Our Pet Mobile x VetScript at a glance
“E-scripts have removed a lot of time creating scripts in Word, attaching them to emails, and managing confirmations. Now, I can order medications directly from patient files, and the details are automatically recorded. It’s been a game-changer for my admin efficiency.”
– Dr Julia Malcolm BVSc (Hons), Practice Owner & Veterinarian at Our Pet Mobile
Challenge: Rural and mobile vets manage unique pressures: long distances to pharmacies, patients who often need compounded medications, and paper-dependent workflows that add time to the process. These factors can make prescribing slower and add extra steps for families already travelling long distances for care.
Solution: Dr Julia Malcolm BVSc (Hons) founded Our Pet Mobile Vet in 2018 to bring stress-free, compassionate care directly to pets and their families across Baw Baw, Cardinia, and Gippsland. By adopting VetScript, she modernised prescribing with secure, traceable e-scripts and unlocked a partnership with LifeCare Compounding Pharmacy for fast, reliable delivery across rural Victoria.
Results: VetScript cut hours of manual admin, secured her prescribing process, and sped up access to essential medications. This means rural pet owners get timely access to the medications they depend on. And the time saved lets Dr Julia focus on providing compassionate, in-home care in communities where access is limited.
Challenges
Dr Julia Malcolm founded Our Pet Mobile Vet in 2018 with a clear mission: to provide first-line care for families who couldn’t easily get to a clinic. Demand grew quickly as owners of elderly or anxious pets sought relief from stressful clinic visits and as families requested home euthanasia in a peaceful setting.
“The requests for someone to come to their home, as their dog was old, large, or their cat was fractious, were numerous and frequent. Especially when owners had to say goodbye to their pet, they wanted this done at home and not in a noisy clinic environment. That’s when I knew I could make a real difference by bringing veterinary care directly to clients.”
Delivering care in people’s homes introduced a new layer of complexity: getting timely, accurate medications to patients scattered across rural Victoria.
For Dr Julia, prescribing quickly became an operational barrier in her workflow.
Paper and email inefficiencies
Handwritten or Word-based scripts weren’t practical for a solo mobile vet covering vast distances. A lot of time was spent attaching them to emails and managing confirmation, creating unnecessary admin.
Medication access for rural clients
With pharmacies often hours away, and many patients needing compounded medication, timely care was difficult. For pets with ongoing conditions, these long delays became a risk.
Risk of script errrors
Paper scripts leave room for misinterpretation, alteration, or loss. In rural practice, where access is already stretched, even small hiccups in prescribing can create extra challenges.
“I was spending too much time on prescriptions and not enough on patient care. The inefficiencies were affecting me and my clients.”
That’s what led her to VetScript. A way to modernise prescribing, cut out manual friction, and give her confidence that every script is accurate, secure, and faster to fulfil.
Here’s how she optimised her prescribing workflow.
Solution
1. Faster, centralised workflows
Before VetScript, Dr Julia was stuck in a cycle of manual admin. Prescriptions meant drafting them in Word, attaching files to emails, and following up with pharmacies. It was clunky, and pulled her away from patient care.
With VetScript integrated into her practice software, Dr Julia now orders directly in a few clicks. Scripts are automatically recorded, so nothing gets lost.
“Now, I can order medications directly from patient files, and the details are automatically recorded.”
For Dr Julia, the shift has been transformative. What was once hours of paperwork each week is now a streamlined digital workflow, giving Dr Julia back the time she needs to be with her patients.
2. Seamless pharmacy partnerships
Medication access can be one of the hardest things about running a mobile practice. Pharmacies could be hours away, and many patients need compounded formulations.
Adopting VetScript meant Dr Julia could tap into a direct integration with LifeCare Compounding Pharmacy. Prescriptions flow through automatically, high-quality compounded medications are prepared quickly and tailored to individual patient needs, and can be delivered directly to the client or to Dr Julia.
Families now get SMS updates when medications are dispatched. For rural clients, speed and predictability are a lifeline.
3. Secure prescribing and compliance
As a solo practitioner spanning a wide area, Dr Julia needed a more dependable approach to prescribing. Handwritten prescriptions could be misread, and scanned copies could be duplicated.
VetScript’s digital prescribing introduced transparency and control.
“This needs to be the future. Apart from the obvious paper-saving benefits, ensuring transparency in the script process avoids errors, misinterpretations (such as with handwritten prescriptions), and even fraud — including duplication or scanning of paper prescriptions.”
And for clients, the benefits are just as real.
“We need to move forward from paper to electronic scripts, with tracking and unique identifiers. This would also help clients — no more lost paper scripts or emailing one pharmacy only to realise they need to go elsewhere.”
With VetScript, Dr Julia has a prescribing system that is secure and efficient that she can trust to support her clients and her business.
Impact
Since adopting VetScript, Dr Julia has reshaped how her mobile practice operates. Hours of paperwork, back-and-forth with pharmacies, and uncertainty around scripts has become a seamless, reliable workflow that frees her to focus on patients.
For her, the impact is clear:
- Time saved on admin: VetScript cuts out manual duplication, giving Dr Julia back more time.
- Faster access to medications: clients now receive compounded drugs quickly and reliably through LifeCare Compounding Pharmacy delivery.
- Greater client confidence: families trust that scripts are secure, accurate, and won’t be lost in the system.
- Future-proof compliance: digital prescribing reduces script misinterpretations and risk of script fraud.
Dr Julia has no doubt this is the direction veterinary care must take.
By embedding VetScript into her mobile practice, Dr Julia has created a model of rural care that is compassionate and sustainable, showing what’s possible when digital prescribing meets veterinary innovation. It also helps raise awareness that mobile vets can deliver the same professional, compliant standards as brick-and-mortar clinics and are recognised as a vital part of rural healthcare.
The Bigger Picture
Dr Julia’s story reflects wider pressures across rural veterinary care: workforce shortages (only 59 vets per 100,000 people in Victoria), rising demand from pet ownership, and gaps in after-hours services. The Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board has called for modernisation to keep pace with demand.
Practices like Our Pet Mobile Vet, powered by tools like VetScript, are at the forefront of that shift. Combining compassion with secure, digital prescribing creates sustainable models of care that rural communities can depend on.
Prescribe smarter with VetScript
Book a discovery call and see how VetScript can streamline prescribing in your veterinary practice.
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