Give patients a place to play ... or recover

Dr. Ken Abrams, owner of Veterinary Ophthalmology Services in Warwick, R.I., doesn't have a lot of spare room in his facility, which can cause problems with housing patients, particularly those undergoing outpatient surgeries. So at Dr. Seth Koch's suggestion, he purchased a collapsible child's playpen to confine postoperative surgery patients that either don't fit in a standard steel kennel or that become overly stressed in a kennel. Dr. Abrams says that most patients love being in the playpen, and at less than $100, it's a cost-effective way to house patients for the day, even if some of them get a little too ambitious. "Some patients give our staff a chuckle when we see the playpen gently gliding along the floor as the patient figures out that an Elizabethan collar works great as a snow plow," he says.