Veterinarians: the unsung heroes of the pandemic

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Often times when I speak with friends or new people I meet about what I do as a veterinarian, I often receive a response along the lines of:  “ I had no idea that veterinarians are involved in [research, epidemiology, vaccine development, public health policy and so on]” or “I did not know that veterinary medicine has specialties!”

April 24th was #WorldVeterinaryDay and this year- more than any other year- I felt compelled to write a few words about what we veterinarians do and what this past year has been like. This article comes with a delay due to my international travel this past week, but I am hoping that it will give you a glimpse of what we do!

Though veterinary education and culture around the world may be different depending on the country where one practices, one part that is undeniable is that the veterinary profession is composed of many specialties and is involved in all aspects of public health and research.  Veterinarians can wear many different hats all at once. They are scientists, researchers, general practitioners, surgeons, dentists, cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, internal medicine specialists, dermatologists, epidemiologists, wildlife conservationists, nutritionists, ophthalmologists…you get the point! Veterinarians do it all. Above all else: veterinarians are animal advocates, and compassionate human beings who have genuine love for all living beings and medicine. 

Veterinarians on the frontlines of the COVID19 pandemic 

This year’s World Veterinary Day theme highlighted the role of veterinarians in the COVID19 pandemic. In a world that has been devastated by the #COVID19 pandemic, veterinarians have been on the front lines, not only by caring for the millions of pets who visit hospitals around the world, but also by providing expertise in zoonotic disease transmission and ongoing COVID19-related research. Wildlife veterinarians with expertise in epidemiology and infectious diseases have been employed to investigate the origins of this viral disease and have been actively working to trace the virus among wildlife. In addition, veterinarians who specialize in virology and other related fields are continuously working with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other organizations in an effort to better understand the disease, formulate guidelines for prevention and discover treatments.  Given that this pandemic most likely originated from viral spillover from wild animals, veterinarians fill a unique and crucial role in understanding how this disease (as well as many other zoonotic diseases, such as Ebola) is transmitted between different species, and thus how to prevent the spread to humans. 

Pet adoptions increase during the pandemic, leading to increased veterinary workload

Frontlines in the fight against COVID-19 are not just found in the research labs who investigate the disease, or in the human hospitals who deal directly with COVID-19 patients. For example, thousands of veterinary emergency clinics and veterinary practices have been caring for sick animals during this time of crisis, the staff of which have been placing their lives at risk daily.  Though some would expect that the pandemic would cause case loads of veterinary clinics to drop, the opposite happened. One reason has been the increase in pet adoptions (which is wonderful!) and the other has been  the change in hospital protocols in an effort to protect frontline staff and the increase in pet adoptions during the pandemic as more people spent time at home. In addition, veterinary doctors,  nurses and  receptionists are not immune to the virus either. Many had to take time off work to recover from the disease and this ultimately led to understaffing in general practices. The result? The daily pressure of running veterinary practices magnified for staff members trying to maintain high standards of medical care while also trying to make up for staffing shortages, limit the spread of COVID-19 within their workplace, and manage disgruntled clients who were upset with decreased appointment availability and increased hassle of biosecurity protocols. 

The demands of the veterinary profession can lead to high suicide rates

These increased pressures that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on veterinary staff across the country could potentially worsen an already dire situation. It is a fact that suicide rates among veterinary professionals are disproportionately elevated in countries that place high demands on the veterinary profession (countries such as the US, Canada and the UK). In these high-demand countries it is not uncommon for veterinarians to experience harassment and a general lack of appreciation from the general public. This is no different for veterinary nurses and receptionists, as they are commonly the first to receive the abuse from clients or co-workers.  The latest data from surveys in the United States of America (US) has shown that female veterinarians are 3.5 times more likely to commit suicide compared to the general population, and male veterinarians are 2.1 times more likely to commit suicide.  Over 75% of veterinarians who have committed suicide in the US work in small animal practices around the country (1).  For those of us who have worked in busy small animal practices these numbers do not cause shock.  The statistics are not much different in the United Kingdom, where veterinarians are 4 times more likely to commit suicide compared to the general population (2).  

Having travelled and volunteered in numerous countries around the world, I have to point out that this is not the case in all countries. This is simply because the demands of the profession are different depending on the respective cultures. For example, in countries where veterinarians are not obligated by law to keep thorough medical records (if any) and are not threatened with lawsuits, the work hours are less, veterinarians may be more productive with their cases, and the stress that is caused by various legalities is non-existent. This is not to say that the job in itself is any easier – but the conditions that can lead to severe burnout are more pronounced. 

Showing kindness to your veterinarians and colleagues leads to better medical outcomes

As veterinarians we should use this pandemic as motivation to make an effort to create healthy boundaries, respect each other, and make an effort to better communicate our needs to those around us. Burnout is real and a very prevalent condition among colleagues who constantly give so much energy, love and attention to those in need. Good communication skills do not just pertain to how we communicate with clients, but also to how we treat each other within our work environment.

As clients (or patients), we should strive to understand that any professional who works in human or veterinary hospitals is already under immense pressure, and being kind is a choice. Delays in any hospital are expected and veterinary hospitals are no different in that regard. In many cases and during busy days, wait times can often exceed 5 hours. Cases that come into emergency hospitals become triaged based on which is more urgent, and not by who visited the hospital first. If you visit a veterinary emergency clinic and your pet is seen within an hour, you are lucky! From my experience, adding pressure to hospital staff to hurry and finish with your pet’s needs, only decreases the quality of medical care. 

I am happy to share more thoughts and participate in discussions. I hope this post will just add more information to the already many wonderful articles that have been written about our profession.

 

Some facts about CoronaViruses to go along with this year’s World Veterinary Day theme. 

References and useful scientific articles: 

1. Tomasi E. Et al., 2019 “ Suicide Among veterinarians in the United States from 1979 through 2015”, JAVMA 254:1, pages 104-112
2. Bartram et al., (2009) Cross sectional study of mental health and well-being and their associations in the UK veterinary profession. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology
3. Zhou, P., et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 579, 270–273 (2020).
4. Taylor LH et al. (2001)  Risk Factors for human disease emergence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 356(1411):983-9 
5. Graham, R.L. & Baric, R.S. Recombination, Reservoirs, and the Modular Spike: Mechanisms of Coronavirus Cross-Species Transmission. 84, 3134–3146 (2010)
6. Parrish, C.R. et al. Cross-Species Virus Transmission and the Emergence of New Epidemic Diseases. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 72, 457–470 (2008).

Definitions: 
Zoonotic diseases (Zoonoses): diseases which are transmitted between animals and humans
SARS-Cov: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 

#veterinarymedicine #worldveterinaryday #covid19