From Pawprints to fingerprints (on tablets!)
My laptop has been dying a slow death for about a year now – its battery lasts about 10 minutes and it can take 5 minutes to open a word document. I have been dreading getting a replacement due to the trauma of having to set the new thing up. However, with the death of the letter ‘I’ on the keyboard, my hand was forced – “ … could only send so many emals wthout such an mportant letter”!
It turned out that, in the main, my fears were unfounded and things have progressed since I had last replaced my laptop – in about 1998! All my files and preferences were backed up via Windows and the whole thing was fairly seamless. That was until I turned to setting up remote access to our Practice Management Software. Contacting tech support advised that I had the dubious privilege of parting with £90 for them to do this and that I had to sign and return an agreement. Despite being a tech company, this agreement was sent as a PDF, which I had to print, sign, scan and return. The print aspect of this turned out to be a stumbling block – no matter what I tried, I could not get the printer to connect. I downloaded apps and print drivers, uninstalled, reinstalled, tried WPS (whatever that stands for), and EVEN resorted to plugging it in directly to my laptop. The best I managed was an error page, which I considered sending to the tech company with the words “why can’t we use Docusign?” written in crayon underneath. In the end, I booted up my old laptop, made a cup of tea, walked the dogs and, when it was ready, printed the agreement “in the old way”.
While there is no avoiding the fact that some things have to be physically printed this is becoming less and less common and there are clear advantages to having a digital version: you can’t lose it, it can’t be burned, faded or eaten by the dog and it can be shared with multiple individuals to name but a few. There’s also the obvious benefit to the environment with the reduction in the use of paper and ink. Finally, the hours saved when not having to try and get a wifi direct printer to connect via the HP smart app, when Windows 11 Copilot is arguing with Google Gemini, are priceless!
These are among the reasons that we have elected to go paperless at our practices. Now, all our consent forms, discharge instructions, hospital charts, anaesthetic charts and client information are digital. This means we can send documents direct to you digitally – either to be signed or for information – such as post operatively, for example. Alternatively, forms can be signed on tablets in the practice. Digital hospital and anaesthetic charts allow far more flexibility for recording information than their paper counterparts as well as providing checklists, alerts and reminders for medications and checks. All pets get their picture taken so we can easily reference who is who – and of course images can be shared with owners as well.
Overall the result is a more efficient process which results in better care for the pets that we see, and hopefully you will see the benefits of this when you next visit the practice. However, if the thought of a digital document sends a shiver down your spine – don’t worry, we can still print them out – assuming we can connect the printer, of course!
