Letter to dvm360: All veterinarians need to practice good recordkeeping

I read Dr. Christopher Allen's March column, “Relief veterinarians: Rules to live by,” and was startled and concerned about the message presented to relief veterinarians. The sentence “When a veterinarian decides to go part time, she no longer has the luxury of indulging in poor practice habits” implies that it is OK for full-time veterinarians to have poor practice habits. This belittles our profession, associate veterinarians and practice owners. All veterinarians must keep legible, logical and reasonable records. It's the age of computers; it's no longer necessary to struggle to decipher handwritten records.

Imagine what the relief veterinarian must struggle through when reviewing a written medical record when a long-term client comes in for an appointment or on an emergency basis. There must not be different standards of medical recordkeeping for relief veterinarians compared to other veterinarians. We must all be held to the same standards. All doctors must keep legible, logical and complete medical records.

Emily S. Southward, DVM, MS, DACVECC

Hermosa Beach, California