Should vets spend more time with patients and less on paperwork? Rethinking veterinary workflows.

Ask any veterinarian what their biggest daily frustration is, and chances are paperwork ranks near the top. Referral forms, medical records, insurance documentation, follow-up calls – tasks that keep piling up, eating into valuable clinical time. But is the problem really the paperwork itself, or the way our systems are designed?

The hidden cost of veterinary admin work

We often talk about the emotional toll of veterinary work – the long hours, complex cases, and challenging conversations with owners. But there’s another burden quietly draining time, focus, and job satisfaction: administration.

Recent surveys show that veterinarians spend between 20% and 41% of their working time on administrative and service tasks. That’s up to two full days every week spent away from patients, clinical development, or collaboration with colleagues. Imagine the impact on job satisfaction, wellbeing, and ultimately the desire to remain in the profession.

These tasks aren’t just the obvious ones like writing referral notes or updating medical records. They include insurance documentation, coordinating with specialists, managing compliance requirements, and countless forms and follow-ups – each one seemingly small, but together creating a workload that is overwhelming and often invisible.

For a profession already facing workforce shortages and wellbeing challenges, this hidden administrative burden is more than an inconvenience. It’s a threat to retention, recruitment, and the future of veterinary care.

But don’t big clinics have admin teams?

Yes, larger veterinary hospitals and clinic groups often have administrative staff who support scheduling, follow-ups, and documentation. This is essential to keep operations running smoothly.

However, there are still critical tasks that remain firmly on veterinary professionals:

• Drafting referral notes requires medical expertise and judgement.

• Reviewing incoming referrals and triaging cases falls on specialists themselves.

• Coordination between referring vets and specialists often involves direct communication to ensure accurate and safe patient care.
  

Despite admin support, veterinarians and specialists still spend significant time on fragmented workflows, switching between systems, chasing missing information, and clarifying clinical details – time that could be spent with patients or on clinical development.

Referrals are a prime example

Consider referrals. They’re essential to ensure animals receive the right expertise at the right time. Yet the process remains cumbersome:

• Filling out forms, scanning and attaching files, emailing or faxing them.

• Calling the specialist hospital to confirm receipt or discuss urgency.

• Waiting for a call back, sometimes playing phone tag for days.

• Coordinating updates and explaining the plan to owners repeatedly.
  

This isn’t just inefficient. It risks delays in care, incomplete information, and frustration for both referring vets and specialists. For pet owners, it creates uncertainty about when and how their animal will receive treatment.

Why do we accept this status quo?

In human healthcare, digital referral and consultation platforms are becoming standard. They streamline workflows, improve communication, and free up time for clinicians to focus on patient care. Yet veterinary medicine often lags behind, relying on outdated systems or manual processes.

It’s time to ask ourselves:

• What would veterinary care look like if referrals were truly seamless?

• How much time could be freed for patient care if workflows were integrated and digital?

• How would job satisfaction, retention, and clinical outcomes improve if vets spent more time doing what they trained for?

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A call to the profession

At Arqena, we believe veterinary professionals deserve tools that match their expertise. Technology should reduce friction, not create it. Referrals should empower, not frustrate. And animals deserve care that isn’t delayed by paperwork.

We’d love to hear from you:

What is your biggest workflow bottleneck today? If you could streamline one part of your admin burden, what would it be?