The Great Veterinary Shortage

[@firebirdchc9752]

DVM here. Im shocked Cellini didn't mention the most important elephant in the room. Our support organizations (AVMA, state orgs, ect) absolutely need to adopt an active and aggressive public education strategy to make the public aware of these isssues, what is verses what is not acceptable as far as behavior and respect and the costs of veterinary care. Until that is handled, hiring staff, creating VPA roles or increased pay won't matter a hill of beans.

[@michelepapero690]

I have said this a million times. We need to educate the public. Their vision of All Creatures Great and Small is antiquated.

[@chrishayes5755]

I've been to 10+ vets in my area and all of them HATE being questioned and have zero interest in educating clients. how hard is it to print out "veterinary consensus on lyme disease" for people to read? instead I had to search that out myself so I could make more informed decisions. I bring up strong antibiotics being linked to immune dysfunction and vets blow it off like I didn't read it from about 50 articles on pubmed lol. Many vets have tried to tell me not to feed my dog a raw diet and instead want to give kibble full of corn, wheat and soy.. I find dealing with vets is like stepping on glass if you have even a small disagreement they take it personal like you're challenging their entire education and worth as a medical practitioner.

[@Kittiesinclair5]

They do. They also need to address the issue of schools’ treatment of students. I was a DVM student, completed all academic requirements plus did extra clinical rotations, passed the board exam, then my school kicked me out based in subjective incorrect judgements on one rotation, by a junior inexperienced instructor. IE, I was blamed for upsetting a client even though the vet had actually upset the client by refusing to treat the client’s dog. This instructor was also my landlord, a conflict of interest. Claims against me were escalated when I provided evidence (letter from the client) proving I had not upset her. My evidence was ignored as I continued to be blamed, all so the school and admin could save face and continue to claim they had done nothing wrong. Based on this fail in the rotation the school claimed their policies allowed them to kick me out, so I was prevented from graduating despite completing more than the required number of clinical rotations and passing the board exam. This occurred in the face of the current vet shortage and growing mental health issue. All the money spent on my education (my own savings and the govt student loans) have been wasted. It appears that the school prioritized ‘being right’ over helping and graduating one more vet who could help alleviate the shortage and provide care and comfort to pets and other animals. So, what is the problem?….

[@lbarbados38]

@@Kittiesinclair5 That is terrible, get a good lawyer and sue the crap out of the school!

[@Helloari13]

Yes!

[@blip-2024]

If you want to keep your support staff, FIRE abusive clients! 30 years as a receptionist, on the job trained tech and assistant. You want your staff to stay, fire those clients who abuse them! There is a vet in my province who has given his reception staff the right to fire abusive clients. He has stated the he needs his loyal receptionist of 15 years much more than an abusive client. More clinics need to do that. We have a handful of clients who are almost always verbally abusive if they don't get exactly what they want when they want it. Two of whom have made support staff and doctors cry. Why are we tolerating that behaviour? Obviously, we are not able to meet their needs. They should be encouraged to find a clinic that can. Reward the behaviour you want to see, NEVER reward bad behaviour.

[@gryphonennis1002]

My receptionist has the power to fire clients and she uses it.

[@horseandhoundtherapies4162]

YES 👏👏👏

[@camusic200]

I used to be a receptionist but the vet in charge was too nice to abusive clients. I was so burned out from being talked down to and having to stay polite to "old" clients who felt entitled. The clients were being so unfair to the staff but there was nothing we could do. Employers need to protect their staff...

[@kirstinetermansen3227]

Hi there, You also sound, a bit abusive You can not avoid , them Imagine, cafes, bars, shop's Hotels But you can learn how to handle them, ask your Union About advice

[@kirstinetermansen3227]

General in conflict Don't argued Don't teach Don't go closer Step aways Offer a cup coffee Break the, spin Or go to toilets And calm, situation Is stay calm,. If emergency Give, few orders Offer comfort If not, emergency Give a Service,. Set time Offer comfort, And don't plants things On yourself, your a professional

[@KayLoo202]

It's like... yeah you're stressed because your pet may or may not be sick. But I have NO idea where so many people just get a level of entitlement and rudeness and seeing the people who are doing what they are doing to HELP you get treated so poorly... I can't imagine acting so horrible in public. Kindness and understanding can get you so far and get better results and acting like garbage and making these employees cry... I just don't get people like that.

[@allpro2812]

It's especially today's generation who have a job and a dog but no kids or family , they are the worst as they feel entitled , are very over concerned , don't wanna spend money , love social media and yelp , they add to your stress and will make u scapegoat Almost every time their pet is sick or not even sick

[@kennikitty]

We once had a client whose cat was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism (very common in older cats) and she had the guts to complain about the meds plan, because she couldn't find a cat sitter who can give the cat it's meds twice a day, because the house is so big and the cat hides from strangers. How is she supposed to go an vacation 5 times a year with her kids, if she can't find a pet sitter who can give her cat the meds? She wanted us to solve her vacation problem.

[@SK-bb6ms]

My vet's office posted a sign by the front door, addressing unacceptable behavior of pet parents. They work so hard, how sad to have to post a sign like that.

[@lideabarker8161]

People are mean and rude nowadays every where.

[@carolinebryson7498]

@@allpro2812 It is actually the older generation at our clinic. Clients age 48+ who had older vets who were essentially "yes men" and did everything for an owner at lower costs or just threw in free treatments. New/younger vets want to practice complete medicine with diagnostics, etc. They aren't used to it and get angry and nostalgic, and take it out on the veterinary staff. "My old vet didn't make me do all this stuff for a refill. You just want more money."

[@doug112244]

I think one thing that would help is if businesses would start firing customers who exhibit continued bad behavior. Somewhere the idea that the customer is always right got distorted to where it became very toxic and employees will no longer deal with the abuse.

[@allpro2812]

Agreed , it's the bad customers that make it i hard for all others and customer is not always right

[@Patriotsounds]

We fire people all the time. It's awesome

[@kennikitty]

It's absurd, really. Things that are totally fine in human medicine seem to be outragous in veterinary medicine. Waiting months to see a specialist? For humans that's normal, but if it's for their animal they complain when they have to wait two weeks.

[@kennikitty]

@@Patriotsounds We do as well. Rude clients get sent out of the door. They often behave as if they own the place. Sorry to break it to you, but I've got 5 people waiting who'd love to get your timeslot. We're not dependent on single individuals, we don't need to run after clients.

[@HustlemanRay]

Speak this. Because they vet clinic let rude customers walk all over the receptionist. It is sick as hell.

[@dontbeselfish2024]

I’m a vet student who was a hospital manger for a few years. I think addressing the loan crisis or at least the interest of the loans we take on would alleviate a lot of existential stress and lower the stakes we work with every day and could lessen the feelings of being trapped into the profession where we’re left to be abused by clients.

[@mariosola1]

1000%

[@markpeterson1819]

Be very careful what you ask for. The interest on student loans is not the issue but the expense of an education that provides a job opportunity with a traditionally low salary relative to other medical fields. Easy enough just pay vets more right? Well no, then pet care becomes excessively expensive. So encourage more folks to get pet insurance right? Well maybe but then you end up with a health care situation like we have for humans where people cannot afford care they need even with insurance. I fear this is a situation in which no answer is going to acceptable to most. Good luck to you though, and yes I have been a practicing vet for 20 years.

[@dontbeselfish2024]

@@markpeterson1819 thank you, I appreciate your insight. I suppose I mention the interest because I can wrap my head around overpaying for an education but not doing so for an endless amount of time. I also think reforming the current interest rates would put a lot of money back into peoples pockets while also getting some support from people who don’t take on educational loans. Everyone can understand getting screwed by interest.

[@bluered3228]

Schools are ripping everyone off. We need to raid the endowments of the universities not make the plumber pay for the loan of a person who received a useless degree

[@Lauriaboren]

Agreed- education needs public funding, especially in shortage areas.

[@brookmiller9806]

I am not a vet, but a pet owner, and I wanted to say how much I appreciate my vet and the staff members there. It is true about the wait times to get in, but I am fortunate enough to live in an area that has plenty of veterinary resources for emergencies. I had no idea how hard it would be to find an emergency vet for a guinea pig, but I was lucky enough to finally track one down, and they were really wonderful. Cancer, diabetes, eye infections, ear infections, anal gland squeezing (!!!), and aggravated toe nail clippings for a dramatic Jack Russell, these are just some of the reason I rely on my vets.

[@beethovensgirl05]

As someone who works in the field, and at the front desk, I can say 100% the article, and your video nailed it! People forgot how to be human beings during the pandemic. We get yelled at every day, and people make snide remarks about how we are only in it for the money and other things. Wait times have gone through the roof, despite there being several emergency clinics in the area as well as urgent care. We are short-staffed due to people being sick, an overall shortage, and a lack of pay. As it was mentioned, throwing money at a problem doesn't always fix it. Something has to give soon or I fear there won't be a veterinary field at all. Our ER dept alone one day put hands on 90+ patients in a 12hr timeframe, a handful left because they didn't want to wait. Some of our specialty departments are booking out months in advance and people don't understand that it's similar to human medicine, so you get told "that's unacceptable!". People also seem to think their DVM's should never leave to go on vacation or leave the hospital, so I feel that's another reason that DVM's are leaving. I think a PA in the Vet field would be AMAZING!

[@yaha1313131313]

Front desk work was essentially the hardest job I've ever had. It was nuts!

[@mhammer3186]

We’ve had to tell a couple people to leave our hospital because of how they were treating the CSRs. People have lost their minds and have no clue that the wait times have gone up significantly much like our Human med counterparts. I’ve seen easily twice the turnover rate compared to prepandemic, and many of them are leaving the vet field completely because of how they’ve been treated.

[@chrishayes5755]

I asked my vet extremely politely - as if walking on broken glass - "how are antibiotics going to solve a topical allergic skin issue? I don't understand how it works". the response in a vry passive-aggresive way "I don't overprescribe antibiotics".. how am I supposed to get educated and make logical decisions? many vets want to act like dictators - you do as I say and don't question. if that's the case then stop pretending to practice science based treatment methods. if you're science based you use logic, reason and evidence to explain and prove your point with no emotion.

