It takes a serious illness or injury to be admitted to the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, and I have previously told the stories of some of these patients—from unexpected household toxins to more common, though still serious, conditions. Having world-class facilities and expert veterinary staff is only one part of providing high quality pet care; keeping the hospital environment safe for patients and staff is another. This blogpost will focus on how AMC works to maintain patients’ safety while your favorite furperson is under our care.

Physical Barriers Safeguard Runaway Pets

I find AMC’s main entrance frustrating. Despite going in and out of the building multiple times a day, I can never remember to push the button on the wall to open the sliding door. Instead, I end up standing in front of the closed door waiting for it to open until I remember the door’s important purpose as a safety measure. Because the door can only be opened by a human, it provides a physical barrier to protect a run-away pet from letting themself out onto a busy 62^nd street.

Checklists Protect Patients

Because medical care can be as complicated as flying an airplane, more and more healthcare organizations are implementing checklists to avoid errors in treatment. Checklists are common in the aviation industry because they standardize the processes of pilots and flight crews to ensure consistency, quality and safety. You will find similar checklists across services at AMC. In Oncology, we use a chemotherapy checklist to ensure proper drug selection, pre-treatment testing and dosing. Multiple doctors sign off on this plan as do the Licensed Veterinary Technicians (LVTs) who administer the chemotherapy drugs. AMC surgeons use checklists to ensure the right patient is on the surgery table, the correct surgery site is prepped, and no equipment is unaccounted for after the procedure (i.e. nothing is left inside the patient!).

Infection Control

AMC also has infection control plans and policies to protect patients and AMC employees from contracting an infectious disease from a patient. In addition to a designated isolation ward, our new ICU and Medical-Surgical wards both have isolation cages with ventilation designed to filter contaminated air out of the building’s circulation. Since highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, is currently on our minds, we have in place a screening protocol for cats and birds that have clinical signs consistent with bird flu. We also maintain an inventory of personal protective gear for our medical staff to wear when handling these and any patients thought to be contagious.

A Culture of Safety at AMC

Because AMC is a large, fast-paced tertiary clinic that often treats the most critical and complex cases, we include safety checks throughout our daily routine. As a multi-specialty hospital, we can easily check in with another specialist to optimize the care of a patient. We also factor in the emotional well-being of our patients, who are in unfamiliar surroundings and without their families. This is why our hospital wards separate dogs and cats. For anxious patients, we have medications to decrease their anxiety or give them a hiding box to make them feel safer.

All of us at AMC hope your pet never needs our hospital, but if he or she does, we will do our best to fix their problem and keep them safe.