student completes medical information of patient in anesthesia
Health information records play a critical role in telling a patient's health story. Photo: Christina Weese.

Requesting patients' health records

Each month, the WCVM Veterinary Medical Centre's (VMC) health information department receives hundreds of requests from referring veterinarians who are looking for medical records to help tell their patients' health stories. 

By LIsa Paul

The VMC's health information team manages the data flowing in and out of the VMC.   

When you request patient records from the VMC, we'll always ask if the patient is with you right now or has an upcoming appointment. We triage all incoming calls and email messages using the following categories:

  • emergent (the patient is in immediate distress at your veterinary clinic)
  • urgent (the patient is being seen today or the next day at your veterinary clinic)
  • non-urgent (the patient has an upcoming appointment at your veterinary clinic) 

The VMC's health information team processes most records within 72 business hours. However, this time range may fluctuate based on the team's release of information caseload and the urgency of requests coming in. 

If you and your veterinary clinic require a patient's records from the VMC, please provide the team with as much lead time as possible before the patient's appointment at your clinic.

For any patient record-related questions, call 306-966-7111 or send a message to vmc.info@usask.ca. The VMC's health information department is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.