Everyday there are barrels of virtual ink being spilled on the ills and hardships of veterinary medicine. A lot of this ink is well deserved, and some of it comes directly from me. Veterinary medicine is a difficult, complicated, and rapidly changing profession that can take a toll on those who practice. At the same time, I feel that someone should be pointing out the undeniable truth that this profession generally gets better with time.
Online, I see veterinary medicine being depicted as a “burnout profession” and one where practitioners are uniformly being worn down and depleted over time. When new grads enter the workforce with wide eyes and a spirit of optimism, they’re often told “Just wait. That will go away.” I think this is a warped view of what we are actually facing.
I’m not going to say that a lot of people don’t burn out over time or lose their enthusiasm for practice. I’ve personally been through that part of the ride and can vouch for the fact that (1) it happens, and (2) it’s very, very not fun. Still, I believe that the majority of people in vet medicine are getting steadily better at their jobs, and at managing the stresses that come with them.
It turns out that the belief that we get better with time (and with exposure to a certain amount of stress) is quite controversial and unpopular. There are a lot of vocal people who seem convinced that we are at our greatest when we enter the job and then, like a river flowing over a well-educated stone, the profession wears us down. Those late in their careers must be good at “holding on,” and the rest of us are just becoming less happy as our youth departs. I don’t buy it. Instead, I think our perspective shifts and our abilities grow as we gain experience, even if certain insecurities linger.
I used to tell vet students and recent graduates that imposter syndrome never goes away. I told them this because (1) lifelong learners who prioritize growth will always grapple with insecurity, and (2) I didn’t want them to mistakenly believe everyone else has it all figured out and they are somehow wrong to wrestle with their identity as a newly appointed expert. Honestly, a vet student walking into the exam room (or surgical suite!) with complete confidence is a menace!
What I didn’t tell them (and should have) is that the routine stuff will become routine. At some point, you will acquire enough experience to convince yourself that you do know what you’re talking about, and you’ll get so used to being called “doctor” that you’ll internalize it. Imposter syndrome might not go away, but it definitely gets less frequent.
I also told lots of people that veterinary medicine never gets easy. That statement is as true as true can be. It does not mean, however, that practice doesn’t get more enjoyable (or at least less daunting) as we go along. For most of us, it absolutely does.
While imposter syndrome never leaves us and medicine never stops challenging us, we all get better at being veterinarians with time, and that’s worth remembering. We’re less likely to have a disastrous surgery the 500th time we scrub in than the 5th time. We are more likely to catch a problem if we’ve done 10,000 physical examinations than if we’ve done 200. If a client tells us we’re awful, we don’t take it quite as hard if we’ve had 300 other clients tell us we’re great (or if 20 other clients have also told us we’re awful over the years and we’ve continued to have happy pet owners lining up to see us).
We make better choices when we’ve faced similar decisions in the past, and we get less affected by loss after we’ve seen thousands of beloved pets come and go and come again. For every human mistake we make, we learn a lesson that won’t be forgotten and we acquire a tiny voice in the back of our minds that says “maybe double check this.” As the old saying goes, “Good judgement comes from experience, and experience from bad judgement.”
There are some challenges in life that seem to scale perfectly to the abilities of the individual facing them. Think of a video game that monitors the skill of the player and adjusts the challenges accordingly to keep the person engaged. Like parenting, managing people, and breaking open those little glass vials buprenorphine comes in, practicing medicine will always test you no matter how savvy you become.
The piece to remember is that the journey is more fun when you’re experienced. The outcomes are better, the anxiety is lower, and your belief that “this too shall pass” is stronger. Ask any veterinarians dealing with a challenge right now, “Do you wish you were also a new graduate?” and they will say “No. No, I do not.” That’s because they know things are easier now than they used to be.
If you’re struggling in practice, know that you’re at least gaining the wisdom of experience, even if it doesn’t feel that way. Perhaps you’re acquiring the skills you need to thrive in the future, or maybe you’re learning about what you do and don’t want in a veterinary job. Regardless of how you’re struggling, you are growing and becoming a wiser, stronger version of yourself.
No one can take that wisdom away from you, and you will not lose it. That’s why vet medicine gets better with time.
