What happens behind the door?

What is happening behind the door?

By Ashley Rivera - Assistant, Bellalago Veterinary Hospital

An important rule within any veterinary facility is to make sure all doors remain closed. There have been quite a few times where the medical team are working on patients in the treatment area and we notice a client has opened the exam room door. This pertains to rooms 1 and 2 since they are right next to our treatment/lab area. I promise you, the signs that read “Please Keep Door Closed - Employees Only” are not used to keep secrets behind a closed door but one of the main reasons is to ensure the safety of our patients and clients.

We completely understand that you are worried about your fur baby but it is a serious safety hazard. Patients are constantly being brought back and forth into the treatment area and if one slips away we do not want anyone at risk. We, as a medical team, are trained on handling and carefully restraining patients but we also do handle quite a few fractious animals on a daily basis. If you’re standing in the opened doorway within the exam room to the medical personnel area you are now at risk as well!

With every patient that walks into our clinic we treat them as if they are own pet. This means comforting them, helping reduce stress, and even carefully restraining them in a way that they can’t hurt themselves or other members of the medical team when treatments are being performed. At my old vet, I remember I always wanted to see how my dog was behaving when the medical team was performing treatment on him, but I respected the hospital’s policy. I also knew that if I was taking my dog to the vet, I trusted that the medical team knew how to care for my Yorkie even while he was not with me.

This blog is, by no means, written in a state of anger but to help inform those who have done this before. In fact I would say we have a large number of clients that have never opened the exam room door to the treatment area to watch us perform treatment on their pet. This actually makes me feel proud that you trust us with your fur babies because once we have your pet in our hands, I can assure you, they are treated as our own!

[Editor’s Note: If you’d like to be present while the medical team performs procedures, please ask.  While we cannot do all procedures in the room, we’ll try our best to ensure you’re present; however, there are some procedures where the owner should not or cannot be present such as surgery.  Don't worry!  We'll bring your fur baby back!]