Ditch the Paper Trail: Why Your Practice Needs to Break Up with Travel Sheets

Let’s be honest, veterinary professionals are superheroes. You juggle appointments, manage complex cases, comfort worried pet parents, and often perform minor miracles before lunch. But even superheroes have their kryptonite, and for many practices, it’s that seemingly innocent piece of paper: the travel sheet.

For years, travel sheets have been the unspoken MVP of some veterinary clinics – the trusty sidekick, helping teams guide their patients through their visit. But here’s the truth: your trusty sidekick might actually be slowing you down, causing problems for your practice, and costing you more than you think.

If you’re ready to ditch the paper trail and discover a more intuitive way to manage patient visits, keep reading. We’re here to show you how.

The hidden costs of your paper MVP: How travel sheets are holding you back

We get it, we really do. ‘But we’ve always done it this way!’ feels safe. But in a modern, fast-paced clinic, that mindset can cost time, money, and accuracy. Many practices cling to travel sheets out of habit, overlooking some pretty significant drawbacks.

Let’s break down the hidden costs:

• The time drain: Someone has to print them, sort them, and distribute them. Then, at the end of a busy day, someone has to collect them and manually key all that information back into your system. That’s double data entry and a monumental waste of valuable staff time that could be spent on patient care, client communication, or even just taking a much-needed break.
• The error epidemic: Illegible handwriting. Missed checkboxes. Forgotten charges. Travel sheets are a breeding ground for mistakes. These errors don’t just create administrative headaches; they can lead to missed revenue, inaccurate patient histories, and client confusion. 
• The communication breakdown: Ever had a treatment plan get lost in translation? Or a crucial detail scribbled on a sticky note that vanished into thin air? Paper doesn’t update in real-time. It sits there, static, unable to communicate vital information to every team member who needs it, exactly when they need it.
• The patient safety risk: In the worst-case scenario, a misplaced travel sheet could mean a forgotten medication, a missed follow-up instruction, or a critical diagnostic test overlooked. While rare, the potential for patient safety compromise due to a disjointed paper system is a risk no modern practice should take.
• The environmental impact: While perhaps not the primary concern, the sheer volume of paper used for travel sheets adds up. Moving digital isn’t just efficient; it’s a step towards a greener practice.

Welcome to your new digital hub: the Shepherd way

So, if travel sheets aren’t the solution, what is? At Shepherd, we’ve designed our digital veterinary records to be the intuitive, real-time hub that your practice needs. Think of Shepherd not as a replacement for your travel sheet, but as a vastly superior, infinitely more efficient version of it.

Here’s how Shepherd helps you navigate patient visits with ease and accuracy:

The patient profile

Forget the paper checklist. Every patient has their own profile page, which becomes your central command center. From the moment a patient checks in, everything you need is right there, live and ready for action. This includes:

• Reminders 
• Chronic conditions
• Pinned prescriptions
• Active alerts
• Entire patient history
• Upcoming appointments
• Patient weight trends
• Emotional medical records trends (for all you Fear-Free clinics out there)

Streamlined workflows, not just checkboxes

Our SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) isn’t just documentation; it’s a collaborative treatment guide that keeps everyone on the same page. Doctors can quickly build comprehensive treatment plans directly within the SOAP, outlining every step of care. Technicians can then check off each item as it’s completed, adding notes and charges in real-time. 

Let TranscribeAI do the heavy lifting

Shepherd’s built-in transcription tool, Transcribe AI, takes efficiency to a whole new level. Imagine finishing an exam and realizing that most of your medical record is already written—accurately, consistently, and in your own words.

Transcribe AI instantly turns your spoken notes into structured SOAP entries in real-time. No more toggling between windows, scribbled notes to decipher later, or late-night charting marathons.

The result? A complete, polished record that’s ready before you’ve even left the exam room. 

• Real-time data: This is where Shepherd truly shines. Every charge added, every treatment administered, every note made is recorded instantly. No more waiting until the end of the day for data entry. Your invoice is building in the background, your patient’s record is current, and your entire team has access to the most up-to-date information, right now. 
• Effortless team communication: With Shepherd, a vet can add a specific instruction in the exam room, and the technician in the treatment area sees it immediately. Our integrated system acts as a constant communication channel, ensuring that vital details never fall through the cracks.
• Accuracy and accountability: With every action logged and every entry timestamped, Shepherd significantly reduces the potential for errors. Missing charges become a thing of the past, and you have a clear, auditable trail of every step of a patient’s care. 

Tips for travel sheet diehards

We understand that some teams love their travel sheets. There’s something comforting about a physical checklist in hand. But you can keep that same feeling without the paper cuts (or the printer jams). Here are a few ways to make the transition easier:

1. Bring the “sheet” with you—digitally: Instead of printing a piece of paper, bring an iPad or tablet into the exam room. With Shepherd, your patient dashboard becomes the ultimate digital travel sheet. Everything you need is right there, updated in real time.

2. Still love to hand write? Use a stylus: If writing helps you think, keep that habit! Pair your tablet with a stylus and use apps that transcribe handwriting to text automatically. You’ll get that same tactile satisfaction while keeping your records searchable and synced.

3. Customize your digital workflow: Recreate what you love most about travel sheets with Shepherd’s patient dashboard, physical exam templates, shortcut keys, forms, tasks, or long-standing medical conditions. You can even pin your favorite notes and prescriptions, so it feels just as intuitive as paper, minus the clutter.

4. Lean on Transcribe AI: Talk through your exam while Transcribe AI captures your notes and structures them for you. It’s like having an assistant that never misses a recommendation and always knows how to spell the toughest medical terms—like hyperadrenocorticism or osteochondrodysplasia.

5. Keep it visual: Use color-coded task lists, patient alerts, or pinned reminders within Shepherd to mimic the at-a-glance awareness of a travel sheet. Everyone stays aligned without chasing paper or having travel sheets grow legs and hide out in Narnia. 

6. Prepare your team: Change feels easier when your staff is confident. Host a quick lunch-and-learn to show how digital workflows replace (and improve) old ones. The more familiar the tools, the faster your team will ditch the printer for good. When they understand the reasons behind the change and see how it makes their day easier, adoption happens naturally.

Making the switch: It’s easier than you think

We know change can feel daunting, especially when it involves ingrained habits. But ditching paper travel sheets isn’t just about switching to a new practice management software. It’s about adopting a smarter, less stressful way of practicing veterinary medicine.

Your team will be free to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on what they love: providing exceptional care to the animals who need it most. So, if you’re ready to break up with paper and embrace a workflow that truly helps you stress less and treat more, we’re here to guide you every step of the way. 

It’s time to trade in your paper stack for something better. Book a demo today to experience firsthand how Shepherd’s digital workflows can make a difference in your practice.