New guides to aid contextualised care for pet owners
Contextualised care requires clear communication between veterinary teams and their clients.
RCVS Knowledge has published a series of contextualised care discussion guides for use in veterinary practices.
The resources are aimed at supporting clearer discussions between veterinary professionals and their clients.
RCVS Knowledge describes contextualised care as the acknowledgement that there are different ways to approach a pet’s veterinary treatment. It requires clear communication between veterinary teams and their clients.
It has produced three guides, which veterinary professionals are encouraged to share with their clients during consultations. They can then work through the content together to ensure that both parties are informed on owner values, pet welfare and behaviour, diagnosis and treatment options.
This would enable veterinary teams to work more efficiently with their client to make decisions and provide quality care. Practices are encouraged to use and adapt the resources as needed.
The first of the guides is a pre-consultation conversation guide for owners. It will help pet owners to prepare for their consultations, communicate what is important to them and identify the support areas they need.
The second guide aims to explore a pet’s wellbeing during treatment, identifying how they might react to treatments and how this might guide treatment plans.
There is also a conversation guide, designed for when practices are delivering contextualised care. Once a diagnosis has been given, the conversation guide can be used to discuss treatment options including an in-depth discussion into how it might impact the owner and their pet.
The guides have been produced through a collaboration between veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses and pet owners.
Pam Mosedale, clinical lead at RCVS Knowledge, said: “To get started, run through the questions in the guide with a client, and see how this can help you devise a treatment plan with the information you’ve discovered.
“This helps you gain a fuller understanding of your patient’s care and wellbeing needs and your client’s circumstances and expectations. Ultimately, this will assist you in delivering quality care that aligns with the needs and expectations of your clients.”
The free conversation guides and other resources can be found on the RCVS Knowledge contextualised care hub.
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Companies marketing medicines for small pets exempt from authorisation must submit their annual return to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) by 30 November 2026.
