UW Veterinary Care is currently open for business; however, staffing is limited due to COVID-19’s many effects on the personal and professional lives of our clinicians and staff. For hospital operations, this has forced us to modify our capacities to manage caseload. The number of appointments and ER cases that we can care for is currently lower than pre-COVID.
We are doing our best to accommodate clients’ needs. UW Veterinary Care continues to adapt and modify our approach to appointments. The client interaction policy of UW Veterinary Care will necessarily change as the pandemic eases and contact rules evolve.
The following changes to UWVC client interaction protocols goes into effect on June 7:
Small Animal Hospital
- Hospital doors will remain locked
- Owners with appointments or emergency patients will arrive, park and call the front desk at the number on each signed stall (608-263-7600).
- Front desk staff will ask COVID screening questions
- Patient history is obtained by phone
- The patient is brought into hospital by a member of the service, the initial physical examination and assessments are performed and the clinical team works together to formulate a plan.
- The clinical team will call client to discuss next steps. If a long discussion with the client is needed, the client may enter the building for the discussion after the following steps:
- The clinical team confirms that an examination room is available
- The client is contacted by phone, and a member of the clinical team goes to parking lot to escort the client into the exam room for discussion. No more than 2 clients per patient are allowed into the building.
- All UWVC staff and clients are required to wear masks indoors, as long as the client has answered ‘no’ to the COVID questions UWVC personnel may be unmasked while interacting with clients outdoors
- After the discussion, the client is escorted either to the reception desk to leave a deposit, or back out to the parking lot if the patient is not being hospitalized overnight.
- When patient is ready for discharge, clients may be escorted into clinic for the discharge discussion as long as there is an available exam room. If clients are in the building for the discharge process, they may be escorted to the pharmacy window to pick up any medications and then they must be escorted to the reception desk to pay.
- Clients are not allowed to wait in the reception area or examination rooms. Discharge discussions may not occur in the reception area, they must happen in an examination room.
Large Animal Hospital
- Hospital doors will remain locked
- Owners with appointments or emergency patients will arrive, park and call the front desk to let them know that they have arrived (608-263-6300).
- Front desk will ask the client the COVID screening questions
- Discussions with clients may continue to occur via phone or face to face outdoors.
- If the weather is bad, clients may be escorted into the LA Consultation room for a discussion about their animal. No more than 2 clients per patient may be allowed into the building.
- All UWVC staff and clients are required to wear masks indoors, as long as the client has answered ‘no’ to the COVID questions UWVC personnel may be unmasked while interacting with clients outdoors.
- No indoor visiting of hospitalized patients is allowed
In addition, the hospital pharmacy remains able to ship prescriptions to clients. Pharmacy curbside pickup is available Monday through Thursday from 2 pm-5:30pm and on Friday, 12 pm-2pm. Prescription medication and food refills can be requested through the hospital’s online refill portal. Our pharmacy team is available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. at pharmacy@vetmed.wisc.edu or (608) 263-9950.
As always, our veterinarians remain available to consult with other veterinary medical practitioners.
We are committed to providing the very best care possible while keeping our clients and staff safe. Your continued flexibility and understanding in this time of uncertainty and change is deeply appreciated. Thank you