Waterville Veterinary Clinic (Waterville Vet), located in Waterville, NY, approximately one and a half hours drive from Albany, has over 25,000 patients and is focused on small animal care. Taking roughly 3,000 radiographic images a year, they are confident that business will continue to grow with VETinfo SYSTEMS' Micro PowerPACS (MPP) for Veterinary system.
Dr. Dan Gilcrest, veterinarian and owner of Waterville Vet, began practicing in 1978. He graduated from Ontario Veterinary College and subsequently came to the United States. After coming to the U.S., he spent his first 20 years focusing on large farm animals, primarily cattle and horses. The travel between farms became increasingly cumbersome, impelling him to establish his small animal practice about 15 years ago, which remains his main focus today.
The practice started with enough business for one full-time practitioner, but has since grown into a staff of one part-time and four full-time practitioners. They work around the clock to meet their community's veterinary needs; "It is a very busy practice", Dr. Gilcrest says with a smile. Why Digital?
Prior to going digital, Waterville Vet faced many challenges stemming from their rudimentary imaging methods. They had been working with a film development system that required the use and disposal of chemicals that creating harsh fumes processing room. Aging equipment entailed frequent cleaning and resulted in poor quality images. Once the development machine was cleaned, the images were initially acceptable; but, over a two-week period thereafter, images would become faint, causing a lot immense frustration in the practice. In addition to the unfavorable fumes, compulsory cleaning, inadequate image quality, timing was another pressing issue. The prolonged image development time escalated the staff's aggravation with their system. Recognizing that their traditional film development methods could compromise the urgency critical to emergency and surgical care, Waterville Vet knew it was time to go digital.
"If we had an animal under anesthesia, we had to wait while x-rays developed. If we found an issue, the patient had to be brought back to do another x-ray. Now we don't have worries of keeping a patient under anesthesia for so long. This makes the procedure far more efficient."
- Dr. Dan Gilcrest, DVM - Waterville Veterinary Clinic
Why VETinfo SYSTEMS?
After evaluating the benefits of going digital, Waterville Vet chose VETinfo SYSTEMS' Micro PowerPACS (MPP) for Veterinary. Their decision was based on VETinfo SYSTEMS' proven commitment to a quality product and outstanding service. MPP for Veterinary enables the practice process and view images in the quickest time possible. Now, when taking x-rays, Waterville Vet is at ease, assured high-quality images will be available in about 30 to 60 seconds.
Another considerable advantage that Waterville Vet saw in the MPP for Veterinary system was the DICOMmail feature that can transmit, through e-mail, radiographic images to referring doctors for additional reads. Dr. Gilcrest explains, "When we have a difficult case, we take a few x-rays. We can now DICOM send them via the Internet to specialists. These certified radiologists will read the x-rays, and they'll send them back with feedback on what they saw and suggestions for follow-up. We get the results back in a half- our, compared to a few days to send the images in the mail to get a read and have it sent back to the practice." "I would recommend this PACS system to other practices. The product is easy to use and I can't say enough good things about it. I think if a practice had to choose between vendors, they should choose this product offering. It is really great!"
- Dr. Dan Gilcrest, Owner and Veterinarian - Waterville Veterinary Clinic
Empowering the Organization with Micro PowerPACS for Veterinary
When patients are dropped off at the practice in the morning, the staff is confident that they will have answers for the owners when they return in the afternoon. In a single visit, doctors have the opportunity to diagnose a patient, create an effective treatment plan, and present it to the owner with the most accurate and precise information possible. Waterville Vet likes broad scope of the MPP for Veterinary package, which includes the easy storage and retrieval of images.
Waterville Vet also finds benefit in showing the images to the pet owners directly on the computer rather than having to flip through x-rays and worry about poor image quality; they trust that the image quality will be superior each and every time. Images can be manipulated for detailed viewing, and can be viewed side-by-side for before and after-care analysis. This gives pet owners greater peace of mind by enabling them to see what was done for their pets. Pre and post-surgery images can also be shown on one screen, allowing a doctor to explain exactly what took place during surgery and show the progress that the patient has made.
In closing, Dr. Gilcrest states, "I don't know how I practiced without this system. It's fantastic! The system is impressive-looking when you have clients in the exam room and you're showing x-rays. I think we're a lot more inclined to do x-rays now."
Waterville Veterinary Clinic is very pleased with MPP for Veterinary and would strongly recommend it to any veterinary practice considering a comprehensive digital solution.
VETinfo SYSTEMS' MPP for Veterinary solution provides veterinarians with radiographic images that can be viewed immediately on a high-resolution monitor, without the need for film development. MPP for Veterinary also offers sophisticated image processing tools, giving veterinarians the ability to enlarge and manipulate images for exceptionally detailed viewing. Images can be stored and archived for future evaluation, serving as an additional contribution to enhanced patient care.
