On average any sort of medical care profession is a tough career path. So why specifically is the veterinary staff stressed? To fractious pets, and even to aggressive pet owners; veterinary is experiencing a severe flood of stress causing so many problems. In fact, the veterinary field has the highest suicide rate due to stress and being over-worked. What specifically is causing so much on this staff and why is a big deal? Well, this generation is the first to have a decrease in children and an increase in pets, so it's important we take care of are veterinary health care so our furry friends can also be well-taken care of.
It is a great responsibility to be able to help someone fur baby, but in fact it sure can be tricky. As some pets are well-socialized, there are some that will not tolerate being handled; pet, restrained or even stay still for the doctor to examine. This is difficult when a pet is not feeling well because we cannot complete a task, and veterinary to want to only make the pet feel better not stress the pet out. This is definitely a stress trigger for staff, being unable to help a patient because of the pet's temperament.
For a pet patient to be seen it requires a pet owner to set up an appointment so it can be brought in and seen. When one calls they can be either very happy or extremely distressed, and they do in fact project that energy to veterinary receptionists. Causing them to become anxious and stressed to then continue answering phones. The next step is the pet owners for the actual appointment, a veterinary will not know what is going on with one's pet without a description of symptoms and concerns. This can be tricky and requires extreme communication to diagnose a pet.
Communication is key everywhere you go, so nonetheless it has high value in any medical professional. If there is no communication being provided, nothing will get done and tasks will be missed. In this case, if there is a surgical procedure a pet owner has signed paperwork and legal documents that state in the event of an emergency, the veterinary staff are given authorization to perform those services and the individual who was helping this owner does not relay any information can cause a severe accident that in fact will result in a pet's life.
As much as veterinary staff are passionate about saving animals, they also want a living wage and health insurance just like any living human being in America. It is a fact that veterinary staff is severely underpaid for their services because they are not considered health care, but are an essential service. The average veterinary in over $100,000 in debt and do not even get that as much as their salary, a veterinary technician in fact start off minimum wage and in fact veterinary staff do not get paid by commission. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, veterinary staff were still required to help pets while under the pressure of finances.
It is a fact that veterinary staff can never be consistent and the average work span of a veterinary technician is only 2-6 years due to stress. What happens when someone leaves, a new person is hired with little training, so having to train and also provide good medicine is difficult when everyone is stressed. With inconsistent staff, it also displays distress from the pet owner's view. If, you see your vet office will new people every week you would feel uncomfortable and think something bad is happening. That is something that no one batters an eye on that does truly cause stress.
On average, all veterinary staff handle so much work. But the ones who suffer a major blow are veterinary technicians. They are a nurse, anesthesiologists, phlebotomists, trainers, nutritionists and care takers, for a patient that cannot speak only kick and bite. This is an every shift job, you are doing this because it is your passion, but you are being giving minimum wage and little to no breaks. All these events cause severe work on the body and intense stress. This is the main cause why a veterinary technician's careers falls short, because the stress of being overworked.
On average, most veterinarians do not get a lunch break and work ten plus hour days, while seeing multiple patients and performing surgeries during the day. Veterinary technicians are on the same boat, performing so many tasks as early as seven in the morning up until 7 at night. These long hours cause stress and exhaustion. How would you feel knowing you had to work four straight twelve hour shifts with inconsistent? Stressed and on the verge of quitting. In fact, much experience a good deal of break-downs often. That is what these people are experiencing.
In conclusion, it truly is important that this topic is brought to light and taken serious. This so called simple problems in fact cause such severe stress in these people. Our veterinary staff is a part of, our generation's future and it requires our attention, if not we will lose a good chunk of good people. Without happy and healthy veterinary staff, out pets will not receive the appropriate medical care when desperately needed. With bringing this topic to attention it will give others the insight and give them to opportunity to treat their veterinary providers with respect and kindness.
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