This month’s column discusses the systematic ways in which our über-hierarchical profession too often relegates veterinary nurses-slash-technicians to roles several rungs below their veterinary-degreed colleagues.
After last month’s column, it was brought to my attention that my last few columns have been somewhat less than positive in their outlook on our profession; and that’s no way to end a year, is it? To wit, it is time to offer a rosier take on how to succeed in veterinary medicine.
The most widely accepted definition for the slang term, “snowflake” is: “A very sensitive person. Someone who is easily hurt or offended by the statements or actions of others…”
For camels, the desert is home. For veterinarians, it represents a hiring wasteland. “The percentage of local certified technicians is shockingly low … Tech deserts are everywhere,” Patty Khuly says. Would a title change help? Photo: Bigstock/kaikups
Although a license complaint from their state’s veterinary board is among the few things every veterinarian fears more than almost any other professional calamity, it is rare for veterinarians to lose licensure as a result of a complaint.
Do we really have a shortage of veterinarians? The answer is multifactorial and complex, but it certainly feels like a shortage to most of us. Yet, I can’t help but interpret the fundamental trends that fuel this feeling as stemming from fewer veterinary hours worked and decreased productivity overall—not from a lack of bodies.
A recent article led to a long, lively discussion on how veterinarians should be paid, revealing a broad, interesting and informed range of opinions but somehow largely sidestepping the more fascinating issue: how modes of compensation may affect our profession’s mental health.
A recent article led to a long, lively discussion on how veterinarians should be paid, revealing a broad, interesting and informed range of opinions but somehow largely sidestepping the more fascinating issue: how modes of compensation may affect our profession’s mental health.
“Virtual vet assistant” has come to mean something vastly different to those of us using an online tool called ChatGPT.
It is high time I wrote a post on what you are doing all wrong and how we can all do better. However, before you come at me for my unspeakable hubris, please understand I speak from a place of love for animals on the planet of unflinching self-recrimination. In other words, if I tell you you’re doing something misguided and stupid, it’s because I figured it out after screwing it up first—and continually do.
