THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM FOR VETERINARY PRACTICES by J. Ashley Keith, DVM, MBA, MEcon
As we ease back to some sense of normalcy within our practices, the main problem during and post pan- demic still exists: employees, or lack thereof. While client visits and revenue ramped up to unprecedented
levels, we saw the downside of the increased business most all of us experienced. Our practices have seen a 50% increase in new pets per practice (1) and that began the trouble.
With the increased pet population, owners working from home and, thereby, paying closer attention to their pets, our parking lots were full and we soon became both physically and emotionally exhausted. Unable to see all of the cases that presented every day, we were forced to work 12-16-hour days, extending hours, stop taking new clients, and sending many of our patients to the Emergency Hospitals. Clients were often short on patience and understanding and we many times were recipients of verbal abuse. Our doctors and staff simply wore out and either took time off or left the industry altogether. Suicide rates have in- creased and most every hospital can’t even get candidates to apply for a job. As of this writing, there are over 9 million job openings in the country across all industries (2). Tis is the highest in our country’s history.
I talk to practice managers and veterinarians across the country every day. Tis is not regional and every state has the same problem. Tere was actually a shortage of veterinarians and technicians before the pandemic began and it has only accelerated. Despite offering assistants $15 - $20/hour plus benefits and RVTs even more, the well is dry. Potential employees are finding it more attractive to stay home and draw unemployment benefits for not working. We simply cannot compete with the federal and state government paying so well.
Te emergency practices are actually the hardest hit. Most serve 40-50 general-practice hospitals and are now seeing a 39% increase in caseload compared to the pre-pandemic era (3). Te profound overload during the daytime has pushed clients to the Emergency Room. I have spoken with veterinarians that start their ER shift with 10 patients waiting, 8 critical cases in the hospital, 2 patients needing surgery and
Continued on pg. 15
14 KVMA News
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
