Creating Wellbeing and Building Resilience in the Veterinary Profession

A Call to Life

Sonja A. Olson

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780367418793
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000540161
• Topic: Médecine
• Subtopic: Réussite personnelle

A Call to Life aims to help veterinary caregivers increase self-efficacy, decrease unnecessary suffering, and increase sustainability in their mission to support animal health around the world. The veterinary profession is powered by dedicated, bright, and selfless individuals. Unfortunately, the long-standing and dysfunctional culture in classrooms and practices around the world expects veterinary caregivers to be ready to sacrifice everything – their time, their health, their personal lives – in the name of being deemed qualified and 'worthy.'

Integrating real-life stories from a range of veterinary caregivers with evidence-based theory, practical activities, discussion and reflection points, and insights drawn from the author's own experiences, the book empowers veterinarians by showing that they have the ability and the control to choose a healthier way forward for themselves and for their profession. It describes how to:

• Normalize the conversation around mental and emotional health challenges in caregiving environments
• Discuss and collaboratively create systemic solutions that promote healthier 'ecosystems' for vets to work within
• Develop the skills of reframing, mindfulness, and self-care strategy implementation supporting holistic veterinary well-being
• Collectively choose to shift the framework of professional conversations towards psychological safety, optimism, and purpose-driven experiences.

Creating Wellbeing and Building Resilience in the Veterinary Profession: A Call to Life uniquely combines shared experiences (personal stories) with academic research into the contributing factors of compassion fatigue and how to counter these. Normalizing the conversation in the profession, it provides a wide array of possible solutions to build resilience and to shape a culture of collaboration and support where caregivers can flourish.

1 The Evolution of the Veterinary ProfessionHow Did We Get Here?

DOI: 10.1201/9780367816766-1

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.

—Yogi Berra

Our Shared History

The historic cultural expectations and ways of working in the veterinary field have created a system that is resulting in burned-out caregivers, who either leave the profession or disengage from their lives.

By examining the high cost to us as veterinary professionals, we can speak the truth of what is no longer serving us as a profession and collaborate on solutions to create a healthier culture and more professional systems. Ultimately, we need to have a deeper understanding of our profession and ourselves to work toward sustainable solutions that will allow us to experience more joy and thrive as caregiving individuals and professionals.

As such, we need to have a clear sense of how we arrived where we are today as a profession.

To set the stage for this book’s story, I begin with a historical perspective of our complex veterinary profession culture. It is interesting and valuable to consider the evolution of the relationship between humans and animals in their care. Here, I present a high-level overview of the history and evolution of veterinary medicine to lay down a foundation. Although there are some veterinary fields of medicine that have maintained a more “traditional” relationship between caregivers and the animals in their care (think production animal medicine), there are other fields that have changed significantly, such as companion animal medicine. This has resulted in a different set of expectations of the veterinary caregiver from the owner/guardian of the animal.

Prior to delving further into these more specific and modern topics around the human–animal bond, I want to take a moment to step back and share the broader, historical view of the veterinary profession.

“Trivial Pursuit” time! Did you know that the word “veterinary” comes from the Latin veterinae, meaning “working animals”, and that the word “veterinarian” was first used in print by Thomas Browne in 1646? Take a moment to “geek out” with me and peruse the provided timeline which depicts our long-standing, global relationship with animals.

Global Timeline of Veterinary Medicine

BC

3000 BC	Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian, Urlugaledinna, named as “expert in healing animals”.
2500	China. Veterinary treatises on horses and cattle.
2200	Babylonia. Code of Hammurabi outlines veterinary fees.
1800	India. Salihotra named “veterinarian” of horses.
400	Greece. Hippocrates “humoral pathology” affects veterinary practice for 2000 years.
250	India. Kin Asoka constructs veterinary hospitals.
70	Rome. Varro treatise indicates a veterinary professional class.

AD

330	Byzantium. Apsyrtus called “father of veterinary medicine”.
450	Rome. Vegetius books on veterinary art, influential for years.
900	England. Anglo-Saxon Leech Book includes animal cures.
1350	Italy. Laurence Rusius Hippiatria widely circulated in printed edition after 1530.
1490	Spain. Short-lived veterinary schools established.
1522	Spain. Francisco de la Reyna Book of Veterinary.
1528	Switzerland. Vegetius work printed as Mulo-Medicina.
1565	England. Thomas Blundeville first major English veterinary book on horses.
1576	England. George Turbeville first English book dealing with diseases of dogs.
1598	Italy. Carlo Ruini first anatomy of the horse, prefacing the start of veterinary science.
1639.	England. Thomas de Grey book on horses, hereditary disease, and attempted rationale for common procedures.
1664	France. Jacques de Solleysel wrote classic text, recognized glanders.
1683	Scotland. Andrew Snape first English equine anatomy book.
1711	Italy and England. Giovanni Lasci and Thomas Bates both establish effective methods to control rinderpest (but was not used).
1720	England. William Gibson, farrier, advances humane treatment, rational medication, and education.
1761	France. Claude Bourgelat founded Lyon Veterinary School and Alfort School in 1765, “start of the veterinary profession”.
1783	England. Francis Clater. Every man his own farrier—the first of many horse doctor books.
1785	England. Oldham Agricultural Society proposes British Veterinary School.
1791	England. London Veterinary College founded with Sainbel as first professor, “start of the British veterinary profession”.
Early 19th century United States. First veterinary schools established in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia
1863	United States. American Veterinary Medical Association founded.
1879	Iowa, USA. Iowa Agricultural College became the first land grant school to establish a school of veterinary medicine.
1965	United States. FDA added a Veterinary Medical Branch to oversee veterinary pharmaceuticals (later became the Center for Veterinary Medicine).

