- World Veterinary Day 2024 celebrates the essential work of veterinarians, yet new data show only 49% of veterinary professionals believe their profession is appreciated.
- Veterinary associations and Boehringer Ingelheim unite to help address this issue—starting with showcasing often-unseen aspects of the veterinary profession.
The World Veterinary Association’s theme for World Veterinary Day this year (April 27, 2024) highlights that veterinarians are essential health workers. Without veterinarians, food safety cannot be guaranteed, animals suffer needlessly, and humans face a higher risk of exposure to dangerous infectious diseases. Yet access to veterinary care should not be taken for granted as many veterinarians are currently considering leaving their chosen career, most often due to reasons associated with work-life balance and their mental health.1
Today Boehringer Ingelheim released findings from a survey of 1056 companion animal, livestock, and equine veterinarians in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, and Germany, to explore if veterinarians feel valued and understood by animal owners. A main finding of the study is that only 49% of veterinarians feel that the veterinary profession in general is appreciated.
“Understanding the reasons why veterinarians feel their profession is underappreciated, raising awareness of often-unseen and complex aspects of veterinary work, and most importantly, showing veterinary professionals that we recognize their essential work, is an important first step,” remarks Fabio Paganini, Member of the Global Animal Health Executive Committee at Boehringer Ingelheim. “As a veterinarian myself, I know that there is so much to love about this job. Together, we can showcase the relentless dedication, the genuine compassion, and the scientific know-how it takes to work as a veterinarian. It truly is a vocation to aspire to.”
Perceived levels of appreciation for the veterinary profession were relatively consistent across key types of veterinary teams — with only 48% of pet-focused (cats and dogs), 55% of livestock and 42% of equine veterinary professionals reporting that their profession was appreciated. This is despite 75% of survey respondents reporting feeling personally appreciated by their client base.
“We should not stand quietly as our colleagues leave the ring due to stress and burnout,” remarked Dr Ellen Van Nierop, President at World Small Animal Veterinary Association. “Veterinarians are exceptional professionals, who play an essential role in directly maintaining and improving the health and well-being of animals and indirectly, of the whole society. It is imperative that we shine a light on the often-unseen care and effort veterinarians put into forging a healthy and happy society.”
Digging deeper: what underpins appreciation levels?
Veterinary professionals believe their personal clients appreciate their “level of expertise” (reported by 66% of veterinarians surveyed), the “ability to deal with ethical dilemmas (including euthanasia)” (61% of veterinarians) and the fact “they provide a large variety of care” (57% of veterinarians). However, the survey also revealed that clients don’t always have full awareness of how far veterinarians push themselves to provide care. Of all participants, 49% felt they were underappreciated by clients when it came to understanding the “resilience to stress and emotional exhaustion” required from the job, with 48% reporting an underappreciation of the fact they “work despite feeling physically exhausted” and the way they “trade-off their work-life-balance to help animals”.
What needs to be done?
All survey respondents were asked to state a key aspect of their profession that they wish people knew more about. The most common responses from pet-focused participants were “our compassion and dedication to animal welfare i.e. not money” and “our commitment to being a veterinarian and the difficulties of the role”. Similarly, the most common response from both livestock and equine veterinary professionals was the “importance, competence and value of the profession”.
Boehringer Ingelheim, together with the Word Small Animal Vet Association (WSAVA) and the World Association for Buiatrics, plus other leading organizations, are united to help veterinarians — starting with showcasing veterinary professionals’ compassion and dedication to animal welfare, while shedding light on the often-unseen complex and difficult aspects of care.
