Maximize the Value of Your Relief Staffing — 5 Steps You Can Take Now
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Veterinary practices are under increasing strain: as client visit volume softens and margins tighten, staffing efficiency has become more critical than ever. Unfilled shifts and last-minute schedule disruptions do not just create stress for practice management; they reduce productivity, interrupt continuity of care, and put revenue at risk.
As the largest expense on a clinic’s P&L, staffing decisions have a direct impact on profitability, especially when it comes to relief coverage. Optimizing this part of operations is often overlooked, and it can be one of the hardest areas to manage consistently – measuring shift performance and profitability, integrating relief veterinarians into clinic workflows, and coordinating across multiple systems and communication channels all add complexity to an already unpredictable process. With the right approach and appropriate technology, clinics can improve staffing coordination and internal operations, creating a more streamlined, efficient, and profitable business.
Join Sebastian Gabor, CEO of Digitail, Dr. Andrew Ciccolini, Co-Founder of Serenity Vet, and Dr. Ivan Zak, CEO of Galaxy Vets, to discuss how technology can support smarter staffing decisions, streamline clinic operations, and enhance the experience for both practices and relief veterinarians.
Learning Outcomes:
- Shift the mindset: relief vets are a strategic investment
Relief veterinarians are revenue generators, just like your full-time doctors. How intentionally you plan, integrate, and evaluate their performance can ultimately make or break your bottom line. - Understand your margins before you post a shift
Use your clinic’s financial data to determine the pay range that keeps each relief shift profitable. This profitability calculator provides clear minimum and maximum guardrails, helping you set compensation that is both financially sustainable and competitive. - Measure individual productivity (most clinics currently don’t)
In your PIMS, create separate logins for every relief vet (it’s free in Digitail!) to track revenue generated per relief shift, benchmark productivity across vets, and use data to guide rehiring decisions. Key metrics to monitor: average transaction charge (ATC), revenue per shift, and overall shift profitability. - Reduce operational friction to improve performance
Paying a relief vet $150/hr to spend 2 hours on notes = $300 lost productivity. Set relief vets up for success through clear SOPs, easy access to patient history, and AI tools that minimize admin time. - Improve fill rates by building a preferred network
Clinics that develop relationships with trusted, high-performing relief vets see more consistent coverage and stronger shift performance. Check out Serenity Vet, where you can centralize your scheduling, management, and payments in one system. - Plan ahead to secure coverage
Vacations, parental leave, and seasonal peaks can often be anticipated — and so can your relief staffing needs. The earlier you can predict demand, the easier it becomes to secure the right relief veterinarian. - Standardize onboarding for faster ramp-up
A clear onboarding process helps relief veterinarians integrate quickly and perform confidently. Share system logins, clinical protocols, workflows, and documentation in advance.
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