A Nanaimo veterinary hospital will be home base for a virtual appointment pilot project for pet owners on Vancouver Island.

The telemedicine program will operate out of VCA Canada Island Animal Hospital and Dr. Daniel Joffe, VCA Canada vice-president of medical operations, said it offers clients an appointment via computer or mobile device. The program was being planned before COVID-19, but the pandemic sped up implementation, Joffe said.

Appointments can be done via video chat and cellphones, with information sent to clients via e-mail invitation. Clients can also have appointments over the phone or by text, Joffe said.

B次元官网网址淭he veterinarianB次元官网网址檚 preference is always if they can get a visual and that can be a phone, that can be a tablet, but some clients are leery of that for various reasons and so weB次元官网网址檒l do whatever the client wants B次元官网网址� if itB次元官网网址檚 not a video chat, then we will likely have the client take some video of their pet and send it in to us so that we can evaluate it,B次元官网网址� he said.

Telemedicine can ease patient load at clinics, but Joffe doesnB次元官网网址檛 see it leading to the end bricks-and-mortar veterinary hospitals.

B次元官网网址淭his is not a panacea thatB次元官网网址檚 going to make clinics that are fully set up B次元官网网址� go away because everythingB次元官网网址檚 going to be done virtually now, no,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淥ne of the things that all of the provinces have is they mandate that veterinarians and a client have B次元官网网址� a veterinary-client patient relationship. So you have to develop a relationship with the client before you can do virtual care.B次元官网网址�

In addition, there limitations for virtual appointments, according to Joffe.

B次元官网网址淚f a dog is very ill, we need to get them into the clinic because we need to do a hands-on physical exam, possibly draw blood for analysis, maybe take X-rays, and we obviously canB次元官网网址檛 do that through telemedicine,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淏ut if itB次元官网网址檚 a dog thatB次元官网网址檚 had diarrhea for a couple of days, but is still eating and drinking and feeling fine; if itB次元官网网址檚 a dog thatB次元官网网址檚 having urinary accidents B次元官网网址� those scenarios are things that we could often do by telemedicine and often with a caveat that if your pet is not doing better after two or three days, we need to see them physically in the clinic.B次元官网网址�

Seven VCA clinics on Vancouver Island have access to telemedicine, and appointments will be handled by Dr. Melissa Pham from Nanaimo.

B次元官网网址淭his is one of the cool things about being virtual, is that patient may be a client at Central Saanich Animal Hospital, which obviously isnB次元官网网址檛 in Nanaimo, but the medical records go into that patientB次元官网网址檚 file at their regular hospital, even though itB次元官网网址檚 a telemedicine veterinarian thatB次元官网网址檚 doing the call B次元官网网址� she is able to virtually access and virtually be in each of those clinics,B次元官网网址� Joffe said.

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