Most veterinarians work for over forty hours a week. They also have to respond to emergencies during weekends and outside their usual working hours. Unfortunately, vets are not the only employees who work for extended hours in a veterinary practice. Other staff members also need to stay in the office to attend to patients. Lacking proper time management methods can affect your practice in many ways. First, you will incur more costs paying overtime, which leads to lower revenue. Second, serving all patients within the scheduled time may be tricky, leading to frustration and lost clients. Poor time management also overwhelms your staff and lowers their productivity. Here are five time management tips for practice managers that you can leverage.

1. Delegate Tasks

Failing to assign work among employees is a major issue in most vet practices. This problem leads to confusion and time wastage because some staff members may be unsure about the tasks that they should handle.
It can also cause conflicts when some employees feel that others are not delivering as they should. Another problem that arises due to task delegation failure is employees handling work outside their job description.
Improve time management in your vet practice by ensuring that each member on your team understands their role. An ideal way to implement this measure is by using detailed job descriptions when hiring. You should also encourage employees to consult you if they don’t understand a task within their position.
Also, while delegating many jobs to one person may reduce costs, it wastes time and leads to inefficiencies. It can also affect operations if one employee misses work due to issues like sickness.
A suitable way to avoid this issue is by having well-trained staff for each role and department. Hire part-time technicians and vets to fill in when people are absent.

2. Leverage Technology

The lack of suitable software wastes time in many veterinary practices. If you identify that your patients need more than the average duration for appointments, you likely have inefficient systems.
Improve management by assessing all processes to identify those consuming too much time. Then, look for software solutions to speed them up. Ideal tools should also come with several practice management features to reduce costs.
Imaging is an integral process in diagnosing and treating patients, but this process can waste time and cause delayed treatments. Invest in digital solutions to avoid these issues and improve accuracy. Companies like Asteris provide comprehensive imaging software to support securing and sharing files.
Adopting such tools will speed up service delivery and simplify work for your team. It also improves time management because you can predict how long specific processes will take.

3. Ensure That Pet Owners Arrive on Time

Pet owners who arrive late for their appointments waste time for your team and other clients. They also mess up workflow schedules, causing employees to stay beyond the needed hours.
As a practice manager, you must ensure that pet owners come for their appointments at the right times. One ideal strategy is sending reminders one day and several hours before the session. Also, consider implementing a late fee that gradually increases based on the caused delay.

4. Have an Emergency Department

Pet emergencies are a significant time management issue in many practices. When there is a severely injured or critically ill animal, vets may leave other patients. They may also have to postpone appointments to conduct emergency surgeries.
Having a pet emergency department will simplify handling such matters and prevent neglecting some patients. It also streamlines workflow because each section can handle specific cases and have delegated employees. Another benefit of including an emergency department is reducing pressure on your veterinarians.

5. Embrace Teleconsultation

Diagnosing pets consumes time, especially if they need multiple tests. This process may also be complicated when you have a significant number of patients and few specialists.
Embracing teleconsulting is ideal for reducing the time needed to identify health issues in animals. This move also gives you more experience and a better understanding of various health issues.
When considering teleconsultation, you should look for a veterinary tool that supports the process. It will give you easier access to industry specialists despite your location. A collaborative veterinary solution also simplifies attending to many patients in a day and saves time for your practice and pet owners.

Use These Time Management Tips for Practice Managers

Applying various time management tips for practice managers can help you reduce costs. You also avoid frustrating clients, encouraging them to continue seeking your services. Asteris provides an imaging solution to help you improve time management. This tool enables you to access diagnostic images from any device. It also has file-sharing features to support collaboration and consultation.
Here at Asteris, it’s our goal to help veterinarians make sound medical decisions with ease, clarity, and confidence by giving them the tools and insights that they need to optimize the way they work.
If you’re ready to stop feeling like there’s not enough time in your day, we can help you optimize your imaging processes and the way you work. Contact our specialists today to get started!