OPINION: The value of support

A statistic quoted to me from the very start of vet school was the average retention rate of vets within the profession – just 7 years. Barely longer than the course itself, ironically.

I think it’s true that the first few “formative” years of your career as a veterinarian probably go a long way in influencing this number.

For some, I know the experience in your first job can be a make-or-break moment.

It’s for this reason that I think a supportive workplace is one of the most important factors in this industry, especially for when you’re just starting out.

For one, it makes the workplace safer in every possible way. Less experienced vets feel more confident in asking for advice on a case, checking their plan with a colleague and calling for help when things aren’t going well.

Disservice

If there’s an expectation that a young vet should just keep “carrying on” in the regular somewhat standard British fashion, even if it’s an unspoken atmosphere within the practice culture, then this does a disservice to our patients and ourselves. It can even be potentially dangerous if people don’t feel safe to come forward when they realise, for whatever reason, that a mistake has been made.

Everybody makes mistakes, its only human, it’s just that in our field of work these can be something completely benign, or the difference between life and death. Only by talking about them can we be both proactive preventing them and retroactive in fixing them as soon as possible, or at the very least learning from them for the future.

Since starting my internship, I’ve almost had more support than I’ve known what to do with, which has made me both endlessly grateful and incredibly frustrated that this is not a universal experience.

Like a lot of new grads (and even some experienced vets I’ve spoken to), I’ve experienced bursts of cortisol when it comes to the unpredictability of working out of hours or admitting emergencies.

Wealth of experience

Now, this feeling has dramatically reduced with the availability of advice and support from a vast wealth of experience and knowledge that comes with a specialist hospital environment. I don’t however feel that this is something a recent grad couldn’t gain from first opinion; it’s just that it requires the willingness of more experienced vets to volunteer their time and energy.

That’s the “pay it forward” approach that nearly 100% of vets have needed since the dawn of time to get to where they are today. This inherent altruism in our line of work is something that never ceases to amaze me, and whenever I learn a new skill or gain confidence in managing a specific case because somebody took the extra 10 minutes to walk me through something, I am endlessly grateful.

I’ve often heard the first few years out of university likened to the well-known “sink or swim” idiom, but I don’t think this is the best way to breed a generation of well-rounded, mentally healthy vets who will stay in the job for the long term.

I’ve valued every mentor in my journey so far, and I’m so enjoying the learning opportunities I have now, in an environment that encourages growth in a safe and sustainable way. I’ve already learned a lot in my internship, and as I near the halfway mark I can’t wait to see what’s next.