[@SK-bb6ms]

People used to get away with being rude anonymously on social media, but it's escalated to 'in real life'. My vet had to raise their prices and I understand (also, rents have soared, so they choose to pay their staff a living wage). I always make sure that my vet and support staff (especially the receptionist) know how much I appreciate them.

[@makaylahhamm5387]

vet assistant (and aspiring vet) here! i cannot tell you how many times i have to deal with rude clients who do not understand the veterinary field. we are here to help your animal, truly!! we cannot control the prices, influx of patients, or crazy schedule. I’ve gotten to write a couple essays & speeches on the veterinary mental health crisis and every time, my professor and classmates are shocked that’s even an issue within our field! people truly have no idea how crazy and draining this field has gotten.

[@anastasijahabarova1533]

I’m a certified vet assistant and the program I went through was 10 weeks long and required 90 hours of externship practice. It’s a very condensed, bare minimum type of program, but it’s cheap and fast and it got me a job at one of the best GP vet hospitals in my area. Everything else that wasn’t covered by the program I got taught on the job. Given that a huge amount of what vet assistants do overlaps with what vet techs do, I think programs for vet assistants specifically are a great way to get more people into the field fast. Obviously, it won’t solve the whole problem, but it will certainly help. At my place, we have 5 full time vets and 21 support staff (assistants, techs, kennel, reception, etc.). A vet can only do so much if there isn’t enough support staff present.

[@robertsandberg2246]

A few months ago, my dog was vomiting and losing weight. I called ALL OVER THE PLACE to try to get a veterinary appointment. I kept getting answers like, we are booked for a month, and we aren't taking new clients. I finally did find one who would see my dog..... In a week. It was the best answer I could get, so I agreed. I did what I could for her and loved on her and made her as comfortable as I could until the appointment day came. When that appointment day came, I found out that my dog had diabetes. I love my dog more than I can say, and I cried when I found that out. The receptionist was amazing and apologized for how long it took to get the appointment. Through my tears, I told her that I understood that they were overwhelmed. My dog is doing as well as she can now with the treatment and insulin I've got from that veterinary clinic.

[@_AshB45_]

Not a vet but a furmom. Just had to take my kitty to a nearby 24 ER vet at 2 AM not too long ago. no viable injures but he was obviously hurting and I worried he might have been hit or something. I ended up being there until 6 AM just waiting to be seen for xrays. He turned out to have no major injuries thankfully. But the saddest thing that happened was they thanked me for not getting impatient with them.

[@autumnmoonfire3944]

There is no 24 hour animal ER in my town, you have the choice of paying $30 for a round trip ferry ride or a 2.5 hour drive to another bigger community. I wish the vets in my area would start a floating ER, rotating among the vet practices, call one number and get told which practice is open for emergencies. None of the vets have to always be on call, or open 24/7, just say 1 weekend in 8 and maybe one weeknight in a two week span.

[@aysewashingtondvmccrpcvmmp6874]

I have been in this industry for 35 years, with 23 of those years as a DVM. Things have absolutely changed in terms of the number of patients with significant illnesses that are the responsibility of the general practitioners, as well as the negative behaviors of the owners of these pets. At my last position I was seeing appointments for 8 hours, and then I would have another 3 to 4 hours of nightly call backs on labs, answering questions, writing and reviewing records. My husband was always concerned because I never came home before 9:30pm and on average was more like 10-10:30pm. My current job is a very interesting one- I am now the vet who interprets and does the call backs on labs and answers the questions for 1 to 1.5 doctors who are working full time in the clinic. This partnership allows clients to get their results faster, with more attention to the detail of the labs and with the ability to have an unhurried conversation about the results, the treatment plan and any concerns they still have. It requires patience, trust and understanding on the part of the veterinarians to share cases and treatment plans when we sometimes have differing perspectives on how to treat. However, compared to what I was doing just last year, I have to say that I LOVE this new position which let's me utilize my years of experience, still make a difference in the lives of patients and their owners, while controlling the number of hours I work and taking away my "in clinic" stress. I never knew how much my job was affecting my health until I saw my blood pressure drop by over 15 points in the first month that I was out of the clinic setting. I have far more flexibility in my schedule, in my location (because I can do this job in the clinic, or at home) and can adjust to things happening in my life now, which was never an option before. I am still compensated like I was when I was in the clinic seeing patients, but my presence in the clinic, allows the doctors who are practicing to run the tests that need running (IE- not avoiding labs because there is no time to read the results!), and keeps the patient care at a high level. This may be an area where vet medicine can look at expanding - especially as we get older and our bodies can no longer keep up with the toll of clinical practice. I feel this has worked well both for me, and for my current practice.

[@veterinarioslatinoamerican171]

i strongly disagree with this. You cannot expect your human drs to call you the aame day with results and talk for an hour with you... unrealistic. I dont expect that either from your vet. I own my clinic and work 9am to 5pm .... i could work until 9pm but that would be stupid, I need my prioritize my life and family. Same should be for all vets

[@cathleengendron324]

What do you think is the reason behind GPs having more patients with severe illness? I’ve never heard this before.

[@mustangmare]

As a former hospital worker, we were warned since the 1990's about the generation of workers that was not only going to retire and leave us all swamped but, those same workers would also become patients and customers requiring more care. That mushroom of workers has crossed the broadest edge. The boomers retired, even the late retirees, and the early Gen Xers have retired early. There is just not enough working people to service anyone. Also, yes indeed, the sense of entitlement is absurd, (especially considering that these customers have no clue how destitute the workforce is and how HARD their own treatment of staff and providers makes it.) Signed, "had to walk away after 35 years myself."

[@aysewashingtondvmccrpcvmmp6874]

@@veterinarioslatinoamerican171 It is not that I am trying to meet the unreasonable expectation of a next day call on labs, it is that there is no period of time in which there is a lull in the labwork that suddenly means I can make all the calls. Every day adds another 3-5 lab results to go over. Every day brings another 2-4 very sick patients who require a degree of thought and detail in their treatment plan and at no point can all of the workload be managed. Yes, work/life balance is the goal which is why my new position has allowed for the achievement of keeping up with all of the lab work in a timely manner, and created a work/life balance for each of the doctors in the practice and for me. Ultimately, in a very busy practice, with a significant caseload, there comes a point in which the demands of both seeing patients in the rooms and doing the work that is required outside of the facetime with clients cannot be maintained by a single individual. That is all that I am saying.

[@aysewashingtondvmccrpcvmmp6874]

@@cathleengendron324 I suspect dietary and environmental contaminants.

[@allyg47]

I live in a town of 10,000 people and our only vet clinic closed last month. The next closest clinic is an hour and a half drive and they have a two month wait for an appointment. My dog has an ear infection and they can't get her in until mid-September. I bought some over-the-counter ear treatment and have been trying to treat it myself (not working very well but her ear looks a little better). My dog is also diabetic so I've been doing glucose curves at home and emailing them to the vet. It's easier than driving almost 2 hours just to drop her off for the day and then having to drive back to pick her up. I also buy her insulin and syringes online so I don't have to drive to the clinic. When she got pancreatitis this past spring, I had to drive her 5 hours one-way to the emergency clinic in the Twin Cities because our clinic didn't have the equipment to treat her. Every single vet and vet tech I've interacted with has been super nice. I would never be rude to any of them. It's not their fault they are overbooked. They are under a ton of stress and aren't getting paid nearly enough. Plus, they saved my dog's life on more than one occasion. We need to be encouraging more people to become vets with free college, better pay, more benefits, and so forth because there is a huge shortage, especially in rural areas.

[@sethgurney401]

I think veterinary urgent care is what the industry, pet parents, and pets need to help bridge the gap between overwhelmed ERs and overbooked GPs. And I am 100% biased

[@DVMCellini]

You don’t say

[@worrell3831]

Agree 100%. I work relief as an urgent care vet in central FL. Every clinic is booked out for weeks and we have limited ER/after hours services. The clinic I work at after hours is often times slammed and I can see up to 20 pets on average per shift. That is with some being turned away because we quickly reach capacity ( usually just me and 3-4 staff) and some being directed to the ER due to problems more advanced than what we are equipped to handle (HBC, DKA, parvo etc).

[@DogDocLou]

Also totally agree. We usually keep a couple appointment slots open for “ask day of” for some of these things. Mid morning yesterday I realized I had zero surgeries scheduled the next day (my sx day) so we opened up my schedule and I was fully booked today with healthy and sick pets and produced a bit over 4.2k.

[@lideabarker8161]

Ok, but it is VERY expensive to use them. I can't afford it.

[@lichiehrb]

Petco Thrive has opened up some Urgent Care locations in conjunction with ER for that reason. So great bias if you ask me😊

[@angelbabyprincess]

i work at a vet center and can absolutely say people are sooooo fucking straight up mean to vets.

[@mariosola1]

ACVP pathologist here- I think something else to consider is that during the 2014ish era DVM starting salaries were around 60K and the typical positions my classmates were accepting had 1-2 weekends off a month, if that (interestingly current grads are expecting six figures, no weekends and don't want to take after hours shifts). With student loans on the rise, I think a lot of folks 8-10 years ago like myself said "hell no" and went into specialty fields which has decreased the amount of general practitioners. Veterinary medicine has also lagged behind other fields in terms of compensating other members of the veterinary team, technicians at major teaching hospitals can earn about the same as what Wendy's is hiring folks for right now, literally. Receptionists were and are often paid even worse. We as a field really created this whole situation by not being progressive enough and keeping up with the times. I know of a few practices across the country who have managed to dramatically increase pay for staff and vets alike but these are truly exceptions and no where close to being the norms.

[@jessicar2609]

At the hospital I'm at 100% of people that we have lost since Covid, has been because of the low pay for such a stressful and high demand job. We can't seem to keep CSRs because they deal with such mean clients and get paid like shit. We've lost Vet assistants too for that same reason. We are owned by the biggest corporation in vetmed (cough cough VCA) and they still refuse to pay us a liveable wage.

