The emergency team takes on responsibility for the care of all hospitalized patients at night and on the weekends.  Our daytime doctors need people that they can rely upon to make good decisions when patients decompensate just as you rely upon our emergency staff to take good care of your patients.

We take as a point of pride the training that our emergency doctors and nursing staff possess.  We look for doctors who have either completed internships in academic or private practice or who have worked as emergency doctors in a specialty facility.  We’ve found that this background emphasizes the shared nature of case management and exposes people to a unique caseload.

The nursing staff are the eyes and ears of the emergency doctors since they can’t be all places at one time.  Our emergency schedule incorporates as many full-time technicinas as possible instead of using part-time staff to patch together coverage.  We preferentially hire registered technicians because we feel they have a good knowledge base upon which we can build.  Lectures given by our specialists, outside experts, and experienced VSH technicians complement the one-on-one training people receive on the ICU floor.

When your client comes to our hospital during emergency hours and their pet needs continued hospitalization, they are given the option to continue care at VSH or to take their pet to your hospital the next business day.  We find that most pet owners who have a good relationship with their doctor will pick up their pet.  We can’t build a bond of trust in a potentially stressful situation that will match the trust a pet owner will place in a veterinarian they’ve known for a long time.  You should receive information on every pet that visits us, whether they go home or are hospitalized, the next business day after they’ve been at VSH.

Owners of critical patients are grateful that they don’t have to put themselves or their pet through the stress and potential danger of moving to a new location in the morning.  Owners will frequently call you to ask your opinion on the care and treatment their pet is receiving at VSH.  We’re more than happy to answer any questions you have when you call about a hospitalized patient.