A Day in the Life of a Veterinary Receptionist
People often underestimate how much a veterinary receptionist juggles in a day, until they’ve walked a mile in our shoes. Let me walk you through what a typical day can look like on the front lines of vet med.
I start my day by setting up my workspace and grabbing a much-needed coffee. Once everything is loaded up, the first thing I do is check the schedule. I want to know who’s coming in, what kind of appointments we have, and how I can best set up our rooms to keep the day flowing smoothly.
Next, I check for any alerts in the system, anything flagged for the doctor’s attention, any files that still need to be made up, or last-minute appointments that slipped in after yesterday’s shift. If I’m working with another receptionist, we’ll do a quick rundown together so we’re on the same page before the day gets rolling.
As the first client arrives, I greet them by name with a smile, weigh their pet, and start building that rapport. I’ll let them know I’m just going to get their room ready, hold the door open, and welcome them in with a quick “How are you doing today?” Once they’re settled, I’ll page the doctor and get the appointment officially checked in on the computer.
Behind the scenes, I’ve already got a checklist open on my screen to keep track of all the day’s tasks. Priority number one: follow-up calls. Any patients who had surgery yesterday are at the top of the list, we want to make sure recovery is going smoothly. Then I’ll check in on pets who recently started new medications. Did that ear infection clear up? Is the new pain medication helping?
Once follow-ups are done, I circle back to my emails. I scan quickly for anything urgent, maybe a client asking if their sick pet can be squeezed in today. If something needs attention, I flag it and adjust the day’s flow accordingly. Then it’s on to non-urgent emails, text messages, and online prescription or food orders. Many clinics have systems that allow clients to communicate digitally, and it’s our job to make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Meanwhile, the phone’s ringing, a client is here to pick up food, someone else is checking in for their appointment, and a doctor just asked for a patient history. That’s the beauty (and chaos) of the front desk, you’re the hub of communication for the entire clinic.
Once I’ve tackled the immediate fires, it’s on to the slower tasks. I’ll check lab results to make sure everything has come back. I might follow up on client orders that have been sitting for a week or two, sometimes people forget they placed them, or they grab a replacement off the shelf without telling us. A quick call can clear that up and free up our limited storage space.
If there are prescriptions ready for pickup, I’ll call those clients, too. Depending on the clinic, I might also be responsible for inventory, placing orders for food, medications, and supplies, often by a certain cutoff time. It’s not glamorous, but it’s a critical part of keeping the clinic running.
And lunch? Well… sometimes it’s a proper break, and sometimes it’s eating a granola bar while returning a call or printing vaccine records.
The rest of the day continues with more appointments, more phone calls, more curveballs. Clients have questions, doctors have requests, and the front desk keeps everything spinning. Before I know it, it’s 5:00 PM. Time to cash out, tidy up, and prep for tomorrow, because we get to do it all over again.