[@louise6395]

My wife left after fifteen years, as a RVN. A big veterinary corporate took her practice over and hit the accelerator despite shortage of vets and runs and iffy practices around patient safety. The final straw was she found she was only earning £1500 more per year than her student, and despite asking for a payrise they said no. She is now in a new role earning 7k a year more without being yelled at by a stressed client/ vet/ colleagues. She starts and finishes at the times stated on her contract. And is much happier. Most of her colleagues have left too.. a big chain in our area are closing due to no vets. A vet friend of mine earning 35k was begged by corporate to stay and put their money upto 65k to run a practice on their own with one nurse and one receptionist for a large town they left because corporate was throwing money at them to keep it going, the whole situation is fubar. All the best to you guys xx The corperates will buy a practice and squeeze them as hard as they fukin can, and discard it when it all goes tits up. Sad really because the community of animal lovers and thier pets suffer for it.

[@evangelospapagiannis1341]

Hi Louise, I feel sorry about all this experience but I do agree. The biggest problem though is that it shouldn't have been allowed to anyone that has money to invest, to open a business that depends on educated people that have struggled or their lives to obtain a degree and do what they like to do and the way they like it. If this doesn't stop, the profession will be lost within 10 years. I won't lie here and will reveal my happiness when corporations close their practices one after the other. This was a joke that in some point, I was sure, it would come to an end. Clients of a vet practice, a human practice or a pharmacy come because they like the person or persons that serve them this specific service. ie. nobody comes in with an injured dog because of the lower prices. The initial and most important reason is the professional and his/her team and then maybe the better prices etc.

[@sophiarivera7364]

I’m a csr manager and it really has gotten scarier and scarier as the years have passed. There’s an incredible gap in education between the pet parents and medical staff. No one can afford care. There’s a mass exodus in the field and honestly, I’m going to be joining that movement. I’m 25 and simply too young to be feeling this old. I’ve been screamed at, traumatized and disrespected. I’m constantly being pulled in a million directions yet always slacking in some area. I thought the veterinary field was my dream so I stuck it out for my passion for animal care and education. But I realized that the concept of a singular direction for my career is just unrealistic. I may go back to vet med. I do have moral fulfillment in my job. But this is just too much.

[@Torgo1969]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is CSR?

[@krystalsharp7926]

I am a law enforcement officer who feels the same way and going back to school to become a veterinarian. I learned that there is a high rate of suicide for veterinarians and I was surprised yet weirdly looking forward to becoming a veterinarian because I’ve been through that before. I feel prepared to face the pain and suffering because I already live that lifestyle.

[@blip-2024]

@@Torgo1969 short for "customer service representative".

[@anoniukas]

I don't know whether you you din't understand what kind of proffession you where choosing, when you made your choice (that it is a medical field with animals and that this means, that you are going to deal with animal's owners too) or the owners in your country are totally uneducated? ...or... sorry, but in my country people can send a vet to all possible and not possible ways, who is unprofessional, thinks that he knows and can do much more, than he actually can aaaannnddd..., actually, takes care about sick animals so "good", that their colegues lifts their eyebrows automatically in disbelief that a vet could make such kind of mistake in concrete case (in the case, if owners sees that something is wrong with vet or his diagnosis and goes to 1 or 2 vets more in order to get the most effective help for his pet, especially in life or death situations).

[@sophiarivera7364]

@@anoniukas hi! I think there may be a bit of a language barrier but I think I got the idea of the point you were trying to make. I was saying how the job is emotionally taxing, not only bc of the sad cases, but because of the cost of care, folks can’t afford it AND that pet parents aren’t fully educated/prepared for emergency situations. For example, I didn’t even know that male cats experiencing urinary issues could be super dangerous until I started working in the field. I went into the field because I love animals and always do my best to put myself in the clients shoes when it comes to their own distress. But i am only human and can only take so much of that taxation before it becomes unhealthy for me.

[@cperhala8843]

We're in north central Ohio. I used to live in a town of 10,000 that had two vet practices with two vets each. Both lost a vet (one bought a practice an hour away, one didn't come back after maternity leave). I now live in a village of 4000, and there are no vets here. We're driving a half hour to get vet care. Also, there are no emergency hospitals. My beagles were attacked while on a walk on a Sunday afternoon. My dogs were leashed, the other dog broke through an invisible fence. Our options were either Cleveland or Columbus, either about 90 minutes away. Thankfully we were advised to just watch the dogs and get them checked the next day. There is a market for vet care, there just are no vets!

[@lelandscott2264]

DVM here of only 4 years and I want out, like yesterday. This was a career change, and quite honestly it was a mistake. It seems as if every aspect of the field is so rife with toxicity that it’s impossible to not come home feeling broken. I have yet to meet a single other DVM that says they’d do it again if they could. Every single person I’ve asked has said, without hesitation, no. We all have different things we’d rather be doing. I have never felt so intelligent and yet so incredibly stupid in any other job I’ve had.

[@DVMCellini]

I don't disagree with you. What field did you come from/where do you think you'll go?

[@gryphonennis1002]

aww. I am sorry. I've been a vet since 1993 and I would definitely do it again. But I own my own clinic and I think that makes a big difference. I could never work for a bansfield or some corporate vet clinic. If I dont like a client, I fire them. If I want to do something on the cheap for a client, I do it. There is no office manager to give me sht about it. I have one tech and 2 receptionists and a small little clinic in bumfk nowhere. We all get along and just do our best within the time limits we set.

[@2007shellyvet]

I haven't left completely but 100% refuse to work in GP or emergency medicine. I now do relief and take shifts with shelter medicine and spay and neuter clinics. Minimize any interaction with general public. I love TNR and feel my passion is working with homeless pets anyway.

[@the_loki_saga]

I also work in the field and its definately no joke how bad its getting. From the daily abuse by entitled clients, to the increased work load, and constant compassion fatigue, i see why the caring people in the field are dropping like flies. My heart goes out to all working with animals 💗

[@jinxedskyy]

as my first job I worked at a vet clinic. sadly, being a part time room tech you have to deal with people and I tried to avoid it. I don't think I want to work at a vet clinic if I have to be a room tech, id rather just be in the back. but my boss was abusive in a way, being condescending and yelling at her employees in private if something wasn't done right or perfect. not being respectful, more like talking down on us as peasants. That was my first job experience. I am happy ii got to experience helping animals, and more, being in a vet clinic but I felt more of a nuisance since I was in training still. I learned a lot, like typing in med labels on the computer, packing surgical packs, etc.. made a few mistakes here and there but not very often.. just hard to find a good work environment

[@RhodaBlack]

I am always grateful for all the help vets have given me over the years, and incredibly grateful for the vet that gave me an emergency appointment for the hamster. Sadly she passed away as she was very sick

[@simonsmith7594]

I work for Mars in the UK as a receptionist the amount of clients who abuse or demand when we having to offer is unreal just not enough staff anywhere.

[@indylwth2327]

Been a vet for 12 years. I am OVER rude and abusive clients. If you want to scream at me because you’re stressed, you are welcome to bugger off. It is not ok to treat people like that and we don’t have to take it. Most vets go over and beyond for your pet and we are much cheaper than the medical field yet we get told over and over again that we are only in it for the money. Do you go and shout at the dr because he won’t work for free or perhaps the shop because they don’t give food away for free even though there are starving people out there? Love for animals does not pay my bills and if YOU were a vet, you would find that it doesn’t pay yours either. You would very quickly realize how hard vets work and how low the pay is in comparison for hours worked. I’d leave the profession too if I could. It’s just not worth it anymore.

[@dcwatashi]

Maybe you guys get yelled at because most of you don’t have a friggin clue how to take care of our animals. I just lost two cats because of incompetent vets. And this has nothing to do with money. They are not in it to advocate for the animal. Can’t be bothered to do any follow up any troubleshooting just the basics. I can learn how to read labs on my own thank you

[@indylwth2327]

@@dcwatashi Do your own veterinary work then since it is so easy and we are so incompetent.🤷🏼‍♀️ Reading labs are easy, interpreting the results in context of history, clinical signs and biological systems is where it gets tricky. But please, do your incompetent vet a favour and show him or her how it’s done.😂😂😂 Problem is that you don’t even know what you don’t know and hence you think you know something and that veterinary is an easy field to work in. Yes, you get better and worse vets as in any career but owners who actually know what they think they know is very, very, VERY scarce.

[@jieaktuun]

@@indylwth2327 well said

[@dcwatashi]

@@indylwth2327 I belong to a very reputable online form and it’s not Facebook and those people know way more about these little idiosyncrasies than the veterinarians otherwise these groups would never have been formed in the first place I shouldn’t have to be the one to bring to the attention to my veterinarian that the eosinophils are red flagged and the neutrophils are red flagged and not to do any further diagnostics that’s not my job it’s their job to point these things out to me. I am still very respectful to these veterinarians and the last couple years I know it’s been brutal but when I have to point out things in the labs that they haven’t then either they are exhausted or they just don’t care Course it’s just like any other occupation you’re going to have the good the bad and the ugly. But sadly these animals cannot advocate for themselves and since we the owners are not medically trained we shouldn’t have to be doing all this research we’re actually the one spending the money of paying for a service that is not being completed.

[@indylwth2327]

@@dcwatashi Dammit, I should’ve skipped the 7 years or blood sweat and tears, two degrees and massive debt and also joined a “reputable Facebook group” and learned everything I know from there. A colleague of mine suffered one of those as well. FB told his client that my colleague missed a GDV that had, a according to them, was present for multiple weeks and misdiagnosed it as a gastro.🤦🏼‍♀️ Impossible, but because FB said so, the owner refused to ever see him again and would rather go to another practice when he was on duty. We all spoke to her and discussed it. She chose to believe HER reputable Facebook group, so pardon me for having little faith in the internet experts. You do get great clients, who know a lot and who’s opinion I value. The average FB genius isn’t that.

