Types of veterinary software programs and how they connect

Most veterinary practices run more software than anyone set out to buy. A practice management system sits at the centre, and around it the team adds tools for clinical notes, imaging, lab results, online booking, client messaging, stock and the accounts, usually one at a time as each need comes up. Below are the main types of veterinary software programs, what each one does in a working practice and how they pass information to each other. Mapping your own practice against them shows where staff are entering the same details twice.

The practice management system

The practice management system, or PMS, is the record the rest of the practice works from. It holds client and patient details, the appointment diary, clinical histories, vaccination records, charges and invoices. Most other veterinary software either reads from the PMS or writes back to it, and when a tool does not connect, someone at reception or in the consulting room ends up copying information across by hand.

Because so much else depends on it, choosing a PMS is a larger decision than any other software purchase and needs its own comparison. How AI can work inside day-to-day practice management is covered in our guide to the AI veterinary management system.

Clinical notes and AI scribes

Clinical notes software is where the vet records the consultation, from the history and examination findings to the assessment and plan. In many practices this is the notes screen inside the PMS, filled in by typing between appointments or at the end of the day. An AI scribe takes over the writing, and the finished note still ends up in the PMS.

Vetz listens during the conversation with the owner and produces a structured draft of the clinical note, laid out to the practice's own templates. It copes with several people speaking at once, such as the vet and the owner. The vet reads the draft, edits it by hand or asks the AI to rephrase a passage, then approves it, and with an active integration the approved note transfers to the PMS in one click.

Vetz integrates with Provet Cloud, Vettigo and MHK FileMaker, and booked appointments from an integrated system appear in Vetz automatically. Where a practice's PMS is not on that list, Vetz says it can build an integration for most systems. Beyond the note itself, Vetz suggests diagnosis codes based on what was recorded. Vets can dictate in more than ten languages, which helps practices whose team works in several.

Vetz recommends telling owners that AI supports the note-taking, and it can supply wording for that conversation.

Diagnostic imaging and laboratory software

Imaging software stores the radiographs, ultrasound scans and other images a practice takes, and lets the vet view and compare them. Laboratory software receives results, both from in-house analysers and from external laboratories.

When images and results are attached to the patient's record in the PMS, the vet sees them next to the history at the next consultation. When they arrive as a separate file or a printout, someone has to attach them by hand, and a result can wait unread until somebody notices it.

Before signing up, ask each supplier whether its results and images attach to the right patient record in your PMS automatically, and what happens to a result the system cannot match to a patient.

Appointment booking and reminders

Booking software lets clients book appointments online and sends reminders for vaccinations, health checks and other recalls. To work properly it has to read live availability from the PMS diary and write each new booking back into it. If the booking tool and the diary are not connected, reception has to copy every online booking into the PMS and check for clashes.

Vetz includes a calendar where the team can see the day's schedule and keep track of rechecks, alongside the bookings it receives from an integrated PMS. More on how booking software fits a practice is in our guide to the veterinary appointment system.

Client communication and telemedicine

Client communication tools send messages to owners by email or text, from appointment confirmations to the instructions an owner takes home after a visit. Telemedicine software adds video consultations, and many practices also handle some consultations by phone. However the consultation takes place, it still has to be written up in the clinical notes.

Vetz works for video and phone consultations as well as in the consulting room, so a remote consultation gets a drafted note in the same way. It also generates discharge advice for the owner directly from the clinical note, written in plain language the owner can follow at home.

Stock, inventory and accounting software

Stock software tracks the medicines and consumables a practice holds, showing what is on the shelf and when it is time to reorder. Accounting software handles the practice's finances, from invoices and payments through to the year-end accounts.

Stock and accounts both rely on what was charged at the consultation, so an injection given but never charged leaves the stock count wrong and the income lost. Vetz suggests what should be charged based on the content of the clinical note, which gives the practice a second check on missed items before the invoice goes out.

How the types connect in one consultation

In a practice where the systems are connected, a single appointment passes through most of them.

1. The client books online, and the booking tool writes the appointment into the PMS diary.
2. With an integration in place, the appointment also appears in the AI scribe, ready for the consultation.
3. During the consultation the AI scribe drafts the note, and any lab results or images come back into the patient record.
4. The vet approves the note, it transfers to the PMS, and suggested charges are reviewed.
5. The invoice is raised in the PMS, stock is adjusted and the figures pass to the accounts.
6. The owner receives discharge advice, and the booking tool schedules the next reminder.

Each step where two systems do not connect is a point where a person copies information across by hand. Copying by hand is where missed charges and mismatched records tend to start, so these gaps are the first place to look when reviewing your own set-up.

Questions to ask before adding software

When you are considering a new type of software, put the same questions to every vendor.

• Which practice management systems does it integrate with today, and is ours one of them?
• What information moves in each direction between it and our PMS, and how often?
• Where is our data stored, and which subprocessors handle it?
• How long are records kept, and what happens to our data if we stop using the service?
• What training and support come with it, and who do staff contact when something goes wrong?

For Vetz, the answers to some of these are public. It runs in the browser with no installation, and there is also an app for iPhone and Android. The Vetz team provides training and support to help a practice get started. Vetz describes its PMS integrations as encrypted, and how Vetz integrates with a PMS explains the approach. For a full list of what the product does, see the Vetz features page.

More about Vetz

If writing clinical notes takes up more of your vets' day than any other software task, book a demo and see Vetz draft a note from a consultation and send it back to your PMS. You can also try Vetz free for 14 days without entering any card details.