Modern Day Definition of Veterinary Medicine in Wikipedia (2020):

• Prevention, control, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals.
• Also deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, and research on nutrition and product development.
• The wide scope of veterinary medicine covers all animal species, both domesticated and wild.
• Veterinary science helps human health through the monitoring and control of zoonotic diseases, food safety, and, indirectly, human applications from basic medical research.
• Veterinary medicine and science also maintain the human food supply through livestock health monitoring and treatment keep pets healthy and long-living.
• Veterinary scientists often collaborate with epidemiologists and other health and natural scientists, e.g., the global One Health initiative—a concept that describes the wellness of humans, animals, and the environment as permanently tied together.¹

Veterinary medicine and the state of the profession directly correlates with the ever-evolving relationships that humans have with animals. Regarding domesticated animals, there were initially practical reasons for interest in their health. Animals have provided protection and service to humans for more than 15,000 years. These services range from providing food, supporting farming and hunting, and reducing the vermin populations in barns, which decreases transmission of disease and damage to food or other materials. A historic example is the horse, a primary focus of veterinary medical care over the last 2000 years, as they have been economically important for transportation, agriculture, and trade.

As human medicine and understanding of disease and pathology progressed, so did veterinary medicine. The concepts were applied to farm animals first in the 1700s. The anatomy and diseases of horses, cattle, and sheep were studied with great interest due to the animals’ importance to the agrarian economy. Veterinarians were largely called upon to care for livestock—particularly horses—due to military and agricultural needs.

Over the last 100 years, there have been tremendous shifts in veterinary medicine. It was only in the early 1900s that domesticated animals, such as dogs, cats, and exotic pocket pets (e.g., rabbits and guinea pigs), came to be viewed more as pets and, as a result, received more regular medical care and improved nutrition. Particularly over the last 40 years, the small animal veterinary medicine community’s focus expanded to include domesticated animals that were increasingly seen as family members, although they may still have their “jobs” of being guard or herding dogs or vermin-control cats. The advent of improved parasite control, both GI parasites and ectoparasites (such as fleas and ticks), supported this transition of animals from the yards and barns into our homes.

The Human–Animal Bond of Today

As the human–animal bond has evolved over the 20th and 21st centuries, so have opportunities and challenges for veterinary professionals. It is exciting to have so many more diagnostic and therapeutic options available for veterinary patients as well as an increased desire in many parts of the world to seek out and accept veterinary professional expertise and care. However, the flip side of this coin is that there are more fraught emotional obstacle courses that the veterinary caregivers must navigate with animal caretakers. Although your thinking may go immediately to a scenario that involves a much-loved “furry kid” in a client’s home, there are other less obvious areas where emotions can run high, such as in zoo and wildlife conservation medicine. Recently, in some circles, the term “guardian” is used instead of “pet parent” to curb the anthropomorphizing of the relationship between animals and their caretakers and mitigate this confusing, emotionally charged landscape. All of this matters because it impacts how veterinary caregivers are perceived by the animal “guardians”, how we perceive ourselves, how monies are invested (or not) in animal care, and the creation of laws to protect animal welfare and rights.

American Veterinary Medical Association Definition of the “Human–Animal Bond” is:

The human–animal bond is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors essential to the health and wellbeing of both. This includes, among other things, emotional, psychological, and physical interactions of people, animals, and the environment. The veterinarian’s role in the human–animal bond is to maximize the potentials of this relationship between people and animals.

The AVMA recognizes: (1) the existence of the human–animal bond and its importance to client and community health, (2) that the human–animal bond has existed for thousands of years, (3) that the human–animal bond has major significance for veterinary medicine, because, as veterinary medicine serves society, it fulfills both human and animal needs.

Note: Human–Animal Bond Certification Program offered through the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) and the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC).

There is no doubt that the way we care for veterinary patients, particularly those seen as “family members”, has drastically changed over the last 30–40 years. Owners have more information (thank you, Dr Google!) and often wish to have a more active role in their pet’s care. The thought process has also evolved from what would have been done for a working dog or a barn cat in the past to “What type of care would I want for a member of my family?” This humanizing of care for veterinary patients has allowed for remarkable advances in the types of care that can be provided today. More and more pets are considered part of the family. Some go so far as to refer to their pets as their “furry kids” and to themselves as “pet parents” rather than owners or guardians. We know that these evolving attitudes about animals and their status have also prompted changes in how we view wellness care, which now includes dental cleanings, grooming, and alternative treatments, such as naturopathic medicine and acupuncture. Services such as mobile veterinary medicine and hospice care have also grown from the desire to minimize stress and maximize care for both the veterinary patient and the animal guardian.

A poignant example of the evolving relationship of humans and their animal family members is when cancer is part of a differential diagnosis for a malady. According to the Animal Cancer Foundation’s website (www.acfoundation.org), an estimated 65 million dogs and 32 million cats live in the United States. Of these, roughly 6 million...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Author
• Illustrator
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Evolution of the Veterinary Profession: How Did We Get Here?
• Chapter 2 Caregiver Concerns
• Chapter 3 Being Part of a Compassionate Caregiving Community—for Better or for Worse! Examination of Our Veterinary Professional Challenges
• Chapter 4 Tailoring Your Individual Toolbox for Self-Care and Resilience Development
• Chapter 5 Change Is in the Wind—A New Framework
• Chapter 6 Get Excited and Inspired! The Veterinary Profession of the Future
• Appendix 1: Additional Resources
• Appendix 2: Uncle Mikey’s Maxims
• Recommended Readings
• Facilitator’s Guide
• Acknowledgments
• Index