It's not just doctors and nurses. Veterinarians are burning out, too

[Diamond_Dog]

(snip)

Across the country, 23 million families adopted a new pet in the first year of the pandemic. Others, working from home, started paying more attention to their existing pets' daily routines, noticing symptoms like vomiting or coughing. The resulting spike in pet health concerns has been straining a corner of the medical world that doesn't get as much attention as doctors and nurses: veterinarians.

The overwork and short staffing of the pandemic has affected veterinarians as much as it has other doctors and nurses, and dealing with the constant moral dilemmas and emotional output is driving many to burn out. At the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' veterinary hospital in San Francisco, so many vets and technicians have left, the clinic has had to cut back its hours, says veterinarian Kathy Gervais.

Dog owners say they've had to wait months for vet appointments or drive to vets far from home to get care.

Even before the pandemic, vets' mental health was suffering from empathy overload and compassion fatigue. They carry the weight of having to euthanize animals that could be saved, but their owners can't afford the care — Gervais says her practice has to euthanize about five animals every day. Some upset owners become downright abusive, berating vets or later bullying them online.

Veterinarian Kathy Gervais works 12-hour days not only caring for animals, but also helping humans emotionally cope with a sick pet.

"I dare you to try to talk to a veterinarian who's been in practice more than five years who doesn't know somebody who has committed suicide," says Gervais. "I, unfortunately, can count on more than 10 fingers: classmates, colleagues, people I've dated."

More

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/04/08/1086091339/its-not-just-doctors-and-nurses-veterinarians-are-burning-out-too

[Thunderbeast]

1. Veterinarians have a VERY HIGH suicide rate.

[Midnight Writer]

2. I was surprised recently when I had my 19 year old cat put to sleep.

I took her into the practice where I had been getting treatment for her, but I was assigned a young vet I had not seen before, though her name had been on the shingle for some years.

The procedure went smoothly, but I was surprised that the vet was crying. She took it harder than I did.

I knew it was time for my little girl to go. I'd been monitoring her closely, and she finally lost all quality of live. I've had a lot of pets, and I know I made the right (though never easy) decision.

I wonder if the vet was going through a career crisis.

[tblue37]

3. As a young girl I once thought of becoming a vet, but then I realized that I could never deal with

sick & injured animals or, especially, with euthanizing animals. I still feel so sad when I remember seeing a man carrying in his large old dog to be euthanized, and that was 20 years ago.

I could never survive as a vet.

[Midnight Writer]

4. Me, neither. I volunteered at the local animal shelter, and I couldn't take it.

Every animal was a sad story, and many of them never got a happy resolution.

I just wanted to take them all home and make them happy.

[niyad]

5. Thank you for this sad reminder.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

6. I always ask my vet how he is doing

Tell him I appreciate him and thank him every visit for he does the work that would definately put me in a grave.If he's upset I give a sympathetic ear.