A health record for your dog provides an essential resource to both current and future veterinarians, providing invaluable details of their medical history. Similar to human medical records, dog health records contain details like age, medical conditions treated over time, treatments given or administered as scheduled vaccines and exam results; thus helping identify trends over time that affect health as well as provide accurate diagnosis and treatment of their health needs.
Dogs may face various health issues throughout their lifetimes, from congenital conditions such as cancer to more common ones like dental disease and diabetes. Therefore, keeping a record of your dog’s medical history can be invaluable for all veterinarians who have ever seen him/her; the information in it could help identify what caused certain ailments as well as genetic risk factors that could increase his/her likelihood of contracting certain illnesses in future visits to veterinarians.
Veterinary hospitals maintain detailed records on your dog’s living environment, which may include their home, yard and any indoor/outdoor spaces they frequent. Data regarding behavior, diet, medication and level of physical activity is also gathered; such factors could have an impactful influence on overall health as well as identify risk exposures for certain diseases.
Veterinarian health care providers are legally required to keep an extensive medical record on each animal they treat or vaccinate, considered confidential and only released with consent of either their owner or person authorized by them. Sometimes these records can also be released publicly for statistical and scientific research.
Secondary datasets like insurance claim information can be helpful for translational studies; however, primary datasets offer the greatest opportunity because they contain both subjective and objective data, along with owner addresses for more robust interpretation of environmental factors’ effects on disease outcomes than with only subset of data.
Veterinary industry organizations have also developed the Veterinary Medical Database (VMDB), a database with clinical information regarding dogs such as diagnostics, procedures and treatments. This data comes from records kept at various clinics as well as laboratory test results and physical examination findings compiled here. Furthermore, clinics can store and share patient records between themselves instantly via this central repository.
With a cloud-based veterinary management system, healthcare professionals can reduce time spent on administrative tasks. This can free up resources for client services and front desk teams, enabling them to offer more personalized service to clients. Electronic medical records eliminate filing, faxing, scanning and deciphering handwritten notes; additionally they allow recurring reminders about vaccine, medication or food recalls.