[@ChaoticBiRanger]

Idk how you can't address the pitiful pay of veterinary nurses. Poor pay is the #1 reason I see techs leaving this field. They can't afford to live, let alone have a house or family. They make less than shelf stockers at Target, all the while performing anesthesia and assisting with surgeries.

[@hawtdawgwatur]

I am a CSR at the private clinic I work at and the past month has been so hard. Every clinic in the area is overflowing, hospitals have closed, and my schedule is booked 2 weeks out. That article really just confirms why work has been so hard lately and why I'm feeling so burnt out. At least it's not just a me kinda thing. Absolutely love this video!!

[@DVMCellini]

Thanks and yeah - same here. It’s brutal.

[@Tobeh]

I’m also a CSR at a small clinic (2 full time vets, 2 relief vets who are personal friends of our vets come in 2 days a week, 7 techs, and 2 crs) we managed to figure out a system that has us only booked out by at least 1 day and at most 4-5 days. During the height of Covid we were booked out for 2 weeks, surgeries booked out by 8 months. On top of our 30 scheduled appointments we have each day we also take anywhere from 2-10 emergency cases as well, making sure these pets can be seen without having to sit in the line at the emergency clinic. People just didn’t understand and even went as far as to say that “it’s not like this is real medicine how can it be so hard?” I had 0 experience in the veterinary world but I had 10+ years of CSR experience, they needed some one who could handle angry clients and diffuse the situation and figured I could train on the job. It’s been interesting but I feel like I am where I am meant to be now

[@boholilo7740]

Keep on keeping on dear veterinarians! We need you and appreciate you! Your calling is more important than you realize. Forget the jerks and know there are so many of us who see your struggle. God bless you all for helping to heal, you are a gift to the world! 💕💗💖

[@OldManShoutsAtClouds]

As a pet owner, I'm extremely frustrated with a 2-3 week lead time, forced to do an in-person visit to get allergy meds that we've used every single year for the last 5 years. Why do i need to pay you $300 to look at my pet and say "yep, they need allergy meds just like the last 5 years".

[@DVMCellini]

I agree that’s annoying. I’m working on a video about telemedicine for this (and other) reasons.

[@OldManShoutsAtClouds]

@@DVMCellini this would be a life saver for pet owners 🙌

[@tinabowdrn174]

I was a tech for over 14 years, and over 12 were in ophthalmology. After many years, I did have my own caseload. Simple rechecks, and I would triage most emergencies. No extra pay for any of it. Ultimately, it was the spinal damage from picking up a dog that ended my career. Sad thing is, I left and worked the register for a museum, and got a 10% pay raise to start. The abuse I see my former students go through is unreal. I've offered to field horrible people's calls for them, because I won't take it (under the guise of calling myself "corporate headquarters"). I also think starting a bad client list separated by area and accessible to only vets is one way to avoid some harassment. Even though it's not good for the animals, the loss of staff isn't worth dealing with people who make threats or are abusive.

[@moo_poo288]

So true in the Pharmacy profession too. The Corona put an enormous strain on staff. Corporations put on more & more duties. At one point pizzas did not make techs happy. Bonuses did not perk up depressed and overworked staff. Other medical professionals not accessible, yet there we were at an open counter. Many retired in the past 2 years. Positions sit unfilled. The patient's were angry and stressed. Providing optimal care suffers. Thank you to the VET professionals who deal with their work loads, compassionate hearts, and despair. Love you so much for keeping our furry friends safe and cared for. 😻

[@calliemtb]

I work as a DVM at a lower-price walk-in clinic that serves mostly low income owners (43 yrs total in the profession: 33 yrs as DVM, 10 yrs as an ass't). For the past 18 months, since a huge number of non-client owners can not get appts at their regular clinics for weeks, we are absorbing them as walk-in cases, in addition to our regular volume. We are short at least 3 DVMs, and could use a bunch of support staff! It has been bizarre how some of these non-clients treat us despite their seeing how stuffed the large reception area is. We triage as needed of course. Some clients are just plain CLUELESS...or don't care, or think they and their pet are exceptional! I am hoping to hang on a couple more years...

[@allpro2812]

Now these non clients are the dirty apples who are clueless and more to your stress and on top of that they are low income so it's a lose lose situation , stop taking walk in's and just focus on emergency and normal apptmnts , your health is most important thing and don't lose it over a dog or cat , learn to say no

[@loredanaschwertfeger3369]

Thank you for commenting on this article. I agree it was very well done and true information. I definitely think veterinary technician compensation is is a major issue causing turnover. Also, toxic work environments. More needs to be done to support the mental health of all workers in the Veterinary field.

[@CinHalCedHerChance]

Well, the internet and streaming online for money has changed things IMMENSELY!!! TikTok, Twitch, OF, etc...young people don't like school and want easy money and since they see others making a career online, they're doing the same. It's going to happen in all fields. This is literally a new revolution and turning point in the world. (not by accident either)

[@P.H.R.O.G]

I naively didn’t realise this was also a problem in the US. The UK has had somewhat of a nurse shortage for many years but COVID changed everything. Many vets I’d worked with for years left the industry all together, and so many colleagues left the hospital in favour of small clinics. Clients really don’t realise how hard we have it right now, I currently work at a clinic that ran on seven vets, now we have one. I understand their frustration, but they don’t see the hard work we put in behind the scenes.

[@mpdnd1335]

Being a vet is very stressful. You have to deal with the pets plus the owners. I understand why many vet practices have days on and days off for vets (mostly women because they have family obligations). I am glad that I never became one because it is a lot of work, instead I married one. That was in the days before emergency clinics when I had to act as a vet tech in the middle of the night during surgeries. Since I have a medical background, I make my own decisions concerning my pets, however, for people who don't have background, I can imagine that it is very hard to make decisions, especially when it can get very expensive very fast. I am well aware that there is a vet shortage. There will be a shortage of both vets and doctors in this country because of the way the system is set up. Medicine should never be a profit driven system, however, you should be able to make a decent living. Too much greed has intervened along with insurance companies, drug companies, equipment and overhead costs. Wall Street has taken over many vet clinics and then we have Monsanto taking over vet and medical schools.

[@cbkell15]

Shout out to all the veterinary care workers in the smallest state in the country , NE England and across the nation. Thank you for sharing this and being a voice , you hit the nail on the head!! Its so very appreciated that you are speaking on this to help spread awareness and maybe help to add pressure on getting a plan made and utilizing some of the support staff in more specialized roles to help spread the workload so we who are in the field can get back to focusing on helping more pets and their quality care. Im grateful for all the clients , pets , staff and colleagues you are helping. Thank you for being outstanding!!

[@sophievmm]

I wanted to become a vet all my life, but recently gave up that dream halfway through college because I felt I would not get accepted into schooling. Feels a little reassuring to hear that the vet field is way more emotionally intense and difficult than I perceived it to be. Even though I won't be working with animals, at least it won't be a job where I would change from loving it to hating working in it everyday because of the clients and unsuccessful stories. I respect vets, techs, receptionists so much and seeing recent news helped me accept that maybe it was not meant for me.

[@mathiildouum8493]

I am a french vet and I totally agree with you. However I think something else might be fundamental to help during this crisis : educating clients. Especially about how they get medical information and how they use it because it would alleviate some of the demand for vet care. Today, pet owners have instant access to the inexhaustible source of information that is the Internet. And usually what they read online leads to them asking for care. I think it is a new skill that veterinarians have to master so that they can teach their client : how to seek medical information using reliable websites or other media. It would also benefit the client-veterinarian relationship and it would make them active partners in pet care.

[@lideabarker8161]

Since the pet can't speak the carer is the one who must convey to the vet any info that would help in the diagnosis, am I not right? So, I find that getting some help from the internet helps me to rule out some things and educate myself so I can better understand what my vet is telling me. It would also help if vets could suggest some over the counter ways to cut costs for people who are not rich instead of dispensing the most expensive drugs they have. Some will do this, some will not. I like a vet that will help me work within my budget.

[@lollipop-zf1rs]

I graduated from Vet school (DVM) about 3 years ago. Still building on my experience. The Veterinary hospital I'm currently working has a very toxic and abusive environment, both from senior staff, management and clients. Really sad. From the most populous black country.

[@jinxedskyy]

my first job was at a vet clinic. boss was very condescending and yelled at employee in private. not great person in that aspect

[@juliemoses1909]

I just had a bad experience with a bad vet and then getting chewed out by a specialist vet. Honestly I could have done better as an owner without a vet afraid to tell me my cat had cancer. The pet needlessly suffered from appointments not being available and no one suggesting a biopsy early on.

[@taravenezio9028]

Yes it's been a very big challenge the past few years. I'm a small animal GP - and we are fully booked about 2 months in advance, and every morning when I walk in, there are somewhere between 15-20 requests to be seen that day for sick pets. We save a few spots open each day for emergencies, but I am seeing that plus an extra 5-10 pets daily. Add in an aggressive pet, add in all those that need to be sedated for procedures, add in the true emergency like a HBC or respiratory distress and it's chaos. Broken bone that needs referral? We have a nurse calling literally 10 hospitals to try to get them referred - now we have lost that nurse for up to an hour, while we're still all trying to get these pets seen. Sick animal that needs 24 hour care? Good luck, most e-hospitals have closed their doors to patients by mid-day because they are also over-run. It is very trying, and I end up seeing more pets than I should in a day just to get them some care, but the level of care suffers. Then add disgruntled angry hurtful clients screaming and cursing at us for everything from a toenail trimmed too short, to the cost being $3 higher than the estimate, or that we're just simply too booked to help - and we've got a demoralized crew putting on brave faces and driving home in tears. And I agree, I don't see it changing.

[@jessicar2609]

This is exactly what's happening at my hospital! It's good to know we're not the only ones in this position, but I also hate that this is the case.

[@DVMCellini]

I can't figure out why supply/demand doesn't apply to this situation and lead to prices increasing to accomodate for this problem. Higher earnings = more staff = more capacity to help more animals. I don't think it even takes that big of a price increase nor do I think it would dissuade pet owners frankly.

