The veterinary profession It is perhaps one of the most vocational that exist. It is also one of the most repeated if we ask a group of children what they want to be when they grow up. However, once in the profession, even though the vocation is still there and they continue to be animal lovers, many veterinarians feel tired, hopeless or anxious. It is one of the professions with the most cases of burnout and, in fact, of those with a greater suicide rate.
According to a study published in 2019, the suicide rates between 2003 and 2014 of male veterinarians was 1.6 times higher than that of the general population. And 2.4 times higher when it came to women. As for the technicians, they committed suicide 5 times more and 2.3 times more if they were women.
All this is due to various reasons, ranging from low wages to an excessive amount of Extra hoursgoing through the run-ins with animal guardianswho often expect that certain services are not charged, or that the results when taking your pet to the vet are immediate.
Furthermore, in this profession Vocation is a double-edged sword, because it is often used as a pretext for them to work at ridiculous prices for the real cost of their work. In hypertextual we have talked to four vets, who have given us their vision on all this. And it is clear that there are many things to change. Because if not, as these professionals have been warning for a long time, there will be fewer and fewer veterinarians.
insufficient wages
sonia (not her real name) knows what it’s like to be a veterinarian from the position of businesswoman and employee. For a while she owned a clinic, along with a partner, but currently she works for someone else in the mountains of Madrid.
tells us that is mileurista and he doesn’t even have everything put in A on the payroll. “This is common practice,” he adds. “Overtime that you don’t get paid, gasoline for home visits that you don’t either… For some years (not many) we have a regulatory agreement, but broken in many places”.
In fact, this is something that also tells us Lucy, who did the opposite step. She went from working for someone else to opening her own clinic to try to improve financially. He explains that currently she earns a little more, but in general not a well paid job. And like Sonia, she knows that sometimes the agreement is not fulfilled. “It won’t happen in all cases, but I do know many fellow veterinarians who are charging much less than the agreement established for us.”
Carla (not her real name) also has her own clinic and claims that the job is not well paid, neither as owner nor as employee. As to JuliaYes, she admits that in the clinic where she works as an employee they are paid well above the agreement. However, Doesn’t seem like a well paid job in general, especially considering the pressure they are under.
24-hour vet: work until exhaustion
Like health workers who care for humans, veterinarians have emergency services. It is logical, because an animal can get sick at any time. However, this often leads to exhausting jobs, which are not only poorly paid. They also end up passing psychological bill.
Julia, for example, works 40 hours a week and has on-call duty one week out of three. “It may be that you do not have to attend to anything or that you have to go three nights in a row”. The latter would mean three days in a row without adequate sleep, with all that this entails at a level physical and mental.
Carla tells us something similar. Her situation in this regard has improved. However, the guards continue to be a heavy burden, although more distant in time. “There was a moment that I was on duty 365 days a year“, remember. “Currently, a group of clinics get together to take turns and I have to do the appointments every 3 months. emergencies of 4 clinics”.
In the case of Sonia, the issue of guards is more widespread, but it is a big problem, since does not have stimulated guards as such. However, it must be “available whenever needed”. Again, it is a heavy workload as an employee, which Lucia also perceives as an owner. And it is that, as she tells us, she tries to be available whenever she can, since she “has a hard time disconnecting”.
That vocation of the veterinarian takes them to work many hours. Even to see the need to do so. And that, in the end, has consequences.
Many psychological consequences
The four veterinarians interviewed for this article have admitted to us that they have psychological problems as a result of their profession.
Carla, for example, is currently both psychological and psychiatric treatment. Julia has also been going to the psychologist for six years from time to time to manage her anxiety and has come to have depression. Lucia tells us that her anxiety It is very frequent, and that he cannot disconnect from work when he is presented with a complicated case. As for Sonia, she knows many colleagues with depression. She has not come to take anything against anxiety, but she does suffer from it often, so she tries to find ways to disconnect, spending time for her. All of them feel a brutal pressure in which, often, the tutors of their patients have a lot to do with it.
