How to Establish VCPR with Dr. Donita McCants

What is VCPR?

A Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR) is established when a veterinarian has established a relationship with an animal well enough to diagnose and treat medical conditions. Your role in the VCPR includes allowing the vet to make clinical judgments about your pet’s health. The veterinarian's responsibilities involve making clear, well informed judgments, providing medical care, maintaining records, advising on treatment options, overseeing treatments, ensuring that pet parents follow recommendations, and the relevant guidance on how to get emergency care if needed.

How Do You Establish the Veterinary Client Patient Relationship (VCPR)?

In a recent interview alongside PetsApp's Dr. Thom and QSM's Ed Goluch Dr. McCants walk through how she establishes VCPR and the simple hacks she has for reduces the amount of times a patient and their parent need to to be pulled away from their routine to meet with her.

Her key tips were to always conduct a full and thorough check of an animal (and any other other pets sharing the same residence) on the first appointment when contact is initiated. For Donita this is normally done via a home visit; one of the many benefits she is able to offer her local pet owning community.

"If they're an established client, I've already seen them in person, normally for a wellness visit or a recheck."

Once contact has been established and the patient's health reviewed Dr. McCants is then able to continue future consultations via PetsApp. Then using the specialist services of QSM Diagnostics. Donita can have pet parents take swabs at home for testing, even if this is just for peace of mind.

Give an Example of How You've Used Your Established VCPR to Speed Up Diagnostics with the Services of PetsApp and QSM

"This client a couple of weeks ago... I'd already had a chance to look in the (owner's) other dog's ears and I'm like, let me know if she's still shaking her head, we can do a consult. So, I was already familiar with what was going on with that pet. So, it was a way for me to kind of cut down on me going over there again."

Using the video chat feature in PetsApp Dr. Donita is able to review a pet in real time and receive picture and videos from the pet owner, at a time that is less stressful to the pet.

"I used PetsApp with that particular consultation, so she got on PetsApp and I called her and then we did a video chat on PetsApp. And then at that point, I used the QSM results service."

About Dr. Donita

Dr. Donita earned her Bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Georgia in 2011 and completed her veterinary training at Tuskegee University in 2015. Raised in Georgia, she has a military family background and experience as a general practitioner in both private and corporate settings, including an internship at Blue Pearl in Maitland. Dr. Donita specializes in surgery, internal medicine, and dermatology, particularly Florida allergies. She enjoys learning innovative techniques for pet care and launched her very own mobile veterinary concierge with PetsApp back in 2022.

"PetsApp, was a game changer for sure!" - Dr. Donita McCants

Additional Learning

During this panel discussion three industry leaders will discuss the changes they are seeing in diagnostic testing and how those changes are leading to better medicine.

You will hear from QSM Diagnostics CEO and Founder Ed Goluch as he discusses what a quorum sensing molecule is and how they relate to the future of diagnostic testing.

Dr. Aaron Smiley will discuss how he uses in-clinic diagnostic tools like the Otter eQ to help lessen the number of false positives he sees in regard to pseudomonas, promote antimicrobial stewardship and practice better medicine.

And Dr. Donita McCants will discuss how she incorporates mail-in diagnostic testing into her mobile practice, how it helps her get results faster and at a lower cost, and how easy the experience has been for her and her customers.

Request to watch on demand ▶️How to improve diagnostic compliance