Nurse clinic fees

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Lucy-lu — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:08:36 GMT

Thanks for all the feedback.

It's good to know we all do similiar charges, etc... I think that not charging undervalues the service we as nurses provide our patients. The emphasis on 'free' clinic may intially active clients,(and as we know as pet owners!), pets are not cheap to keep.

Most times a routine 'anal glands' for me goes:

Anatomy and physiology, diets, recent bouts of g/i, exercise, current weight (which usually leads to a weight clinic), frequency of visit, age/arthritis chat, etc... The list goes depending on what the answers are given.

Thet definitely get their £9 worth out of the above and I don't feel bad for charging that fee.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Sandra Taylor RVN, MBVNA — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:20:21 GMT

Nurse clinics are a bit of a bug bear with me... we dont charge for the actual clinics( weight clinics, dental health checks etc) but do charge the same price as a vet for nail clips.. its no cheaper coming to the nurse to have it done. Our vets dont charge a consult fee for nail clips, because it's not technically a consult, they are in to have nails clipped.

I have been pushing for ages to start charging for tick removals too.Our clinics are pretty broing if I am honest..I have worked places where the nurse do loads of things..anal glands etc, 2nd vacc.. this place wont let us and it really annoys me! there excuse for the anal glands is...it might have skin issues so should be seen by a vet.. and the 2nd vacc....they have no excuse! I even asked about doing kennel cough.. but thats a no no too! so our clinics consist of fat dogs/cats... who's owners have very little intention of getting the weight off them.. but just come to the vets for a jaunt IMO, dental health checks, tick removal, nail clips and re dress, suture removal and post op checks.

We had a guy come in a few weeks back to have his cats mats clipped out... I noticed he has been coming for 2 years to have this done...all free of charge, I was raging, so spoke to the head vet and said it was terrible, he would be charged at a groomers for having it done so why not here!!, anyway the vet said that he would be charged a half consult the next time he came, when I told him(owner) he was ok about it, and so he bloody well should be! he has had a free ride fro 2 years!.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

SmegSlayer — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:52:30 GMT

coz a nail clip/anal glands with a vet are about £13 each and we are in quite a deprived area. the vets are supposed to charge a consult fee on top of this but they refuse to coz that would make a nail clip over £30.

Personally, I can't bring myself to charge the full amount, coz i know that if it was me, i couldn't afford it

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Charvana — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:30:07 GMT

[quote user="SmegSlayer"]

I never charge for weight c;inics, post op checks or suture removal. nail clips/anal glands i usually do half of the normal fee for when the vets do it unless it's a difficult animal

[/quote]

know alot of practices that do this, but as someone else mentioned, why should we? The same job is being done, so surely same price should be paid? Nails are shorter/anal glands empty, regardless of if a vet or nurse does it, its the same outcome!

Why is what we do worth half as much?? Sorry, mini rant over!

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Katie Tallett RVN MBVNA — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:30:52 GMT

yeah thats great thankyou!

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Vicky RVN — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:46:15 GMT

The monthly DD is dealt with by a company, so once the form is filled out we don't have to deal with that side of it again. When a client is signed up we put a note on their record, which will appear at the top of the screen when history is opened so it is clear they are a member. We give a 6 month supply of flea/worm tx at a time, so if they come back for more we can see when they were last given it and if they are due more. If they come back early because they've lost the treatments they'd have to pay for more obv! We have different prices for cats, small dogs, medium dogs, large dogs and giant dogs. It seems to have worked ok so far, but then only being doing it for a few months! Hope that answers your question ok?

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Katie Tallett RVN MBVNA — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:34:21 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]We have a pet heath club. Members of this get their nurse clinics free, one of the incentives to join up. Only been doing it for a few months but people seem to really like it. They pay a monthly payment and it includes vacc, flea tx, worm tx, discount on royal canin foods (incl px foods), discount on neutering, free nurse clinics.[/quote]

vicky- how do you monitor this? we have been looking into something along these lines but with 5 SA surgeries and growing i don't know how we would keep track of who is on what and what they have had!! also our computer system is from the ice age and crashing every 5 mins!! (we are getting a new one hopefully )

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Vicky RVN — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:03:59 GMT

I don't think i'd ever want to charge for weight clinics...it can be hard enough to get people to admit their pet is obese so then saying you're going to charge x amount for a weigh loss program would discourage them i feel.

I like the idea of the 6 month payment for clinics.