[@allpro2812]

Pick and choose ur clients , if some one is genuine they try to help but if some ones too needy and special then it will add to ur stress so just say no . At end of the day you , ur health and peace of mind are priceless . Stop making people happy , as u can never make them Happy , stay in ur comfort zone and enjoy what u do without stress

[@thuja1m]

This has been my dream job since I was 5. And I have been doing it 30 years. And this pandemic has broken me. I am a solo practitioner in a rural community and if I leave, I don't know what it will do to my patients and clients. But I can totally relate to crying on the way home every night, especially because there is nowhere to refer the cases that need far more than I have to offer. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out to be honest.

[@pwood6532]

​@@thuja1mhang in..you are a vital part of the community.self care..take time for yourself to decompress.i know how you feel.we had a sign out front saying "be kind" during pandemic.

[@Stuff2734]

I agree with this 100% I work at a veterinary hospital that was private until we recently partnered with (bought out by?) thrive during the pandemic. The amount of staff we have lost during the pandemic is ridiculous and the clients have just become ruder and more privileged. One of our older vets already retired, and 2 more have put in their notice (although I’m not sure if they’re retiring or moving onto another practice). That’ll leave us with only one older vet while the rest are more recent graduates. It’s crazy how much the field has changed in the 3 years that I’ve worked in it.

[@NotesFromTheTexasPanhandle]

I’ve been a vet assistant since 2006. I would love to attend vet school, but with the money I’ve made- let’s just say there’s some debt. I would love to alleviate the strain on our system, so much.

[@Woolsa]

The animal hospital I work at used to be a 5 Dr practice (4 full time, 1 part time). Last year a Dr left to start her own practice. We have been trying to hire a full time vet for a year! Last month we had one Dr start maternity leave and one Drs husband died suddenly. We have a relief vet working 2 days a week. Our one Dr has been working 6 days a week and some days she is the only Dr working. I feel so bad for her. As for the high turnover with receptionists, where I work they are quitting because they can go work at a fastfood place and make more money. Two of our best receptionists left last year to work at a children's dental office. They are already making $20/hr compared to the $12-$15/hr they would make at the animal hospital.

[@DVMCellini]

Working solo in a busy practice is so challenging. I've been there for short periods of time and it was brutal.

[@dawnhazell2697]

I was hired as a vet receptionist 5 months ago alongside 1 other, the other new receptionist is already talking about how long she'll stick it out because of the low pay being so unsustainable. Meanwhile, I have another part time job to make up the pay and find myself burned out most weeks due to the workload.

[@VHarlequinxQueenV]

As a CSR I really appreciate this so much. Thank you

[@betriecemash8146]

We are in the same situation in the UK, however our demand increased also because people were buying pets in lockdown. A lot of our shelters actually stopped adoptions because they foresaw a lot of animals being returned after lockdown, so people turned to breeders

[@schlagzeugerin3289]

Current vet student set to graduate in 2024 (halfway there, woo!) and it's been talked about in school about how the ~30 vet schools in the US do not produce enough vets to meet the demand/shortage that we are facing. I've also had similar thoughts about a PA position in vet med-- possibly a 4 years veterinary technology bachelor's degree could work for something like this? But yeah if people could start with just being nicer, that would be amazing...

[@dariankranz9594]

Yeahhh. My practice used to have 4 doctors and now we only have 2. A hospital by me got someone from England, paid for their moving expenses and gave them a $90,000 sign on. The shortage is real. I’m a receptionist at my hospital and you are right, it isn’t easy. After clients making me cry when I’m just trying to help them-I do tend to question if I get paid enough to even try

[@rkara34]

I shadowed a 35 year old doctor who was already looking to retire. They seemed so tired of the job already I was second guessing the field.

[@andydoufreisn2973]

I’m 4 years in I’m hanging in there but I have some friends that love it

[@Mangobaango]

I am starting vet school this fall at the only university that offers the program in my province. They are planning to increase the number of students they can have by 25% because of the shortage. It was supposed to be done much sooner but the pandemic delayed the project.

[@KayTee979]

As a fellow veterinarian I am going to heavily disagree on the mid-level "save". Hear me out. First, the idea of a mid-level was developed by head, corporate people in Mars (this is important, very important). Here are some reasons why I really hate the idea of a mid-level for veterinary medicine (this is long, I apologize, but I am very passionate about this topic as I see this as the absolute downfall of veterinary medicine). 1. At this time, it is still true that the vast majority of people entering veterinary medicine are doing so because they want to be general practitioners. The vast majority that graduate veterinary medicine go on to be general practitioners most because they want to, some because they end up there. The "simple stuff" that you are wanting a mid-level to take over is the bread and butter of a general pracitioner. Vets who go into general practice WANT to do those things. They want to develop that relationship with a client and their pets. They want to do the vaccines, ear infection, allergies, broken nails, etc. Most people going into veterinary medicine and graduating veterinary medicine are looking to be in general practice and don't want to be doing only complex, complicated medical cases and surgeries. If you start stripping away some of the responsibilites that make general practice appealing (healthy animals, vaccines, new puppy/kitten/patient visits, building lifelong client relationships, etc) you are going to start losing veterinarians. I know a bunch of general practice vets who have already stated they will leave the field if this shift occurs. 2. I don't see how we can even develop a mid-level type education and A. significantly cut back on schooling and B. reduce cost. If we look at the current PA-model in human medicine, they have to take similar pre-reqs to get into PA school, so you are looking at a minimum of two years of undergrad. PA school itself spans 2 years, but they go year round (covering the summer semester). Current veterinary curriculums generally don't go through a summer semester. So you'd have 2-3 years alone of a mid-level equivalent of schooling. Given veterinary school is going to be not much longer, it just doesn't make much practical sense. I don't depend on any university/college/etc to keep costs low. That is laughable. The suggested costs I have seen would put a veterinary mid-level at about $100-200k in debt not including undergrad, which is getting them to where vets are debt-wise, so they aren't saving money. We will just end up with an even worse group of people being paid piddly-squat for the educational debt they take on and literally stuck in a field they can't leave and yet another group of people killing themselves because they can't up and leave due to the debt and staying sucks because we still aren't addressing any of the other inherent issues in the field. 3. I don't see how we can trim the current veterinary curriculum into a PA-equivalent. Veterinary medicine isn't just about cats/dogs, we'd have to somehow fit in the horses, farm animals, exotics, etc as welll into this. Unless we are really only looking to fix the small animal shortage and not address the large/farm animal shortage and we decide a mid-level veterinary position will only be licenesed to work on dogs/cats. Even then, veterinary medicine is very much a breadth of information with minimal depth. We already in 4 years barely scratch the surface of medicine. Our knowledge is already fairly truncated to fit into a 4 year curriculum. I don't see how it can be truncated much further. 4. Pay. We already pay veterinary technicians absolutely poorly. We pay veterinarians really poorly. What type of salary are you going to give to a veterinary mid-level that will sufficiently support them making a living wage that will ALSO pay their student loans? We need to focus on addressing the current salary issues (and the fact that veterinary medicine doesn't have a single technician license across the US) before we ever start thinking about any sort of mid-level. 5. All current models developed about veterinary mid-levels has NO plan for developing a licensing board for them or any sort of malpractice insurance/etc. All models have tossed any sort of malpractice/responsibility on the "overseeing" veterinarian. And this brings me full circle to the point I made above, this idea of a veterinary mid-level is being pushed by the big corporations (Mars), because think about it. They can hire a TON of mid-levels for absolutely crap pay, fire a large portion of DVMs (as they will only need them for surgeries and more intense medical cases and to "supervise" the mid-levels) and literally have clinics run by mid-levels. Do you think the exam fees are going to decrease? The vaccine charges? Any charges to the owners will decrease with these clinics hiring mid-levels that they pay less? Nah, that is all going directly to CEO/upper management pockets. The DVMs that used to do general practice are now only doing medical cases and surgeries (which has been shown to contribute to burn-out for GP vets because that isn't what they signed up for. Image being told you can't do neurology anymore and you have to see only canine skin allergy cases for the rest of your career) AND they are responsible for a bunch of mid-levels on top of their own cases. More stress/frustration as they can't literally be in 5+ places at once to be sure everything is going well. Also all malpractice by the mid-level is on their ass/their license and the mid-level (based on current proposed models isn't responsible for anything). I can totally see Mars having days of absolutely no DVMs on site and yet still making the DVMs they have hired "responsible" for those cases despite those being their days off (I can about guarantee this will happen after over a decade of working in corporate clinics). I know how these corporate entities think, this idea of a mid-level position is nothing more than a gold mine for them. Less staff pay, more money directly to them, less paying of malpractice insurance fees, supposedly cheaper license/CE fees, etc, etc, etc. Don't fall for it. I don't know what the answer is, but it is not veterinary mid-levels.

[@DVMCellini]

Great comment. I actually agree with this I think.

[@vikvik16]

I am a vet med receptionist/vet tech assistant. And I wish I could send this to every one of our clients

[@DVMCellini]

Please do ha

[@kerrydevaney7129]

I just wanted to say you’re an inspiration to me as a student who wants to go to vet school soon! You’re an amazing advocate and I love your honesty and diligence when covering topics

[@DVMCellini]

thank you for saying that!

[@countryhomestead4002]

And, OTC antibiotics will be removed from shelves next year. I have no large animal vets within an hour of me that will take my farm on. So, if I pull any calves, piglets, goats, etc. The mom may die from infection.

[@kasey3k]

I could really tell you care about this. We need more Doctors like you. Thank you for the information Doc!

[@cankerbloom9015]

Same situation in Australia. My clinic is down at least two vets and we’ve been looking for a nurse for the past couple of months. Many emergency clinics are closed part time. I’ve never met so many rude clients in the past couple of years.

