Doctors In Dangerous Waters

In October, I presented six lectures at the Wild West Veterinary Conference in Reno, Nevada (WWVC).   I was more than a bit tired after coming home but that conference has made me realize that the field of veterinary medicine faces a very real threat. As usual, I presented material to help veterinary professionals communicate more effectively with their clients in order to promotes client loyalty. The audiences were terrific and quite enthusiastic but I was stunned to see how many veterinary professionals wanted help with taking care of themselves as well as their clients.

My lecture covered the topic of compassion fatigue (a deep physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion accompanied by acute emotional pain). Compassion fatigue was originally thought to be a condition that afflicts disaster relief workers, fire fighters, paramedics, etc). In the past 10 years, more and more people are realizing that this type of professional burn-out can affect anyone who works in a "helping" profession. In the medical field, human doctors were the first ones identified as vulnerable but in the past few years, consultants, counselors and managers are addressing compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine as well.

The veterinary profession is a highly stressful. There's a a great deal of animal sickness, injuries, and heartbreaking stories. Workers in veterinary medicine witness death death five times more frequently that their counterparts in human medicine. That's a whole bunch of death and stress. Additionally, since euthanasia is acceptable and practiced routinely in vet medicine, these professionals are the ones who actually facilitate their own patients' deaths (obviously done to prevent needless suffering). Ultimately, no matter what the intent is behind it, it's still the purposeful act of taking a life. Doing this and also supporting grieving pet owners can take it's toll over time.

Ways to prevent and deal with compassion fatigue in medicine are still being developed so many professionals out there are in quite a bit of distress. I worry about these folks and hope that they can learn new self-care skills to make their stress a bit easier to bear. I'm curious as to what you all think (pet owners and veterinary professional alike). Do you see this problem in your own lives or in others in the "helping" professions? If so, what do you think should be done to help deal with it? (photo from Dreamstime.com)

--Dana

Comments

[Laurel]

Good for you, Dana. I know you've been addressing this need and urging the development of programs and materials to address it for many years now. I'm sure you made a difference for all those who were in attendance at your lectures.

As someone who has struggled with my own "burn-out", I think the truly helpful way to deal with it is to truly know your own boundaries and limits, the role you want and "should" play in other's lives, and to develop some kind of personal/spiritual philosophy of "why" bad things are happening to the people who are seeking your help and how/what they might learn from their experiences. Knowing that you have extending even a small portion of kindness and emotional support is often enough to make a big difference to both the helper and the person needing help.

In short, I think those of us in the helping professions (medicine included) need to allow ourselves to become more "human" and more communicative, rather than fiercely guarding those professional 'walls' we tend to build.

What do you think needs to be done based on the conversations you had with people at the conference?

[turtlecookie]

Absolutely, Dana. Compassion fatigue occurs in many professions, especially the "helping" professions, and even among individuals, such as those caring for a parent, child, or spouse who is seriously ill or disabled. There are support groups and organizations to help, for example, with home health care, so a person can take a break and recharge. I don't know what would be helpful for professionals. I agree, Laurel, that hiding behind walls probably doesn't help. Sabaticals, maybe? Setting limits and boundaries? Knowing what recharges you and being sure to make time for that? Compassion fatigue is very real and I'm glad to hear that it's being looked into more seriously.

[Dana]

Thanks for your comments ladies. I think that many of your suggestions are good ideas. The tricky part (which you mentioned Laurel), is getting people to actually DO the things they need to for better self-care. That's always the major hurdle and can be very hard for people to overcome. You're right as well in that these folks need to accept their limitations as human beings...human beings that need and deserve support and love.

I had several people contact me from the conference wanting further help with this. It's definitely a big problem especially since many don't view themselves as "worthy" for self-care.

[Laurel Hunt]

An oncology vet I know always has a couple of cats needing homes, in cages in the reception area. Facing the loss of clients every day, I'm sure it helps the staff to cope, to see a homeless animal find a fresh start. I work in a healthcare setting now, and while I am not involved in patient care, I can see that it would be easy for staff to become overwhelmed. We have a therapy dog program at the hospital, and I have observed that the therapy dogs do as much for the staff as they do for the patients. The dogs are greeted like rock stars when they arrive. The whole atmosphere changes from "clinical" to normalcy. For a few moments, the staff can focus on something uplifting and healing. I have also found that a simple "thank you" can go a long way to acknowledge individual effort no matter what the outcome. In the workplace we do not say thank you enough to our colleagues. Even better, have a staff lunch and give everyone a gift card. Recognition and appreciation can go a long way to relieve some of the daily stress.
Laurel H, celebrating the love of dogs at http://laurelhuntbooks.com
BarkWagLove

[Laurel]

These are great ideas...I was at the hospital the other day with my mother-in-law and a woman wheeled a therapy dog into the room in a wheel chair. (The dog didn't need the ride, she just liked the ride!) The whole atmosphere in the room did change and we all became almost giddy with the relief of fussing over the dog. It's an amazing thing...

Thank yous are always appreciated. Thank you, Laurel, for reading and commenting on our blog!

[Dana]

Thank you Laurel H. for commenting...I truly enjoy "talking" with you!