In general, all of them suffer from what is known as burnout. In other words, work stress leads them to a level of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can even end up causing, first, loss of interest in their tasks and, in some cases, later depression.
vet vs. guardian, a complicated relationship
Veterinarians love animals, that’s for sure. But it is still a profession that must be paid. Many of the guardians (as animal owners are called) of his patients understand this. However, others they make it very difficult. For Carla, for example, it is one of the main causes of burnout suffering.
He points out that the clashes are usually due to prices that they are not willing to assume, demands at the time of availability or protests for having to pay for emergencies during non-working hours. And all this has generated great fatigue.
“I am very tired on a psychic level. Tired of constant discussions by irresponsible tutors who want us to take charge, taking refuge in the much hackneyed vocation, and thinking that we are NGOs and not a business that costs a lot to get ahead. Also that I am more concerned about animals than some tutors and having to convince them to apply treatments that are necessary. To discuss why we have prices if those same products are cheaper on the internet. This is because they forget about our VAT and that we work with official channels with fixed prices. Tired of everyone thinking that they know a lot about veterinary medicine because they have consulted Google and that the opinion of the neighbor in the park prevails more than that of the qualified professional.”
carla, veterinarian
In addition, it adds the problem that many people publish malicious reviews on the internet that can sink businesses.
Julia’s perception is exactly in the same line. “The clashes are both due to the price of the consultation, and because they want you not to charge a consultation if you do tests, or that you look at it in a store for a second, which costs you nothing,” she explains. “There is also conflict over the price or need for tests and even treatments.” This is because tutors seek rapid diagnoseswithout testing.
The economic issue, the main problem
Sonia tells us that she usually gets along well with the tutors, but that the economic issue Yes, it is stressful at times. In fact, she tells us the same thing as Julia. “There is that limitation that often does not allow you to do all the tests you need to reach a diagnosis, because people want quick solutions, for the day before yesterday if possible.” For all this, she says that sometimes she feels not free to do all the tests that would be necessary.
Finally, Lucía generally gets along well with the tutors. However, she acknowledges the same problems as her fellow professionals. “There are many people who does not value the work of the vet and he thinks that we should always be available for free if we really like animals”, he says. “Veterinarians love animals, but this is our profession and we have the right to be paid like any other.”
Also, remember that They invest a lot of money in training. and that setting up a clinic with all the necessary equipment is not cheap.
The reason we ran out of vets
Finally, we have asked the four veterinarians if they would do the same thing again if they could go back. Most agree that no, even if something painful.
Carla, for example, points out that she would study something else, but that it saddens her to think so, because she is passionate about her profession. Julia also tells us something similar. “I would change without hesitationI don’t know what direction it would take, but veterinary almost certainly not, ”he admits. “Veterinarian in a small animal clinic of course not.”
His answer is similar to that of Sonia, who would also change the course. “In my case, for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a veterinarian,” she recalls. “I think I would choose her again, but looking at it another way. Maybe small animal clinic wouldn’t do. I would do something else or otherwise. With animals, of course, in direct contact. My job now, like that, no”.
Finally, Lucía is somewhat more optimistic, but understands all the people who would change their profession.
“I have always wanted to be a clinical veterinarian. Since I was little I knew it clearly and the truth is that I can’t imagine doing anything else, but I fully understand all my colleagues who do leave the clinic aside and go to other branches of the profession. The emotional exhaustion is very great and takes its toll ”.
Lucia, veterinarian
In short, the veterinary profession is vocational, Yeah. But the vocation does not feed or pay bills. Neither does the love of animals. In the same way that when we have a child, we assume that we will invest a lot of money in it, we must also do it when we adopt a pet. They deserve the best care and the people who care for them deserve to be able to live with dignity. Thus, they will be able to continue loving our animals and watching over them.