[@ShamefulAvocado]

Hey, vet receptionist here. I've been doing this at my moms clinic since just about a year before the pandemic. Pandemic hit and the effects were slow at first, everyone locked down and business really slowed down for a bit. Curbside didn't last too long, relief vet moved cities and wanted more money than we could afford to keep covering thursdays. Slowly but surely, we started to get booked up. Really booked up, we couldn't get people in for three weeks sometimes because of how booked we were, and peoples individual schedules. after several schedule restructurings and a couple times of not accepting new clients (right now I've personally decided 1 new person per schedule day seems to be what works) we've gotten it down to being booked out only a week at a time. So no, I can't get you in, yes I understand how long you've been coming here (even if I can plainly see you haven't been here in 5 years). I was able to refer people who didn't complain about emergency clinic prices for a while, but they cut their hours recently (was 24/7 emergency) and I really had egg on my face when a guy called me back to tell me the place I refered him DIDN'T HAVE A VET. Had no clue, emergency place kinda gave me the cold shoulder when I called them confused and defeated trying to figure out if this guy was lying to me. No sorry I can't get you an appointment till next friday. If you're ok with it I could have you drop them off- Oh they don't do well by themselves? No theres no way we can get you in today, we had a vet tech quit three weeks ago and we're still trying to get a new one. I can put your name on a sticky note if we have someone cancel more than 3 hours before their appointment, if they even call. You'll be the 5th one I've made this week if you're lucky. Sorry, we haven't been able to get your prescription dog food in, chewy bought the entire stock for the month. Oh god, did someone just walk in? I'm on the phone and have 2 other people on hold. Sorry, thats backordered. No I don't know when we'll have it again. Your proprietary allergy pill has gone up to 2.20 per pill. Please don't complain about the price, we're not making any money on it. Are you seriously complaining about the price of your visit, HERE, of all places? I IMPLORE YOU to find cheaper prices ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE CITY. I get paid minimum wage and you have the audacity to complain about our prices? Hell, our doctor probably would have retired already if she had a retirement fund, but she has a heart of gold and wants to keep prices "reasonable". Please just try and call around, I can't help you we're booked out. Oh god, another person rescued a kitten from a storm drain, thats another pet owner now. Oh, you work all week and can only do weekends? We're only open the first saturday of the month because our vet was/is losing her sanity. No, your dog can't have a bath today, what on earth makes you think we can just bathe him? Its already 3 in the afternoon. Oh thank god, you just want a flea and tick pill? just give me a rough estimate of his weight and I'll gladly sell it to you, you don't need your dog looked at. Oh, you bought frontline for your dog? That explains why he still has fleas, that stuff hasn't worked since they started selling it at walmart. Ma'am please stop crying, I just ran the math and your dog has not eaten nearly a lethal dose of chocolate. I want to quit, I can't bring myself to. I know the place will collapse without me. I'm on my 5th co-receptionist in the last 2 years. At least theres some days where I'm not doing sophies choice.

[@jessakent2049]

I left vetmed 1 year ago, after 25ish years in the field. I've been a receptionist, a front desk manager, a scribe, a vet assistant (who scribed, interpreted vet-speak into English, gave estimates & explained each thing... it was a lot), what would now be called a vet tech, a pharmacy tech, on and on. Every non-vet position you can have. Last year broke me. Management let people abuse us, I had no authority to remove people who were abusive and management kept letting them back in. Because of my experience in multiple roles I was asked to do multiple jobs daily with no extra pay for all the work I was doing and no recognition that I was doing them. I ended up having panic attacks and quit. One year later, one vet quit, one is down to part time, the remaining one works 70+ hours a week so she'll burn out soon. For me to go back, management would have to step up and recognize that firing bad clients won't cost us anything since it'll leave room for more good clients. And let's not forget the profit margin most vets have. Maybe 3%. Maybe. Shoestring budgets are common in independent vets, with no room to make cuts without compromising care. And yet, people scream about the costs.

[@valdistsui7858]

Through my clinical rotations as a Rvt, I have seen all of this. Lots of the time it seems management/clients are the issue. I feel like that is the root of the problem, in our field. I have seen time and time again where clients are yelling at the staff. No one deserves the kind of yelling that we receive in our field, y'all know how it is. Then the staff reports this kind of behavior, oftentimes the manager allows the client back in anyways. One to two times , fine, my love of animals will always be first. But 3-4 times, now that is unacceptable. What does this tell your employees? That they are not supported? That their opinions do not matter? That is the common theme I see client wise. Management wise... There are some people who are not fit to be in a management position. At one practice, they would have appointments all morning long, but there is not a single tech who can work on these patients until 12pm. This went on for the entirety of my rotation, 3 months. Absolutely nuts, the amount of stress that is involved and you haven't even clocked in yet. Oh, don't forget the few emergencies that would come in. Yes, I understand that we are in this field to help animals,but when overloading the schedule the care for your patients rapidly decreases and that is not fair to the staff or patients. That is simply neglect and abuse from the management side. It feels this whole field needs to change, but the avma better hurry with those changes and better not be lollygagging.

[@kk961k]

Thank you for posting this! I was enrolled in vet tech school and withdrew just a few months ago. My feelings of job security/pay/burn out heavily swayed my decision. I’m unsure if I should go back to school or even find a job as support staff because of the direction vet med is headed in. It’s rough!

[@cat54907]

😔 I feel this. I’m sort of doing the same thing except I was in vet school. I’m taking a year to defer to figure it out- it’s such ad admirable profession but I don’t want it to ruin my life…

[@Debbie338]

I've been in practice 30+ years and I agree with everything you say. I love the idea of a Veterinary PA. There are plenty of excellent Vet Techs (some CVT and some not), who could certainly handle the job. An advanced Vet Tech degree would fill a huge void.

[@roy-nk4vq]

The pay would have to justify the investment in an advanced Vet Tech degree.

[@Patriotsounds]

CVT for 8 years here. Fuck this career, I'm out.👍

[@DVMCellini]

Good for you. I mean that btw. Wish you the best.

[@Debbie338]

@@roy-nk4vq Of course.

[@mhammer3186]

@@Patriotsounds I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope you enjoy whatever career you choose next.

[@denisechampagne3999]

I agree 100% on the mid level vet PA! There would be a huge increase in the pets getting care more quickly, and the techs would have a way to continue progressing in their careers. I have been saying this for YEARS! Now, the veterinarian’s need to champion this effort, not stand in it’s way! As a CVT I decided to get my Master’s in Adult Education and Training and then go into teaching after my decades in practice.

[@tiagopelegrineti]

A quick solution would be to open up the barriers for foreign profesionals. I'm a recently-graduated brazilian veterinarian and around here we live the extreme opposite - a Veterinary Surplus. We have more than 300 officially recognised veterinary medicine courses, and around 12.000 graduating veterinarians per year. This leads to an enormous devaluation of our profesion, with emergency care veterinarians working 12 hour shifts with no benefits or working rights and earning around $2,50 an hour. The problem is the barier of entry in other countries, like USA, Canada and Australia, which demand that profesionals from non-developed countries (such as mine) go through a process that can add up to tenths of thousands of dollars (many, many times our yearly minimum wage). It's okay that we must have official recognition from the country's organizations, but this could easily be subsidized in order to solve such shortage.

[@gryphonennis1002]

I do think the student debt issue is also key. I know several folks who would have become vets but didnt want the enormous debt. I am in my 60s and have not been able to pay off my student loans, due to a very raw deal on one sallie mae loan. I knew a classmate who had the same loan and she was only able to pay it off by getting married and living on her husband's salary for 10 years while 100% of her earnings (ER in a big city hospital) went to paying off that loan. I live and work rural. There isnt the same kind of earnings to be had in rural america. I love the life and the work, but I cant find any new grad willing to work for a rural pay when they could get the higher earnings at a city clinic. We've lost 4 vets in my area. There is no one to replace them.

[@rhiannn3416]

So many things to cover here! I work as a veterinary receptionist, but an also a vet student (going into 4th year now). Although its true that every now and then there are some god awful demanding clients, I still do find that the majority of clients are actually lovely. Of course, there is still the odd client that is completely unreasonable. Still, these kinds of situations are reasonably common, i just have to remind myself that out of the hundreds of phone calls I take a day, the "bad" phone or in-person interactions make up only a small number. Here are some many common ones as a receptionist: - People calling up last minute demanding repeat medications only when they have run out and not beforehand and being extremely upset when I tell them the vets are preoccupied at the moment and may or may not get to dispensing repeats (if your pet needs those pets to live, please make sure you have plenty on hand at all times!!! This is your responsibility!!!!) - People calling up wanting to speak to a vet to discuss a medical issue when we have never seen them for a particular issue before and I have to politely remind them that we need to see the animal to actually know whats going on (which for some reason a lot of people get upset over). - People calling up wanting antibiotics without a consult (i have gotten so many calls from clients asking for antibiotics because their dog has an infected wound/ear infection/etc.- and many get upset when I tell them that no, we cannot dispense antibiotics without a prior consult). This is just ridiculous. You would never ever call up to your human GP demanding antibiotics, I have no clue why people think its okay to demand this from vet clinics. We can't just hand out antibiotics willy-nilly for the very same reasons as in human med - antibiotic resistance is a serious concern, and they are not something that we can just dispense at your will. - People calling up demanding to see a vet RIGHT THIS INSTANT because they're a frequent client. This one is quite a shame, but some frequent clients seem to think they are entitled to us bending the world to their will. Even if they are a frequent client, I cannot magically make our schedule clear up, or make an extra vet descend from the heavens to help their pet. We simply do not have the staff available. Sorry. In any case, most of the issues boil down to having a HUGE demand for veterinary care, and not enough vets and staff to accomodate (although, some people could be a little nicer when speaking to us). The practice I work at is constantly fully booked out, often a week in advance. It is very, very rare that we will have available appointments on the day, although we do have appt blocks available for emergencies. The whole scheduling situation often gets worse right before and after public holidays, with people scrambling to get their sick pets seen. It seriously gets crazy sometimes. Some other issues I've seen as a student, just from watching lots of consults (and doing a few myself). I can see why many clients think we're trying to drive money out of them. When a client comes in for some vague issues e.g. lethargy, vomiting, diarrhoea... these are very very vague symptoms that could be caused by almost anything, so vets often have to lay out ALL the possible diagnostic options for you, because we also don't know what the underlying cause might be. It is the vets job to offer all the diagnostic options, what we can rule out with these tests (diagnostic value of each test), and what the risks might be not performing some of these tests. E.g. if you opt out of X-rays, we could potentially miss a foreign body. Y Clients will probably be offered CBC, biochem, X-rays, hospitalisation & IVF (if your animal is severely dehydrated) etc., of course, with these tests we then have to explain the prices (trust me, this isn't a nice thing for us to do either). Talking about money is the hard part. In an ideal world of course we'd like to offer all these tests and get the best possible outcome, but money often gets in the way for the BOTH client, patient and vet. This can often seem like a LOT of information overload/overkill to a client and i understand that it can seem disingenuous when we have to start talking about prices, but it is literally our job to lay out everything on the floor for you, give you the pros and cons, and help you make an educated guess on the next best course of action based off our findings from the history you've given us and our physical examination. Having to discuss the prices of each course of action is the worse part, for the vet AND the client. And even after all the diagnostics and medications, there is still the chance that the pet might have just eaten something bad and be better the next day even WITHOUT veterinary intervention. We just don't know. Our wages are NOT dependent on how many tests we can run or meds we can dispense, we are legitimately trying to offer the best options for the patient that we can.

