Fostering a future of strong females begins with wellbeing

By Dr. Christine Royal

Looking back as a veterinarian starting my career nearly 17 years ago, I can say I was fortunate to have been surrounded by strong leaders and mentors in this rewarding profession. However, as we take a deeper look at Merck Animal Health’s recent Veterinarian Wellbeing Study in partnership with the AVMA, we are learning that stress and burnout levels have grown even higher among young veterinarians, with the transition to practice being particularly challenging.

Amid the pandemic, staffing shortages at veterinary clinics have collided with decreased efficiency due to changing safety protocols and workflows (source), which creates an overwhelming environment and an overextended workforce in an already high-anxiety, high-intensity profession. Adding to these concerns, the Wellbeing Study revealed that 81% of staff and 67% of veterinarians faced challenges with their clinics being short-handed due to employees spending time away from work for illness or family care. As a mother and former full-time practitioner, I immediately think of the impact and stress that has on one’s work-life balance when simultaneously caring for a family, your patients, and the practice. 

To set the stage today, many animal health workers are female, including 62% of veterinarians, 95% of veterinary technicians, and 84% of veterinary assistants and laboratory workers (source). In addition, women are increasingly dominating the profession, and currently over three-quarters of new graduates are female (source).  Which brings up the question: how do we instill and promote positive wellbeing practices to keep our profession thriving and healthy for females in the future?

Over the past several years, our industry has certainly been more intentional and deliberate about addressing wellbeing across the veterinary medical profession. With new information and mental health resources more widely available, we must also recognize that wellbeing has distinct and significant impacts on female veterinarians, in particular, that should be addressed early in their careers to cultivate strong professional women in veterinary medicine.

·              Promoting Diversity & Reducing Discrimination 
Lack of diversity as well as discrimination continue to be barriers in veterinary medicine that we need to break down. In fact, the third Merck Animal Health Veterinary Wellbeing Study revealed that lack of diversity was viewed as a significant issue among BIPOC veterinarians. Discrimination can compound stress for veterinarians in an already inherently stressful profession and is also associated with poor wellbeing, depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. Because of this, it is vital that we create clear anti-discrimination policies in our practices as well as cultivate inclusion in the workplace (source). In addition, there continues to be a greater proportion of male practice ownership despite higher numbers of women entering the profession (source). We must empower and encourage female veterinarians to pursue practice ownership to shift this statistic.

·      Addressing Self-Sufficiency and Self-Doubt 
As emerging veterinarians enter private practice; they are faced with transitioning from having an “army of people” supporting them to being more self-sufficient. According to a recent report on the Trials, Tribulations, and Professional Skills Vital for New Veterinary Graduate Success (source), this sudden expectation of self-sufficiency was often accompanied with a sense of self-doubt and fear of making mistakes. This can often lead to imposter syndrome, or the tendency to doubt one's abilities despite positive evidence. In general, we are seeing that there is a high prevalence of imposter syndrome among young, female graduates. 

·      Establishing Mentorships That Matter
Another common theme we are seeing study after study is that good social relationships are the strongest, most consistent predictor of a happy and fulfilling life in veterinary practice. We must recognize that work-life balance looks different for everyone. However, having a good social life and being part of a mentor program, such as MentorVet, where established and emerging professionals can empathize with each other about the challenges of being a veterinarian is an imperative need within our profession and should remain a focus.

So, as we think about wellbeing across our profession, how are we to make a strong foundation for our future female veterinarians? We should be proud and energized by the advances we have made as a profession to create resources and support groups to reduce stress and anxiety. Amidst the challenges and evolving industry landscape, we can remain optimistic about our profession because we are developing a plan and have more wellbeing resources than ever to improve veterinary medicine for the future.  Nonetheless, this continued conversation around veterinary wellbeing and positive mentorship must continue so veterinary professionals can surround themselves with a network of support built on mutual trust, respect, and compassion for each other.