Changing Demographics and Ideas Threaten Veterinary Stalwarts
Changing ideas on work and life have been festering in the veterinary field for years. The now female dominated profession (80% of new graduates are women) has swung the pendulum back in the direction of family oriented work schedules. Most new graduates do not want, nor will they accept, jobs that require the 60-80 hour weeks the baby boomer generation has set forth. They are looking for a reasonable and oftentimes flexible schedule to adequately balance against family life. Baby boomers, the typical demographic for male practice owners, have had mixed receptions to this idea. Some have acknowledged that “old way” of practicing veterinary medicine with all night surgeries and lack of sleep coupled with strained family relations is not only undesirable but sometimes detrimental. This is especially the case when a woman must consider balancing work with raising children. Others cling to the mantra “I paid my dues, so should she” or “This generation is lazy.” These ideas are preposterous. The push toward family life comes from the children of the divorced parents from the 70′s and 80′s. Perhaps this new generation sees the strain living the “veterinary lifestyle” can have on a relationship. All this being said I came to realize: It’s going to be difficult converting the older clientele to this idea as well.
I recently had a client demand, rather belligerently, that because she was such a good client she deserved another veterinarian’s home phone number so she could call on weekends. Huh? Had my customer service skills failed, I would have retorted with “Do you know your physician’s home phone number? How about your dentist’s?” Regrettably, I refrained. After mulling this over, I realized there is a population of veterinary clientele who have grown accustomed to having their veterinarian available at all times. While this may have been a necessity years ago, the advent of overnight emergency clinics and referral hospitals makes this obsolete. I would much rather have my own pets at a 24 hour care facility being treated and monitored by veterinarians who haven’t just rolled from bed. I would also much rather have a client’s pet, who is sick enough they called me in the middle of the night/weekend, at a facility where it can receive continuous supervised care. This is in the animal’s best interest.
Veterinarians too long have positioned themselves differently from other medical professionals: cramming in extra appointments, working a full day then getting up in the middle of the night for emergency calls, never refusing an emergency. These, one can argue, are good qualities. I agree to a limit. Knowing when to defer, when to refer, and when to confer is equally important. Your family doctor does not meet you at the office at 10pm. If you call with an illness, you are sent to the well staffed emergency room ready to handle any illness. To be treated as a knowledgeable professional one must behave like one.
Veterinarians must maintain a balance between work and personal life or we will see the same high turnover and burnout that has afflicted many before us.
The recent ban on cat declaws in Berkeley and the current legislative efforts to create bans in other California towns may have unintended consequences. The concern with elective procedures such as cat declaws is a topic of debate within the veterinary profession. Most veterinarians still perform declaws nationwide and help cat owners decide whether to pursue a declaw or not. Many owners who elect the have their feline friend declawed do so with full disclosure to the discomfort the cat will feel postoperatively. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is also not a decision to be made by bureaucrats.