[@NeffyCat]

It's nice to meet you. I really appreciate that you are talking about the realities of what vets face. Thank you for how much you have already helped animals.

[@littleleonine9061]

Thank you for the reception shout out. Sometimes we feel a bit forgotten.

[@AlphaDal-if9vv]

I thought about going to school to be become a vet-tech years ago. I liked the idea of being able to help provide treatment to animals after seeing how well vets/techs treated my dog for years, but ultimately decided against it, because at the time I would have spent thousands of dollars to become a vet tech and only make $16.00 dollars in my state. Granted I don't know what the wages are now in my state, but as you read in the article about rising wages and inflation, I started to think about how worth it would be financially in the end. Sure it would it be nice to work with animals and help treat/heal them, but if it didn't pay enough to help me afford an apartment or buy a house in the future, and give me a way to live comfortably then I personally couldn't see that as a viable career option or path in life. Regardless of how good or bad things are in this field I still don't see myself going to school to become a vet tech now or in the future.

[@JWalsh24]

I work at a veterinary hospital that does routine and emergency appointments. We are the only emergency hospital within a 40mins - 2 hours radius (depending on what way to travel). However we have had many local clinics push patients away and send them to us bc “we take anyone”. I work in Canada and our government does not give enough money towards education for veterinary students, leading to less people being able to attend veterinary college. In tech school I had 32 students in my class, maybe 25 of them graduated and maybe 16 of them are working in practice. My hospital currently needs to hire more technicians, more CSR’s, and more veterinarians in order to give proper care to our patients. We currently work on a 7 vet, almost 15 (mat leave included) techs, and 4 CSR staff… it’s not enough, but I know we’re lucky to have the high number of staff that we have. My sister (an RN) always says she’s upset by how little we get paid, but if the clients and government do not see our value then we will never be able to get paid proportionally to the work we do. We need a shift in perception to the work we do. So many people say “I could never do the work you do”, and it’s true, but why do we get the shitty end of the stick for something someone else couldn’t stomach?

[@cybergzu7855]

ER practioneer in Europe here, and facing the same issues... I can only add to your message: clinics owners, support your staff!!! A client tried to physicaly abuse me a few years ago, I had to physicaly evict them from the clinic with the help from the police. I had no support from my superiors, they didn't even check on me that night. When I finaly quit they looked at me astonished and told me I was acting like a child for not tolerating the lack of respect they showed to me. On a minor scale I saw this repeated more than once with owners siding with an abusive client against their own staff...

[@souzanessaband]

There are hundreds if not thousands of foreign veterinarians in the United States going through a TERRIBLE process of acquiring a license. Doing exams after exams that are 10x harder than what U.S. veterinarians have to go through. If AVMA would allow those foreing vets to befome licensed a lot of this shortage would be decreased. I know several BOARD CERTIFIED ESPECIALIST foreign veterinarians that are still going through the ECFVG exam and cannot work cause the exam system anf availability is not fair at all!!!!

[@jdenino6022]

My female dog got mammary cancer age 13. I paid about $2,000 for a mastectomy but declined further treatment bc I could not afford to pay $10,000 for another radical mastectomy and chemo. My dog had good quality of life for ten months and I then had to have her put down due to the cancer metastasizing. We need good health insurance options to help pay high vet bills.

[@sashaparadowski6021]

My practice has been moving through tech assists like nobody’s business. And now we’re severely understaffed. There’s a severe shortage in support staff that many practices and ECC hospitals that are partnering with online schools just to motivate people to grow and gain licensure if they decide to work in the field.

[@gridironfan100]

Corporations are ruining the field as well. Money, money, money, cut staff, keep pricing people out of care so they have to euthanize. Lose the personal connection, etc.

[@MSUSpartansRock]

I totally agree with a mid-level pratctioner along the lines of a PA or NP. As an LVT of 22 yrs!! working at a university vet hospital and lab animal med, I feel I've done that role already. It would be great to be able to get credentialed for it and paid for it!! :)

[@samcrdx8016]

Not just America but almost everywhere in the world. Even vet schools are getting much lower admissions than before.

[@deniselholder]

Reminiscing I am an older animal loving person. I have seen the veterinarian practice change so much over the years. For the better with medical advancements but for the worse with big impersonal clinics. I think the biggest issue is the cost of veterinarian school and the cost of the wonderful new treatments requiring a lot of investment. Years ago all the vets in town had their own private practice. I would know the vet almost as a friend and the vet and staff would know my pet’s name and disposition. The vet had time to spend with you and your baby. I would spend 30+ minutes on every visit. Now when a vet graduates there is no way they can open a practice. Student loans are enormous. The cost of buying up to date equipment. Staff, office building and so much more. Now I go to a clinic where my babies see a different vet every time. We never build a relationship that helps better outcomes. The vet is working with debt for someone else perhaps following their procedures and practices that could be vastly different than their own. They may not want the hassle of owning their own business but want more respect for their knowledge and love of animals. Veterinarians are definitely more rushed and not as happy. The great improvements in care has also greatly increased costs. I may now have my last fur baby because I can no longer afford care. I will foster. This old lady misses the days when the vet would know your name in the grocery store and you didn’t worry about the bill.

[@astridb9700]

Idk if it helps to know; over 40% of practices we have in this country are running on no-to-low profit and some of the doctors that worked with the expectations you remember may have been starving themselves and living very very modest lives. And probably still had loans. That's the terrible part of all of this. The loans have gotten worse, but the education has always been gatekept and expensive.

[@bugsdohavefeelings]

Thank you for bringing attention to this growing issue! My biggest fear is that by the time I graduate vet school I won’t have any registered techs or experienced people in the field. I’ve been a tech for a year and the turnover rate is exhausting; I’m constantly training new people for temporary fixes and then they’ll leave or get burned out and I have to start over

[@lizr3397]

Maybe having vet schools in more than just over half of our states would help. But then of course you’d lose a few practicing vets to educate them. And in the meantime we’d still all be drowning. As those of us who’d love to leave and go do something else won’t (I mean I’d rather own a bike shop than continue being an ER vet some days), because we respect and care for our colleagues too much to leave them to keep the ship afloat alone. I like the idea of Vet NPs but again have to come up with a model for educating them, the facilities and faculty to get it done. I think the best thing we can do in the short term is talk more about this publicly to educate pet owners so we all can do our part to ease the burdens on the system. Thank you for this video, all very well stated!

[@adunc17]

We have 4 emergency hospitals in the south Charlotte area. 1 has gone down to only working overnight and weekends and the other 3 are completely overwhelmed having to pick and choose who we can transfer from our general practice for critical care. Owners are frustrated. We all (gp and er vets) are frustrated. I wish there was a solution. Hopefully answers will come. Thank you for creating this video! Side note, I'm surprised they haven't surveyed breeder puppy sales in addition to adoptions in the last 2 years. We've had a ton of new puppies during covid - not sure if it's truly more than usual, but it feels like it!

[@amykarnehm3602]

So many good points! My vet has a huge hospital, 6 vets and open 7 days a week and scheduling is still hard. The CSRs put up with a lot! They’re always great with me because I treat them the way I’d want to be treated!! My little girl is also a patient at Ohio State Neurology Dept so I know the issues there too (our resident just finished and is leaving for Chicago 😪). I love your channel because I’m enthralled with vet med and neuro, specifically 😁. Shout out and hugs and not enough thank yous to give to all the vet med professionals here!!!

[@Drearaquel13]

Thank you for the shoutout for all the receptionists out there! It's definitely been tough, I've been cursed at, belittled and stretched thin from all directions (clients, DVMs, corporate management). If I didn't love animals and want this to be my career I would've quit a long time ago. I'm currently in veterinary technician school and just got promoted to veterinary assistant at work and I'm hoping things will get better.... but anyways, I really loved this video and will definitely be subscribing! Also, I hate that the panera thing is so true, it especially sucks for me when it's right next door to my practice! 😂

[@lideabarker8161]

A good vet receptionist is worth their weight in gold. Truely.

[@daniellesilvious3300]

A big factor in this is the lack of veterinary schools that are able to provide more than a small percentage of their applicants per year with the education that they need to be able to go into this field. As a veterinary student myself, and as I'm sure you have seen veterinary schools have the applicants but they are only accepting less than 10% (being generous here). For example, it took 2 attempts for me to get into school and even then I only got into one of the 6 schools I applied to and it is outside of the country. I know many factors go into this but I have seen stronger applicants than myself, who would have made AMAZING doctors get denied 3 or 4 times give up because sadly, at the end of it all, they have to find a career that will allow them to provide. This saddens me.

[@manonmcclure1474]

Dani brings up a great point. We really do need more veterinary schools and bigger cohorts. PS, Dani, if you got in to Ross, do NOT go. It's currently on the government's Borrower Defense sh*tlist for predatory practices and abuse, and with good reason (speaking from experience). Take another year or two to build your clinical experience and keep reapplying to stateside schools. It is not uncommon for it to take a couple years to get waitlisted or accepted.

