Surgery Mornings Start on Time When Every Pre-Op Instruction Goes Out
The EngageSuite360 Surgery Agent handles the communication around every procedure on your surgery schedule: the pre-op instructions the veterinarian wrote, the fasting reminder the night before, the check that bloodwork is ordered, and the post-op call the next day. Your surgical technicians and your front desk stop chasing those details and stay with the patients and clients in front of them.
What it takes off your plate
Ask your surgery lead what a surgery day depends on. The doctor's availability, the anesthesia protocol for that patient, the equipment and the packs, and above all, a client who followed the instructions. Today those instructions go out however the day allows. One receptionist reads them over the phone, another hands over a printed sheet at the booking visit, and a third forgets because the lobby was full.
So the familiar things happen. A dog arrives for a dental after eating breakfast because nobody sent the fasting reminder. A spay gets pushed to the afternoon because the pre-surgical bloodwork was never ordered. A client stops a medication a day early, or keeps giving one the doctor wanted held. And when the surgery day runs long, the post-op check-in calls are the first thing dropped. Each of these costs your team time they needed for the patient on the table.
What the Surgery Agent does, step by step
The communication comes first:
- Confirms the booking. When a procedure is scheduled, the Surgery Agent texts and emails the client the date, the drop-off time and the pre-op instructions your veterinarian approved for that procedure.
- Sends the patient's own instructions. Fasting times, water guidance and any medication hold go out exactly as the doctor wrote them on that patient's record. The agent never decides a hold or a dose on its own.
- Reminds the night before. The evening before surgery, the agent sends the fasting reminder and asks the client to reply to confirm. If there is no reply, it calls.
- Routes the questions. When a client asks whether the cat can have her thyroid pill, or says the dog seems off today, the agent does not answer the clinical question. It flags it for the veterinarian or surgical technician per the practice's protocol and tells the client who will call back.
- Follows up after surgery. The day after, it sends the discharge reminder and a check-in asking how the patient is eating, resting and keeping the incision clean, and routes any concerning answer straight to the doctor.
Then the data work. The agent checks the surgery schedule in the practice software, such as Cornerstone, against what each case needs: that pre-surgical bloodwork is ordered and resulted, that the consent and estimate are signed, and that the equipment or supplies the team listed for that procedure are marked ready. Anything missing goes to the person responsible, days before the surgery rather than at drop-off.
Where the work is recorded
Every step lands in EngageSuite360 on the client's household record and the patient's case: the instructions sent, the fasting reminder confirmed or unanswered, the call that went out when it was unanswered, the client's questions and who they were routed to, and the post-op check-in replies. The next step is written down: "bloodwork resulted, ready for surgery" or "client asked about insulin dose, routed to the doctor on duty."
The surgery itself stays on the schedule in your practice management system. The morning of a surgery day, your surgery lead opens EngageSuite360 and sees which patients are confirmed and fasted, which labs are complete, and which cases still need a person to call.
The Surgery Agent works alongside the front-desk work described in how the front desk restores order with triage and scheduling and fixing the morning rush at the phones.
What your people do instead
With the Surgery Agent carrying the reminders and the checks, your front desk admits surgical patients calmly: taking a moment with the worried owner at drop-off, going over the consent in person, and answering questions without watching the clock. Your technicians spend the morning on induction, monitoring and recovery. Your veterinarians start on time, with the case prepared, and make every clinical decision.
And at discharge, the person going over home care with the client can take the time to do it well, because the follow-up call is already scheduled.
One next step
The Surgery Agent works inside EngageSuite360, recording its work on the same household and patient records your team already uses. Start with the CRM shaped for veterinary practices, load your pre-op instructions by procedure, and let the agent prepare your next surgery day.
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I'm Dr. Hailey, the Veterinary ambassador here. One useful piece a week for veterinary owners, written for how the work actually happens — plus first access to the free EngageSuite360 CRM built for veterinary. Unsubscribe any time.
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