Vets Pets, a privately owned cooperative veterinary practice group in North Carolina, supports over 30 hospitals across the state. These include general practices, emergency and specialty hospitals, pet resorts, and high-quality, high-volume spay-neuter clinics. Each practice maintains its unique personality and operates with its local community in mind.
We interviewed several Vets Pets veterinarians across the organization to explore how they have integrated Plumb’s Pro™ into their daily practice, boosting their confidence and enhancing the care they provide to patients and pet owners.
Daily Guidance for Patient Care
Dr. Meghan Courey, a small animal veterinarian at a Vets Pets practice in Wendell, NC, focuses on providing exceptional client care and high-quality medicine. With a busy schedule of wellness exams, sick patients, and surgeries, she relies heavily on Plumb’s Pro™.
“Plumb’s has my back,” Dr. Courey said, noting that she refers to it constantly (sometimes up to 30 times a day) to validate her decision-making.
For a new graduate like Dr. Courey, Plumb’s Pro™ is like having an encyclopedia at her fingertips. She uses the drug interaction checker frequently to validate the safety of prescribing a drug to a new patient and relies on the drug and clinical handouts to help her educate pet owners about specific conditions or medications.
“I genuinely couldn’t practice without the Plumb’s app. I would have to have 2-hour appointments—it saves me so much time and gives me so much valuable information.”
—Meghan Courey, DVM
Like many veterinarians, Dr. Harrington, Vice President of Medical Leadership, and Dr. Hans Bernhard, Director of Business Operations, have relied on Plumb’s™ since veterinary school.
“I can’t imagine practicing without Plumb’s Pro™ next to me,” Dr. Harrington said, highlighting how it helps her tackle challenging cases and quickly access dosage information for those not-so-common drugs.
Dr. Bernhard mentioned when he first started practicing, he relied solely on an older edition of the Plumb’s™ book that he purchased in veterinary school. Often, he would set the book down and forget where he put it or lose it completely when a colleague borrowed it.
“If I had Plumb’s on my phone after vet school, it would have been a game-changer,” Dr. Bernhard said.
The fact that the Plumb’s™ app is a peer-reviewed, continually updated reference makes veterinarians like Dr. Bernhard and Dr. Harrington feel more confident in their decision-making each day.
Preparing for the Unexpected
Unpredictability is part of the job for Dr. Natalie Young, Director of Pharmacy at Vets Pets. Her patients run the gamut from rodents to exotics, and she never knows what species will come through the door next. Plumb’s Pro™ is her go-to resource for prescribing medication, especially for pets she’s not accustomed to treating. She also appreciates the ability to quickly share clinical handouts with pet owners, helping them understand how to manage their pet’s condition and medications.
Another key benefit of Plumb’s Pro™ for the Vets Pets team is versatility. The easy-to-use, mobile-friendly format means Vets Pets team members can access trusted resources wherever they are—even without a computer.
“I like knowing I can look up information anywhere I am—whether I get a phone call at the grocery store or receive a pharmaceutical question outside of working hours,” said Dr. Harrington.
Simplifying Emergency Care
For an emergency care veterinarian like Dr. Harrington, complexity is her norm. Her emergency veterinary staff, including relief veterinarians and seasoned veterinary assistants, are juggling challenging cases, staff shortages, and increased patient volume.
And they’re not alone. According to the 2023 report “The State of Emergency & Specialty Veterinary Care,” 90% of urgent care facilities are busier than they were a year ago. This makes it crucial for emergency clinics to have solutions that reduce errors and prioritize patient safety.
Plumb’s™ is a game-changer for Dr. Harrington’s emergency staff, and the app’s user-friendly design means new staff and relief vets can pick it up easily.
“You don’t need a lesson on how to use it. The information is organized in a predictive format,” she said. Plumb’s™ enables her team to quickly develop treatment plans or look up drug information, which is essential in emergency situations.
Looking Ahead
As Vets Pets continues to grow, Dr. Young hopes to integrate Plumb’s Pro™ with their practice management systems, creating a central hub for diagnosing, treating, and educating pet owners. This integration would further streamline their operations, enhancing the exceptional care they provide to their community.
For the veterinary teams at Vets Pets hospitals, Plumb’s Pro™ has become a trusted resource, helping them deliver top-notch care to their patients and their clients. Whether they’re managing daily patient care tasks, handling emergencies, or finding reliable information on the go, Vets Pets team members can count on Plumb’s Pro™ to help make veterinary practice smoother and more efficient.
About Plumb’s Pro™
Plumb’s™ is an essential point-of-care clinical resource with all the information veterinary teams need to work up cases, choose treatments, and educate pet owners—all on one easy-to-use, continually updated platform. Thousands of busy veterinary professionals worldwide trust Plumb’s™ for accurate veterinary drug information and practical tools for diagnosis and treatment—everywhere they work.
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