Evaluating Urgent Care for Your Veterinary Practice: Insights from Instinct’s 2024 Survey

This article reviews the 2024 State of Emergency and Specialty Veterinary Care Survey by Instinct, which gathered responses from 545 veterinary professionals at approximately 1600 emergency, specialty, and urgent care practices nationwide. The survey highlights key trends, challenges, and operational distinctions in these practice types. Part one summarizes the main findings, while Part two explores insights particularly relevant to urgent care practices. Urgent Care practices represent less than 10% of the survey responses.

Main Findings and Conclusions

The 2024 State of Emergency and Specialty Veterinary Care Survey provides an overview of current trends and challenges within veterinary emergency, specialty, and urgent care practices.

Staffing Shortages and Turnover: Staffing remains a significant concern, with 78% of practices reporting shortages. Veterinary technicians and nurses experienced the highest turnover, with 79.3% of practices affected by departures in these roles.

Morale and Job Satisfaction: Morale improved, with 54% of respondents reporting high to very high job satisfaction, up from 34% in 2023. Although full-time nurses and technicians still report lower satisfaction levels.

Patient Volume and Wait Times: Patient volume stabilized, with 59% of practices seeing no increase from 2023. Wait times improved slightly, with 16% of patients waiting under 15 minutes (up from 7% in 2023) and only 16% waiting over two hours (down from 27%).

Business Hours: Most emergency and specialty practices operate 24/7, meeting critical care demands. Urgent care centers typically follow more limited hours, handling cases that require immediate but non-emergency attention, and that do not require overnight stays and monitoring.

Financial Pressures: Rising costs in equipment, supplies, and overhead were reported by 66% of practices. Salary increases were less common, with only 25% of respondents receiving raises, down from 39% in 2023.

Technology Use: Technology adoption continued, with 57% of respondents noting positive impacts on work-life balance. Cloud-based EMRs, digital treatment sheets, and client communication tools were highlighted as valuable assets for improving efficiency.

Salary Trends: Salaries varied, with full-time veterinarians seeing a 13.5% increase and practice owners receiving notable raises. Practice managers’ compensation decreased by 11.8%. Compensation disparities remain a concern, with 35% of respondents citing low pay as an issue.

Distinguishing Features of Urgent Care

The survey highlights unique insights for urgent care practices, underscoring operational distinctions from emergency-only and large specialty/emergency facilities.

Business Hours and Wait Times: Urgent care centers on average operate until 9:00 pm, occupying a middle ground between standard and emergency hours. With shorter wait times than emergency-only hospitals – see graph below – urgent care centers efficiently address non-critical cases. This model allows for high patient throughput without the resource demands of 24/7 operations.

Staffing and Morale: Urgent care centers report higher morale due to structured hours and manageable patient flow. Unlike high-intensity emergency practices, urgent care settings reduce burnout by limiting hours and focusing on non-emergency cases, leading to improved staff retention.

Communication with Pet’s GP: Urgent care practices often maintain communication with the pet’s primary veterinarian, ensuring continuity of care and proper follow-up and underscoring that urgent cares complement rather than compete with general practices.

Technology Use – see graph below: Urgent care centers prioritize client communication tools, with 39% using online booking platforms and 45% leveraging social media. This contrasts with emergency-only and specialty practices, which rely more on internal management systems like EMRs and digital treatment sheets. This focus on client accessibility aligns with the goal of offering convenient, timely care.

Veterinary Expertise: Many urgent care practices employ veterinarians with backgrounds in general practice or emergency medicine, offering a blend of experience suitable for handling a variety of non-critical cases

Summary

The 2024 survey data presents a clear picture of urgent care centers as a distinct operational model that balances accessibility, client convenience, and manageable staff demands. In comparison to emergency-only and large specialty/emergency practices, urgent care centers operate on limited schedules, maintain shorter wait times, emphasize client-facing technology, and experience higher staff morale. These distinctions position urgent care as a compelling option for practices looking to expand their service offerings to meet after-hours client needs without the extensive demands of full emergency care.