[@DanTheVeterinarian]

Thanks Doc!

[@kennikitty]

Here in Germany we're facing a very serious vet (and vet tech) shortage as well. Due to being understaffed, clincs are giving up the clinic status, because they can't provide 24h emergency treatment anymore. The clincs that are still operating around the clock, have to stop taking in clients all the time and unless your pet is literally dying you'll be facing waiting times of 3-5 hours - hello triage! It makes me so mad clients are still contantly bashing the clincs for being expensive and having long waiting times, when they should be happy they even got to see a vet. Unless your pet is very seriously ill there's no reason to bring it into the ER anyway, BUT that's something people STILL don't understand. Our small animal practice is pretty full. We have so much to do. A couple of years ago is was easy getting a routine appointment within a couple of days, but now it's 1-2 weeks. Thanks to Covid, we have more pets than ever. Many of the dogs come from southern and eastern european countries, some from good rescue organizations and some from less... trustworthy ones... A substantial number of these dogs come with problems: behavioral problems, diseases, first time dog owners who're proud to "rescue" a dog and have no idea what they've gotten themselves into - or all of it at once. These dogs and owners need a lot of time. The owners need consultation, the dogs are barely touchable. It's HARD. Our job has always been hard, but more clients, less vets and more stress have made our job a lot harder. Clients don't realize they should be happy to have a vet at all.

[@terab222]

This definitely has been so hard. We were watching a pet last year who needed to go to an evet. The closest one was not seeing any more patients that night as they were busy and couldn’t see any more patients. The next closest evet had a 4-5 hour wait time. Finally got in to see one an hour away. Dog ended up having a ruptured mass and he was bleeding internally. The vets that night literally saved his life and his owners were so thankful. I learned that it is important for pet owners to have back-ups and back-ups to the back-up for primary care vets as well as evets. Of course I couldn’t blame the practices but it was definitely scared for a bit as we weren’t sure what to do. A mid-level provider would be so, so helpful. Fantastic idea.

[@authorthomasmiller]

i have my prime vet i see then i have a 2end prime vet and the 3rd is a banfield and teh 4th is the emergency hospital in Gainesville Florida but still have other vets i use as well just make sure you know all the vets in your sounding area and hope they have something open

[@authorthomasmiller]

just a heads up on holidays always send your vet and staff a cool gift what i do is send 4 tins of royal Dansk cookies to all the vets and staff

[@TEHzMJM]

Up until covid I was seriously enjoying out of hours and seeing strange medical cases, since covid the caseload has become unbearable, I have since left and I’m now just locuming a few days a week for the same wage and less stress, life’s too short.

[@coolgirl21]

I feel a lot of the article as well can relate to bedside nurses in human hospitals (me being one of them). We are also experiencing severe staffing shortages too. Pretty much all of my coworkers who was close to retirement age had all retired when the pandemic hit. Many others right now are on some sort of medical leave, out with covid, etc. On average each week, I get at least 1 call on a day I'm off asking if I could work extra (which I usually don't because I need my work/life balance to prevent burn out). The overnight shifts in which I work have been especially difficult with staffing. As a pet owner of two dogs; one of which with many chronic medical issues, it makes me appreciate my vets (both primary care and the cardiologist) that much more.

[@Chungussy]

Veterinary nurse from the UK here, exactly the same issue here. We even have to factor Brexit which caused a lot of EU vets to return home. Most practices around where I am are running days without a single vet in practice, just nurses picking up what they can and referring the rest.

[@Iamnosey]

WE NEED MORE VETERNNAINS PLEASE CONTINUE WITH SCHOOLING PEOPLE. THE ANIMALS THANK YOU ❤ AND THEIR HUMANS TOO! 😁👍 THANK YOU FOR PUTTING THIS ON HERE.

[@berlinorama]

Thanks so much, I will have a look at the article. I live in Germany and we have a lot of similar problems here. Here in Berlin, the largest city in the country, there are lots of single-vet practices and a few corporate-owned ones (the number is growing), but currently no 24-hour emergency vet anymore, except some mobile vets, if you can reach them and they have time to come see your pet at home. The hospital at the vet med school stopped 24-hour service earlier this year because they couldn't staff around the clock anymore. Vet techs earn shockingly little, so you rarely see one over the age of 30. I think the idea of Vet PAs is great, but no idea if it would work here because the role doesn't even exist in human medicine. I do hope a solution can be found. Here, at least, it is not yet hard to get an appointment at a vet during the daytime because we have a good supply. And the schedule of fees for vets, which hasn't been revised since 1999 (!) is being reworked this October, so hopefully vets will be able to charge more for their work. Then the pet health insurance just needs to improve so people actually buy it.

[@jessegenao3290]

Really great video. I've interacting a lot more with vets and the veterinary field since my cat moving in with me, in large part because of her chronic allergies that my parents couldn't handle. I have a great deal of sympathy for people working in medicine and vet med, as I can definitely see how the profession itself has always been deeply susceptible to burnout and empathy fatigue in and of itself, and all the stressors of COVID19 and inflation has just made it worse. It sucks that being in a field where you care for others can so often put you in situations where you're forced to make so many moral compromises. I think the expectations of medical education are also part of how burnt out doctors and veterinarians are, because the process is so deeply burnout inducing that it kind of sets up the whole population of that field to be prepared to be overworked constantly?

[@dani0328]

Oh yea ! I've only just recently started working as a client service coordinator at a clinic here in San Francisco. Over the year that I've been here, I've definitely noticed the rise and influx of patients post pandemic. Put it into perspective, a year ago today, the earliest we could get you in for just a regular checkup (non urgent) would be about 2-3 weeks out. Now? You're lucky if we can get you in in under 2 months. It's pretty sad because not only does this lead to employee burnout but it poses a challenge in just how reliable we're able to be for long term clients who have been with us for years. The practice I work at has been in business for over 40 years and theres one doctor who's been there since it first started. She's told us how things have definitely changed over the years, there was already a dwindling number of people interested in the field, with the pandemic putting in the 1, 2 punch and gutting the demand for vet needs everywhere, I feel like that was the final nail in the coffin =/

[@autumnmoonfire3944]

❤ I also think that staffing issues could be improved by more vet tech training programs. I do not mean at for profit colleges, I mean affordable programs at state Universities. If a school has a nursing program they often have enough labs that they could also train vet techs. Vet medicine doesn’t face as high a regulatory burden as human medicine. Why not get pop up training across states? The other thing I know hurts vet met medicine top to bottom is the student loan crisis. Why not create a career ladder so people can go from vet tech to vet PA to veterinarian while working part time in the field all the way. The clinical training could be done on the.job because the privacy burden is a lot less than in human medicine. I know at my vet office that reception is done by people who are trained vet techs. It makes telephone triage easier too.

[@susanv7415]

Excellent video highlighting a critical problem. I've personally had to use very expensive emergency services because my local primary practice veterinarian hasn't had an appointment available for a pretty sudden onset but not quite emergency situation. Weeks...don't even mention exotics. I've had parrots for 30+ years and always used wellness visits to prevent big problems. I had to drive 2+ hours in NJ! To get a leg fracture seen and weekly followup was impossible. Vet PAs would be a terrific idea.

[@LocoForChoco123]

Good video with good sources. And I like the idea of a veterinary physician assistant

[@Wizeup881]

A veterinary PA would be great, but until they focus on making all techs require a license, I don't see a PA happening.

[@georgebousley678]

Sorry, 30k+ debt for a license that gets you $15/hr? And all the abuses. No thank you.

[@Wizeup881]

@@georgebousley678 I agree vet med doesn't pay well, but not everyone is making only $15/hr with large debts. I agree this field pays low but it's not THAT horrible if you make the right career moves.

[@shardofsouls3832]

I think the long term solution to this problem is to build more vet schools. Med schools in the US outnumber vet schools five to one. That's insane!!! The average acceptance rate for med schools is 41%, meanwhile the acceptance rate for vet school is astronomically lower at a 11% average. It's my hope to become a large animal vet one day but seeing these numbers kinda gets me down. The solutions you offered would also help a lot.

[@mumoffour6860]

The exact same situation is happening in the UK. I’ve been practicing for 11 years, things have never been this difficult. Not only are we severely short on vets, but as you said receptionists and support staff… which spread me out extremely thin. For the first time in all my 11 years I’m seeing clinics close all around me, and have no choice but to turn patients away.. to where, God only knows!

[@vettim89]

DVM and practice owner in my 34th year. One thing you didn't mention is the % of graduates pursuing advanced training. I believe the AVMA annual report form 2-3 years ago (my memory fails me on the exact year) showed that for the first time EVER over 50% of graduates went into some time of internship or residency instead of entering the work force as general practitioners. When I read that statistic it gave me pause. Obviously that greatly reduces the pool of new graduates available to take positions in general practice but in theory that should work itself out in four or five years. The second is that is there actually a demand for this many specialists? In my area I would say the only two specialties we are really short of is dermatology and ophthalmology. I have multiple surgeons I can and do refer to as well as a number of internists. I fear the debt crisis is pushing this trend as highly debt leveraged new graduates view specialty practice as the surest way to guarantee enough income to service their debt and have a good quality of life. I also think the veterinary schools are encouraging this at least in some places. My fear is that eventually the market will be oversaturated with specialists and sorely lacking GPs (just like human medicine). Human medicine is trying to solve this with PAs and CNPs. I agree we need this is veterinary medicine. A mid level practitioner could easily handle a lot of my more routine cases freeing me up for surgery and the more complex cases.

[@DVMCellini]

Couple things: 1) there's no guarantee in 4-5 years all the grads that didn't go into GP, will then go into GP. if they're pursuing advanced training then they're not headed to GP, by definition. 2) yeah i agree specialists are going to saturate quickly. once that happens and the supply catches up to the demand, we'll be in the same boat as non-specialists in terms of saturation. it'll just take time.