Supporting Resource

Vet Data Standards Proposals

Patient histories, clinic datasets and business configuration files, explained in plain language for veterinary teams.

These summaries describe proposals published by Vet Data Standards at vetdatastandards.com. They are external contributions, not standards owned, endorsed, adopted or certified by the VTA. They are starting points for discussion alongside other relevant approaches.

Patient Histories

One animal's clinical history, packaged so it can be shared with another practice and read without specialist software.

VDS Proposal: Patient Records

What It Contains

The animal's dated consultations, prescriptions, vaccinations, laboratory results, procedures, allergies and vital signs.

VDS also calls for a readable PDF summary, the attached files such as radiographs and reports, and a list of everything included in the export.

When A Vet Would Use It

For a referral, a move to another practice, or a request for access to an animal's records. This is the history of an individual patient, not a copy of the practice's whole database.

The PDF lets the receiving team read the history. The structured records give compatible software a way to process the same information without relying only on a document.

What To Ask Your Software Provider

Can you export the complete patient history, including a readable PDF and the original attachments? If another practice sends a VDS export, which parts can your system import?

VDS describes the export format. It does not mean that every system already supports it, or that an import will happen automatically.

Read The Original VDS Proposal

Clinic Datasets

A whole practice's records in a shared format, intended for moving data from one software system to another.

VDS Proposal: Migration v0.1

What It Contains

Practice locations and staff, clients and patients, appointments and consultations, products and services, prescriptions, vaccinations, invoices and documents.

The records keep their original identifiers and links. For example, a consultation stays connected to the right patient, and an invoice keeps its individual lines. Currency and tax treatment are recorded too.

When A Practice Would Use It

When changing practice software, the team needs more than individual patient PDFs. It needs a connected set of clinical, client and business records that the new provider can work with.

This standard describes a complete snapshot of the records at the time of export. It is not a live connection that keeps two systems continuously in sync, and it is not specifically an anonymised benchmarking dataset.

What To Check Before Moving

Ask both providers which records and attachments they can export and import using the VDS migration format. Ask what is missing or cannot be mapped into the new system.

VDS calls for the export to pass its checks or list the failures. A file using the format is not, by itself, a guarantee that every record has transferred correctly.

Read The Original VDS Proposal

Business Configuration Files

A description of how a practice is set up, separate from its patient histories and day-to-day records.

VDS Proposal: Configuration v0.1

What It Contains

The practice's item catalogue, reminders, templates, staff roles, scheduling rules and ways of handling exceptions.

For example, it can describe appointment types, the reminders the practice uses and the roles assigned to staff. These are settings for running the practice, rather than records of individual visits.

Why The Settings Matter

Moving clinical records does not describe how a practice's software should be set up. The configuration standard addresses that separate part of a change of system.

A shared practice profile gives providers a consistent way to describe the setup. It should not be taken as a promise that a new system can reproduce every setting or workflow automatically.

What To Ask Your Software Provider

Which of our catalogues, appointment types, reminders, templates and staff roles can you export? Which can the receiving system use, and which will need to be set up again?

VDS labels this standard version 0.1. Check the current documentation and support with your provider before relying on it for a change of system.

Read The Original VDS Proposal

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