Important updates for referring veterinarians

Referral letters

The VMC is transitioning away from the requirement of sending referral letters to its referring veterinarians. Referral letters provide a synopsis of care for each referral case. However, the hospital's administration will still provide this information to referring veterinarians upon request. 

Call first before sending an emergency case

Before your veterinary clinic refers an emergency patient to VMC, please call in advance and speak with a member of the clinical staff at the Small Animal Clinic (306-966-7126) — any time of the day or night. 

Calling in advance about an emergency case is a critical step. It allows the VMC's clinical team to speak to the referring clinic about the case in advance, plus it's an opportunity to determine if it's appropriate for the patient to be referred as an emergency case to the VMC. 

Emergency referral check list

If you need to send a patient to the VMC on an emergent basis, please follow the following steps:

1. Call the VMC (306-966-7126) to discuss the case with a VMC emergency team member. They will provide you with an estimate and outline expectations for diagnostics or surgery. If necessary, they may recommend speaking with a liaison first.

• For cases involving esophageal foreign bodies or fractures, please consider emailing the radiographs to info@usask.ca beforehand for a more accurate estimate. Make sure to include "Attn: Emergency Service" in the email message's subject line.
• If the VMC clinical team is unavailable when you call and the situation is truly urgent, please submit your case following the prompts in the referral portal. If you are simply alerting the VMC clinical team about a case you plan to send our way that you haven't yet seen, please inform reception that your call is a notification — you do not need to wait to speak to a clinician.

2. Submit an emergency referral through the VMC referral portal.

3. Send the patient's medical records and any relevant imaging by uploading them to the VMC referral portal or emailing them to vmc.info@usask.ca.