There are Veterinarian shortages around the world.
Small Animal Veterinarian Dr. Anne-Marie Carey says this us causing stress for pet owners and staff at clinics due to longer and busier hours and a larger patient load, which could eventually lead to burn out.
“We have fewer Veterinarians and smaller teams who are trying to accommodate the same or in most cases larger client and patient bases. So they are working long hours and are incredibly busy and they are doing so short staffed,” Dr. Carey says.
Veterinarian offices are also having difficulty filling Vet Tech roles and other support staff as well.
“We have vets who are retiring or leaving the practice for other reasons, but we are also seeing a tremendous amount of growth in the number of pets, particularly dogs. It is not just a Veterinarian shortage, it is also Vet Techs and support staff. Those people are really the backbone of a practice.”
She adds they are much like nurses and are essential to a well functioning health care system,
Dr. Carey also feels more Veterinarians are heading to larger areas where there may be emergency clinics so they are not required to work on call, and they have access to more competitive wages.
In turn, this is also having an impact on pet owners as well, ” Clients are facing longer wait times. They may have the added burden of needing to travel to practices that are further away or increasingly needing to access Emergency care, and I know that is an anxiety and fear for pet owners,” Dr. Carey says.
Her advice is to stay on top of preventative and regular health care of your pets. “If it’s financially feasible for families I would advise accessing pet insurance, and establish relationships with a veterinary team early, trying not to put off access to care as possible, so that you’re able to access that it in as timely a manner as possible.”
Looking at applicant numbers at Veterinary school around the world, Dr. Carey says she is seeing an increase in qualified applicants in the Atlantic provinces but also international applicants. She has noticed a higher percentage of graduates indicating that they intend to enter small animal practice following graduation. That’s a change that has occurred over the last few years, where there seems to be fewer graduates entering into the food animal or equine sectors of veterinary medicine.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association is hosting a Veterinary Workforce Congress and will be looking at short, medium and longer term solutions to this issue.
“While more veterinarians will resolve the issue and while that will certainly help, it’s not as as simple and straightforward as simply producing more veterinarians. Adding more seats to programs means that you have to have the infrastructure and staff and faculty to support their education. And that’s certainly not a quick fix. But on the other side of things, if we’re not intentional in the way that we do this, while we may be able to address the shortage in some sectors of Veterinary Medicine, we’re still likely to feel the impact in rural areas. So there needs to be some intentional focus on areas within veterinary medicine that are experiencing the shortage more profoundly than others,” Dr. Carey reinforced.