We have a pet heath club. Members of this get their nurse clinics free, one of the incentives to join up. Only been doing it for a few months but people seem to really like it. They pay a monthly payment and it includes vacc, flea tx, worm tx, discount on royal canin foods (incl px foods), discount on neutering, free nurse clinics.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

loobylou — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:03:11 GMT

[quote user="sal the 1st"]

just typed out loads and lost the lot!

so in brief yes charge for clinics and you will find you get less wasted nurses appts straight away - also clients are more likely to accept advice they have paid for than a 'giveaway' remark. Charging for your services also suggests you are a professional. Fees shouldnt be so high they put the client off attending but should give a clear indication that your time isnt 'free' and isnt there to be abused

[/quote]

Totally agree with this, charging puts a value on the advice we give and in turn our profession.

We have some free clinics- post op, dental checks, weight clinics and some chargeable ones- nail, clip, anal glands, bandage changes etc.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Nicola Smith — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:03:10 GMT

Charge same fee as the vet would for things like nail clips as its the same job being done. Do free dental checks either for monitoring or to quote for dental work, also usuals free - weight, worm and flea checks, post ops etc, and also do free 6month checks for pups. I find I sell stuff from loads of the consults eg wormers, flea tx but have also booked in quite a few dentals, and today referred a cat to vet that was in for nail clip and just by chatting turns out may be diabetic!! I find some clients happier to chat to nurse as dont want to other a vet with something that may actually be something quite serious.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Erica Huggins — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:01:04 GMT

Were I have just left we used to charge approx £14 for 6months worth of clinics ;come as much as you like! (usually once every 2-4 weeks)and I was always full and people would always phone to reschedule if they could not come in.

Where I am now we do not charge and I am not busy!

HUM! I think if someone has paid for something they think they had better turn up as they have paid. If it free all the time then nothing lost!?

I like Free promotions to get people in on the understanding that there is normally a charge of £X. This again looks like good value.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Susan Jackson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:48:10 GMT

Charge same price as Vets for these. Its the same amounty of time and skill learnt.

Don't charge for weight clinics, dental clinics etc but do try to recommend things to buy to help their animal.

I remember someone saying to me they have clubs and charge an administration charge but then the clinics are free, then they get discount on certain items like rd food, dental stuff.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

loopylou711 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:36:01 GMT

I agree with Sal. If our nurse was to say thats £13 for 4 sessions, 4 weigh ins, 4 months. I know it is not alot of money but i know for a fact i wouldn't go!Our weigh ins last 5 minutes or so i can't see where the cost would be justified!

Maybe for other clinics it would work , i dont know!

Re: Nurse clinic fees

tinydancer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:41:51 GMT

We never used to charge but were going to start charging,although we dont for things like weight clinics, dental checks and puppy/kitten checks, but the rest are now going to be chargeable.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Maisy — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:35:35 GMT

I think charging for a course of say puppy or kitten checks would work, but for weight clinics I think it would put clients off. If you have a really overweight animal who is going to take quite a while to get the weight off it might put the client off returning for regular weigh ins if they are forking out x amount to come in often as well as diet food if needed. You could always increase the length of time for each appointment so 1/2 hour for initial weight check and then 10-15 min for subsequent.

I would agree with Sal though that there should be fees for some clinics. I've worked at some clinics where the client is booked in with a nurse because their dog/cat has skin problems/lameness/coughing etc etc and because they can't 'afford' the vet, they see us instead, just to then be referred to a vet anyway! Consults like clipping rabbit bums/Rearguarding and adv on flystrike or cleaning ears always get charged for as a nurse fee normally around £15 (vet consults were £30 so quite a bit cheaper).

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Lucy-lu — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:10:17 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. We don't charge for D.N.A for vet or nurse, but we have been talikng about it and on and off.

I like the idea of charging for a course/certain amount of weeks. It gives you chance to spread out what you have to sometimes condense in only 10-20 minute appts!!! I agree totally with improving 'client perception' when it comes to our skills

Role on national vn week!

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Sal the 1st — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:40:49 GMT

just typed out loads and lost the lot!

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Vicky RVN — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:36:24 GMT

[quote user="Leigh Fisher"]

On a similar note - do you charge for no show appointments? We've been running free senior checks which have been fully booked but we've had a LOT of no shows - and when you've got people wanting them and not getting in, it really seems a waste?

[/quote]

No shows REALLY annoy me! Kept happening with vet appts on a sat am when vet is fully booked but a load don't bother to turn up. We've started phoning them on the fri eve to remind of the sat am appt and seems to be working.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

Leigh Hinsley RVN NCert(BDev) MBVNA — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:34:47 GMT

Our dental checks, weight checks (preventative health checks basically) etc are free of charge - a nurse consult ie nail clip, anal glands are £9.99

Saying that though I have just been on a course where one nurse said if they join their weight clinic its £12.99 for 4 sessions which doesn't seem too bad I thought.

Re: Nurse clinic fees

SmegSlayer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:21:14 GMT

I never charge for weight c;inics, post op checks or suture removal. nail clips/anal glands i usually do half of the normal fee for when the vets do it unless it's a difficult animal