A syringe case doing double duty to protect a happy tail. A butterfly catheter moonlighting as a makeshift drain. An empty IV bag repurposed into a rain boot for a bandaged paw.
Veterinary teams are the ultimate MacGyvers. If we don’t have the right tool, we’ll build it out of surgical tape and sheer willpower. But that same ingenuity has a way of creeping into our workflows, too. When our veterinary PIMS leaves gaps, we adapt. We create “just in case” habits that become part of how we practice. None of this is in the employee handbook, but it’s the hidden scaffolding that keeps the day moving. And because it works, we rarely stop to question it.
Here are five practice management workarounds we see veterinary teams rely on every day. If a few feel familiar, it’s worth asking whether they’re smart safety nets—or signs your PIMS isn’t quite keeping up.
1. The Sticky Note (or Paper Towel) of Truth
Maybe the system auto-logged you out, or the computer in the exam room is still loading. Or you’ve learned the hard way that clicking out of a screen means losing what you just typed.
So, you adapt.
Vitals, lump measurements, which ear has discharge, what time sedation was given—you jot it down on whatever is within reach. A folded paper towel, a sticky note, or a strip of tape on your scrub top. It’s faster than fighting the screen.
Most of the time, those numbers eventually end up in the record. But until they do, they’re vulnerable. Notes get misplaced, paper towels get tossed, and tape gets lost in the laundry. And even when the scrap survives, someone still has to enter those details into the system, turning a simple note into a double-documentation chore.
2. The Paper That Follows the Patient
Doing the work doesn’t always mean it makes it into the PIMS. Treatments get missed, and charges don’t always land on the invoice. So now there’s a travel sheet that follows the patient. These veterinary treatment sheets are clipped to the kennel, ride on the gurney, and get checked off by hand as things happen. It’s easier to see everything in one place than to click through multiple screens to piece together what’s been entered.
At discharge, someone re-enters that information to make sure nothing is missed. It works, and it feels safe, but it also turns every visit into double documentation—and those minutes add up.
3. The Walk-and-Gawk Pharmacy Check
Your patient is on the table, the IV catheter is in place, and you’re ready to induce. But when you go to grab the propofol, you find an empty shelf. Your PIMS said you had two bottles, but inventory didn’t update automatically, or a charge didn’t deduct correctly during a busy shift. After that happens once or twice, you learn not to trust the screen.
A shared spreadsheet, a “last bottle” note on the shelf, or a mental checklist everyone knows by heart becomes a form of manual inventory tracking. And before every procedure, or even before printing a label, someone still walks to the pharmacy to lay eyes on the bottle, just in case. It protects the patient, but it also adds extra minutes to moments that are already busy.
4. The Dry-Erase Command Center
Which patient just arrived? Who’s been triaged? Who’s waiting on labs—and who still needs a call?
Some of that information may live in the PIMS, but even when it does, it’s spread across different screens and fields. During a busy shift, no one has time to click through everything just to piece together what’s happening.
So a big dry-erase board appears in the treatment area, with columns for patient name, doctor, status, and room. It’s fast, visible, and it works.
But now there are two versions of the day—one on the wall and one in the PIMS—and they only stay up to date if someone remembers to update both. When that doesn’t happen, gaps show up. A doctor doesn’t realize their patient is waiting, a treatment gets done twice, or a follow-up call is forgotten.
5. The System Whisperer
Sometimes things don’t work the way they should. Labs aren’t syncing, an invoice freezes, or a screen won’t refresh the way it should.
In those moments, everyone knows exactly who to ask: the MVP who knows the exact sequence of clicks required to make the software behave.
They know you have to refresh more than once to sync labs, that logging out of the pharmacy computer somehow fixes a frozen invoice, and which tabs are better left alone. Over time, they become the human bridge between a glitchy PIMS and a functioning hospital.
It works as long as the Whisperer is in the building. But the moment they go on vacation, people get stuck, work pauses mid-step, and everyone realizes how much of the day depends on knowledge that lives in one person’s head.
What These Habits Really Mean
These habits exist because your team cares—about patients, about safety, and about keeping the day moving. They protect patients and prevent mistakes, but they also take effort in the form of extra clicks, extra double-checks, and extra mental tracking throughout the day. And all of that chips away at veterinary workflow efficiency.
This isn’t a people problem; it’s a system problem. When your software doesn’t reflect how your hospital actually functions, your team does what they always do: they adjust. Over time, those adjustments simply become part of the job.
What Changes When the System Keeps Up
These habits work, but what changes when the system no longer requires them?
- Key details are visible without sticky notes.
- Patient status updates in real time without a separate whiteboard.
- Inventory counts match what’s on the shelf.
- Charges connect directly to treatments as they happen.
- No “Whisperer” is required to keep the day moving.
Instead of work living on paper, whiteboards, or in someone’s head, everything the team needs to know lives where everyone can see it. No more extra steps or double documentation.
Veterinary teams will always be resourceful—it’s in our DNA. But your software shouldn’t require the same level of improvisation as a makeshift drain or a modified E-collar. It should support the care your team is delivering and help them focus on the patient rather than the workaround.
If you’re curious what that looks like in practice, a short, no-pressure demo is an easy way to see how Instinct EMR can support your team.
