Policies of the VTH
Payment
Fees are charged for all
services provided by the VTH. The financial management of the WSU Veterinary
Teaching Hospital is similar to that of a private veterinary practice.
Payment is expected, in full, at the time of service. For patients treated
as outpatients, the owner will be advised by the clinician of costs that
will be incurred before service is provided and payment is expected upon
completion of the visit.
Clients with hospitalized animals will be given an estimate for the cost of
treatment. For these inpatients (surgeries / ICU / extensive diagnostics)
one-half of the high end of the estimate is requested at the time of
admission. The remainder of the bill is to be paid at the time of discharge.
Acceptable forms of payment include cash, check or credit card (Mastercard
or Visa).
On a very limited basis, funds are
available for ownerless animals or
owners with special circumstances. See
the
Good Samaritan Fund.
Parking
Parking for pet
owners and those having business with the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH)
is found directly in front of the main entrance. When you park in this lot,
during regular business hours, you must sign-in at the reception desk.
Agricultural animal and equine owners may pull their trailers through the
security gate to park on the east side of the hospital. If you need to park
your trailer for more than a few hours, you may be directed to a “longer
term” lot.
Pet Walking
The designated area for pet
walking is found east and across the access road from the front entrance of
the VTH. Plastic “Doggie Bags” are available for picking up pet feces, in
the pillars found next to the road in the barked area.
Eating, Drinking, and Smoking in the VTH
The policies regarding eating, drinking, and smoking in the VTH are designed
to keep us in compliance with safety standards. Eating or drinking in the
examination rooms, diagnostics room, patient wards, surgery, anesthesia, or
radiology where contamination of food may occur present a risk for ingesting
hazardous material with the food.
Three covered smoking areas have been designated for the VTH;
- off the
back entrance on the east side of the hospital leading out to the equine
parking,
- outside the door between clinical pathology and radiology on the
west side of the building, and
- out the exit door next to the dog exercise
area on the north side of the building.
Tobacco chewing is allowed only if it does not become a nuisance. Spitting
in the sinks or in other hospital equipment is not permitted. No tobacco
chewing is allowed in ICU.
Visiting
Clients may
visit patients with the approval of their doctor. Visits may not be allowed
in such areas as isolation or intensive care wards. Normal visiting hours
are between 10:00am and 6:00pm Monday through Friday. Medical circumstances
may require that visits be scheduled at a specific time.
Visits outside normal visiting hours must have special approval. If you do
receive approval for visits outside our regular business hours, you will
need to page the on-call intern to let you in the hospital. This can be done
from the in-house phone located on the right hand wall in the area between
the sliding doors at the front entrance.
It is in the best interest of your pet that you keep visits brief and
limited to not more than two times daily. Clients may visit only the public
areas of the hospital and those areas where their animal is housed. Please
check in at the main lobby desk each time you visit. Visitor badges can be
obtained there.
Client Participation
During Care
Faculty, staff and students at WSU VTH are very sensitive to the concept of
a pet‘s role in the family. Our first priority is always to provide the best
care possible to each animal we work with. Our second priority is to provide
an environment that facilitates teaching. There are times, when in order to
provide these levels of care and teaching, an owner may be asked to stay or
to leave during provision of certain aspects of care. In some situations,
the presence of an owner distracts from our attention to the animal or from
the instructional details that need to be communicated. Additionally, some
patients are more anxious when their owner(s) are present. If an owner is
asked to step out during a specific aspect of care, we will make every
effort to communicate the purpose of this request along with the details of
the procedure that is being performed.
Pharmacy Use Policy
The VTH Pharmacy is
open Monday through Friday from 8:00am until 5:00pm to provide the
medications and special dietary needs of our clients. Additionally one of
the staff pharmacists is on call 24 hour each day to accommodate emergency
situations. Due to state and federal regulations, we are unable to offer
prescription filling services for owners of animals that our not our regular
clients.
Human Health and Safety
WSU Veterinary
Teaching Hospital acts to ensure the health and safety of our patients.
However, the health and safety of a human shall not be compromised to
protect that of an animal.
