TESTIMONIALS. Incivility, insults, attacks, stress… Veterinarians break the taboo of their suffering at work

It is not the profession that comes to mind first when we talk about ill-being at work, but veterinarians are also affected by stress, the infernal paces which sometimes lead to suicides. Today the profession is sounding the alarm with a figure which alone sums up this malaise: one third of veterinarians out of some 20,000 registered leave the profession before the age of 40.

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This is the case of Gaëlle, 31 years old. From a very young age, she repeated that when she grew up, she would take care of the animals. “My parents heard me say that I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was three years old. It was a vocation and I never wanted to do anything else”, she says . But just a few months after her first job in a clinic in the Jura, Gaelle began to crack and after two years, at the end of 2020, her body let go, she suffered from a burnout.

More and more demanding customers

Overwork, pressure from pet owners, fear of making mistakes paralyze her. She remains on sick leave for nine months: “From the first client I received, it was a stress that had already mounted before, on the way to go to the clinic. And then after a while, it was thoughts where I wanted to having a car accident so as not to have to go back to work. I felt useless, I had the impression of not being able to do anything. That the animals, by passing with me in consultation, had less chances than s ‘they were spending with someone else.

“I was really depressed. Suicidal thoughts…I was like, ‘There’s no point in me being here’.”

Gaëlle, former veterinarian

at franceinfo

Gaëlle left the profession and is now a controller in a cattle slaughterhouse, a not very fulfilling livelihood, but at least she no longer manages customers.

The pet market has exploded with the health crisis, pet owners are more numerous and more demanding. France has 80 million pets. One in two homes has a pet. The market (health, care, food) is worth 4.5 billion euros today and has quadrupled in 20 years. Care has increased in volume and quality at the request of clients.

COMMITMENT – Faced with an upsurge in acts of incivility in its veterinary hospital structures, EnvA is launching an awareness campaign and implementing educational actions.
Learn more: https://t.co/YDHpHdLiut pic.twitter.com/LZCVvZNpKW

– National Veterinary School of Alfort – EnvA (@Env_Alfort) March 16, 2023

What has also increased are incivilities, verbal and even physical aggression when it comes to checkout. And that also weighs on the morale of veterinarians, as Emilie Pailloux, who has been practicing for 15 years in Salins-les-Bains in the Jura, tells us.

Customers, she explains, “Often require that we treat effectively and all that without costing too much, of course”. “I treated a dog that had been attacked by another dog, she continues. People, at the time, had not planned what to pay. So I gave credit and when they came back for the follow-up, I asked to be paid before continuing the treatment and they started insulting me. This is really one of the difficult points to manage with customers”.

“The veterinarian is considered to be a person who has a vocation, who does a passionate job. So it is sometimes taboo to ask for money, especially if, unfortunately, the animal does not recover, or even dies”.

Emilie Pailloux, veterinarian in the Jura

at franceinfo

In addition to having to juggle between hyperavailability and personal life, there is also the feeling among veterinarians of having to prove themselves and to be constantly evaluated, especially among women, the majority in the profession. “The development of the Internet contributes to this, says Emilie Pailloux, because we put Google reviews, we share our dissatisfaction or congratulations on social networks. It’s stressful.”

A profession that “still carries masculine values”

All of these factors lead to dramas. Veterinarians are three to four times more at risk of suicide than the general population, according to a 2022 study published by the University of Burgundy-Franche Comté. Animal doctors are more prone to burnout than farmers.

A malaise often hidden when a young veterinarian ended her life last month, says Laurence Crenn, veterinarian in Lons-le-Saunier (Jura). She is president of the Véto Entraide association, which offers a telephone listening platform to veterinarians in distress. “Obviously, it’s difficult because we would have liked to think that she would have picked up the phone to call us, she confides. We would have liked her to do that to, perhaps, avoid this tragedy. For the moment, we already have two sisters who have left us since the beginning of the year. And then, there is above all the fact that the profession of veterinarian still carries masculine values.

“The veterinarian is a knower, he is a carer, so he will not ask for help and therefore he will not speak. Mental health disorders are still stigmatized, rejected, perceived as shameful. “

Laurence Crenn, veterinarian in Lons-le-Launier

at franceinfo

An application decree must be signed by the end of the year to develop teleconsultations, as for human medicine. These virtual appointments should save time and limit travel for veterinarians. An experiment carried out in 11 pilot departments has proved positive, even if it will not solve everything, warns the national council of the Order of veterinarians. He is thinking about ways to lighten or even pool emergencies and night guards. The government increased the number of students at the end of 2022 to stem the shortage.