Providing care everywhere

During this week's episode of The Vet Blast presented by dvm360, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, joined by Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, CVJ, Chief Medical Officer, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), sit down to discuss the benefits of telemedicine and social media when it comes to helping pet parents in need by providing them a safe space to ask questions. The duo also explore how telemedicine can help provide veterinary support to those living in areas where there is not a lot of access to care, and Vogelsang's work with the Veterinary Virtual Care Association and AAHA.

Below is a partial transcript

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: What got you so involved in that space, because I think it's fantastic.

Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, CVJ: So actually, it was sort of this weird interplay between the work I had done on on social media, and at the right time before COVID, I was working for an in home hospice and euthanasia practice. So I was doing that at the same time that my own mother was going through hospice, and I was trying to look at these analogies. Thinking, gosh, you know, these these pet owners need support 24/7, just like we do with people, and we haven't quite figured out how to do that. So how do we do a better job leveraging these platforms? And I think that's still a conversation that veterinary medicine struggles with, is that I think people are so focused on this idea of we don't want technology to take over the importance of the work that we do, instead of looking at it as a tool and a way to be there for people in a way that doesn't ruin your boundaries. We're not asking people to be on call all the time, but how do you trust other people who can help out?

So that was sort of the impetus for all of that, and the telemedicine group led to joining the veterinary virtual care association. So it's still something I feel super passionately about because when you go on TikTok, that's telehealth. It's providing advice, and all of those things that impact how pet owners take care of of their pets is part of that umbrella, and that's what I think people miss because we're so hyper focused on, well, you can't diagnose bloat and treat it over telemedicine, therefore telemedicine stinks. That's not how it works.