Improve client communication using the IDEXX VetLab®
patient report
The IDEXX VetLab® patient report helps
me interpret and explain in-house lab work
to my clients. The reference range graphs
of the results convey the medical results
in an easy-to-follow visual presentation,
and are an important part of the
communication. Explaining the report in
person creates value in in-house testing for
my clients, much more so than explaining
information over the telephone.
I’ll use a hypothetical patient, Earl, to
explain how I use the patient report to talk
with a client. With pen in hand, I point out
various aspects of the report and circle and
make notes to explain in more detail:
CBC
I’ll say, “The CBC is probably the most
important test of overall health because it
assesses so many systems. For example, it
evaluates red blood cells and determines if
anemia is present.”
Pointing to the WBC, I might say, “Over
here are the white blood cells. If white blood
cells are elevated, it may indicate infection.
These results show you that the white blood
cells are normal, so Earl does not have an
infection.”
Moving on to the platelet information, I
might say, “This last test in the CBC is PLT,
for platelets, which help clot the blood. They
look great, so Earl gets an A plus.
No anemia, no infection, platelets normal.
The next sheet is really important as well.”
Chemistry
I have the IDEXX VetLab® Station, which
allows me to customize the patient report
into organ-specific groupings.
“These first four tests, I call my kidney
panel. You can see that they are all in the
normal range and that is great, because
kidney disease is quite serious.
These next three tests are our proteins: total
protein, albumin and globulin. You can see
those are in the middle-normal range.
Basically, you don’t want low, certainly on
this one, called albumin, or high on the
others. To make a long story short, these
protein levels look great.
Next is the liver panel. ALT and alkaline
phosphatase are liver enzymes. TBIL is
bilirubin, which goes high if there is
jaundice. Earl looks good here.
Amylase and lipase, our pancreas tests, are
normal, so pancreatitis is very unlikely.
Glucose is blood sugar, which can indicate
diabetes. This is normal, so Earl doesn’t
have diabetes.
And finally, Earl’s cholesterol is in the
normal range. If it were high, I would worry
about things like hypothyroidism and other
problems. As you can see, we have 189,
which is great—I wish mine were 189.”
Electrolytes
Moving on to the electrolytes section, I would say, “The third groups of tests is
electrolytes: sodium, potassium and chloride.
They are all important, but the one that I
want to focus on is potassium. If potassium
is low, your pet can become weak.”
If you ran other tests like thyroid or the
urine protein:creatinine ratio, you’d want to
go over those results, too. It’s also important
to take a few seconds to show the client the
SNAP® 3Dx® Test or any other SNAP® test
results. Showing them results builds value in
the testing.
Continuing with Earl, my hypothetical case,
I tell the client everything looks great. We
have ruled out heartworm disease, Lyme
disease and Ehrlichia. We have ruled out
anemia, inflammation and low platelets.
We ruled out kidney, liver and pancreatic
disease, diabetes and high cholesterol, and
we ruled out other important diseases like
Addison’s disease. These results let me
know that there is nothing serious going
on, and that makes all of us feel good.
It is important for me to know that I will
not send Earl home with pancreatitis or
some other serious or life-threatening
disease I might have missed. For me,
this is a wellness test, and I’ll use the
data as a baseline in Earl’s laboratory
database for future comparisons.
Always copy the report and
send it home with the client.
There are several reasons for this:
- First, the report is personalized with the
pet’s name on it.
- Secondly, they know the doctor actually
looked at it, because we just physically
looked at it together.
- Finally, this is your client education tool
and allows you to build value in the
testing performed.
I feel this actually saves time—it takes
about three minutes to explain the results
in person compared to the time it can take
to try to explain lab work to clients over the
phone. Stay off the phone and increase the
value of your in-clinic testing.
Finally, I encourage you to end the office
visit by assuring your clients they did the
right thing by bringing their pets in. Run
the lab work, show it to the clients, and give
them the printout and proper medication
or treatment. The bottom line is, the more
you educate your clients, the more they will
bond to your practice. The printout helps
you to interpret and do a better job
explaining your decisions. This protocol
boosts diagnostic power for you, your
patients and their owners, and increases
your practice’s ethical income.
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RESULTS IN 8 MINUTES!
The 
Karen has been with IDEXX for six years. Today, she supervises the
Above and Beyond Team, which
consists of the more senior members
of the call center who have a wide
understanding of all IDEXX
products. With their experience
and knowledge, the team uses
their expertise to ensure the highest
level of customer satisfaction. They
also serve as a point of contact for all
customer support teams to provide
added assistance.
The authors give suggested reference values for the methods,
however, it is well-recognized that test results should always be
compared to reference values generated by the specific instrument
and reagents used.
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