Quick Start Guide

Your implementation team will send you a link and a set of login credentials. Open the link in Chrome, Firefox, or Safari, enter your email and password, and you are in.

If you see the main Dashboard with your clinic name at the top and today's date, you are good to go. The Dashboard shows today's appointments, recent patients, and any alerts that need attention. Think of it as your home screen — you will come back here throughout the day.

If you ever get lost, just click the VetOS logo in the top-left corner of the sidebar. It always takes you back to the Dashboard.

The left sidebar is organized into groups that match how you work. Here is the full layout, top to bottom:

Overview: The Dashboard (your home screen). Clinical: Patients (pet records), Owners (client info), Schedule (appointments with Day View and List View), Pet Portal Preview (see what pet owners see), Lost/Found (integration with the PetMayday missing-pet network), and Messaging (team chat). Operations: Billing (invoices, payments, reconciliation, financial reports, monthly statements, and financial assistance programs), Checkout (point-of-sale), Inventory (medications, vaccines, supplies, equipment — with low-stock alerts and reorder tracking), Reports, WhoGot++ (look up which patients received a specific drug, vaccine batch, or treatment), and AI Scribe (voice-to-text for SOAP notes). Records: Clinical Decision Support (drug interaction and dosage checking) and Documents (generate PDFs for discharge summaries, certificates, invoices, and more). Compliance: Audit Log (HIPAA-grade access tracking) and Break-Glass (emergency override access for after-hours situations). Learn: Training Center with built-in tutorials and a knowledge base. System: Sync Dashboard (shows offline queue status and conflict resolution) and Settings (clinic profile, staff accounts, preferences).

You do not need to memorize this. Just notice that the groupings match how your day works: clinical stuff on top, operations in the middle, compliance and system controls at the bottom.

Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) from anywhere in VetOS. A search box pops up in the center of the screen. Start typing what you want — "patients", "schedule", "new owner", "billing" — and VetOS shows matching actions. Press Enter to go there instantly.

This is the fastest way to get around the system once you know what you are looking for. Power users love it because they almost never need to reach for the mouse.

There are also keyboard shortcuts for every major screen: Alt+D for Dashboard, Alt+P for Patients, Alt+S for Schedule, Alt+B for Billing, Alt+I for Inventory, Alt+R for Reports, and more. Press Alt+H at any time to see the full list. You definitely do not need these on day one, but they become second nature over time.

Before real patients come in, do a dry run. Here is a quick exercise that touches the main areas of VetOS:

First, go to Owners (Alt+O) and click New Owner. Enter a made-up name (like "Jane Test"), a phone number, and an email. Save. Next, you will be prompted to add a pet. Enter a pet name ("Demo Dog"), choose the species, breed, and age. Save again. You now have a patient in the system.

Now go to Schedule (Alt+S). Click the time slot you want, search for "Demo Dog", pick an appointment type (try "Wellness Checkup"), and save. You will see the appointment appear on the timeline.

Finally, click Check In on that appointment. Notice how the status changes from Scheduled to Checked In. That is the workflow your front desk will follow dozens of times a day.

When you are ready to go live, your implementation team can clear this test data for you.