condition in a state-of-the-art small animal emergency and critical care facility. Our ER is staffed by more than a dozen veterinarians, including four with board certification in emergency and critical care and five in training to become board certified. More than three dozen certified veterinary technicians and six veterinary assistants round out the team.
If you ever need veterinary services outside the availability of your primary care provider, remember that the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital small animal emergency service is open all day, every day. And for pressing but non-emergency needs, our urgent and convenient care service is now open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.