Occupational stress and its management among the Veterinary Professionals

Veterinary practice certainly has its share of stress, with veterinarians having to deal with difficult clients, complicated cases, sometimes financial worries, ethical dilemmas or workplace tensions. Veterinary profession, especially the para-clinical and clinical practice is a demanding, and at times, a very stressful occupation. Veterinarians operate under unique constraints unlike human medical counterparts and other professionals. Financial, diagnostic, communication and therapeutic considerations pose limitations to the accurate diagnosis and correct treatment of many clinical cases. Despite these obvious constraints, clients often expect the same results from veterinarians at a cost that the human medical profession can offer through a State funded health system, while in reality this is just not possible due to multi-factorial limitations. Euthanasia represents the most emotionally stressful situation for the veterinarian. Although euthanasia is included as a part of the professional curriculum, the component of training in how to deal with a distressed client or indeed with distress is not incorporated. In addition, working with varying species of animals are also stress inducers. The stressors in these situations need to be considered and managed. The veterinary profession is aiming to increase social support among veterinarians with mentoring and helpline assistance. Training in skills such as conflict resolution, managing client grief, assertiveness, communication, and management skills for practice managers may also help but other issues including workloads, hours worked and isolation will be more difficult to resolve. Above all it is important to find ways to address stressors in order to enhance the satisfaction that veterinary work can provide and generate the awareness about the profession in society, especially under Indian scenario.