VMDiva

Recent comments on my posts have touched on one of the most pervasive yet least talked about subjects in veterinary medicine: Burnout. There were no courses in vet school on how to deal with this topic. I suppose we are expected to suck it up and deal with it. That doesn’t sit well with me as I see excellent veterinarians bail on their careers, families, or worse, lives, in response to the stress this profession brings.

Burnout has many causes. Veterinarians typically work long hours. Very long hours. Those hours are changing, fortunately, for small animal veterinarians and a small subset of large animal veterinarians. Long hours alone can lead to mental fatigue but then take into consideration emergency care. The long hours topped off with calls in the middle of the night lead to physical fatigue. Yawn. For the practice owner, life is even more harried. Owners are balancing veterinary medicine with business decisions. In their “down time” they are making financial decisions for the practice, handling upset clients, and managing personnel. It can easily consume all of an owner’s waking hours. Maintaining a proper work to life balance is critical in keeping your sanity.

Next is the issue of stress. Every veterinarian has different stressors. For some it is dealing with difficult clientele who demand so much of your time you fall behind schedule or sit on the phone for what seems like hours waiting to leave at the end of the night. For others it is dealing with compassion fatigue. As acclimated to pain, suffering, and death vets become, we are never quite comfortable with it. The mental toll this takes is not always apparent until you find yourself lying awake at night thinking about a case. I still have patients who break my heart and I admit to tearing up over them. Compassion fatigue alone can be enough to lead a veterinarian to burnout. This phenomenon is common in all medical professions. And for other vets, stress comes from balancing the desire to provide optimal care with an owner’s financial considerations. Rare is the vet who hasn’t heard, “I can’t afford any of that. You’re going to let my pet die. If you cared you’d give it to me for free.” These difficult situations are only magnified by the aforementioned physical and mental fatigue.

Any job can cause burnout if the work environment is toxic. Viral personalities, unyielding bosses, unreasonable hours all lead to discontentment. As stress and angst grow at work, small issues become magnified and soon become large issues. In these cases, if the practice is stagnant and unwilling to change, you’ve got to make the change yourself. Quitting your job is no flippant recommendation. It should always be considered carefully as the grass is always greener.

So what do we do about it? More vacation, less hours? That will certainly help. Do we leave our jobs? For some that’s feasible, for others it’s not. But what are some creative ways to lessen the daily stress that tends to accumulate over time?

• Don’t sweat the small stuff. Seriously. All those little things truly add up.
• Remember there are always clients who won’t like you, won’t agree with you, and won’t listen to you no matter what you do. It’s not always easy to swallow criticism and personal attacks, but you are one in a long line of veterinarians who has been on the receiving end of a negative client.
• Focus on your favorite clients. The one’s who bring you food, remember you during the holidays, and always thank you for your time.
• Eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke, get enough sleep. Everyone knows these recommendations. Now actually follow them.
• Stop micromanaging. Micromanagement creates more work. If the job isn’t getting done, it could be a personnel issue.
• Use your vacation time.
• Make your CE time count (especially if you can’t take vacation): If you can swing it, take one of those exotic continuing education courses to the Caribbean or Central America.
• Say no. Believe it or not, you can refuse to pick up that extra day, run a bake sale for the kids, or cover another weekend.
• Don’t be afraid to work part-time. There is no shame is cutting your hours to maintain a healthy family balance.
• Find a hobby that gets you out of the house. Fresh air does wonders for the soul.
• See your doctor. If you are experiencing severe fatigue, make sure nothing else is going on!