Veterinary house officer perceptions of dimensions of well-being during postgraduate training

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To describe veterinary house officers’ perceptions of dimensions of well-being during postgraduate training and to identify potential areas for targeted intervention. SAMPLE 303 house officers. PROCEDURES A 62-item questionnaire was generated by use of an online platform and sent to house officers at participating institutions in October 2020. Responses were analyzed for trends and associations between selected variables. RESULTS 239 residents, 45 rotating interns, and 19 specialty interns responded to the survey. The majority of house officers felt that their training program negatively interfered with their exercise habits, diet, and social engagement. House officers reported engaging in exercise significantly less during times of clinical responsibility, averaging 1.6 exercise sessions/wk (SD ± 0.8) on clinical duty and 2.4 exercise sessions/wk (SD ± 0.9) when not on clinical duty (P < 0.001). Ninety-four percent of respondents reported experiencing some degree of anxiety regarding their physical health, and 95% of house officers reported feeling some degree of anxiety regarding their current financial situation. Overall, 47% reported that their work-life balance was unsustainable for > 1 year; there was no association between specialty and sustainability of work-life balance. Most house officers were satisfied with their current training program, level of clinical responsibility, and mentorship. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Veterinary house officers demonstrated a poor balance between the demands of postgraduate training and maintenance of personal health. Thoughtful interventions are needed to support the well-being of veterinary house officers.

Veterinarian burnout demographics and organizational impacts: a narrative review

“…Sources of resident stress include work overload, financial instability, insufficient collegiality, inadequate mentoring from supervising faculty, employment opportunity concerns, difficult client interactions, poor mental health, high academic demands, student teaching expectations, staff expectations, time constraints for specialty examination preparation, the process of learning advanced clinical skills, constant performance evaluation, and expectations to design and perform clinical research under programmatic time constraints (33,39). Veterinary house officers commonly describe an inability to balance training demands with maintenance of at least one aspect of personal health such as exercise, social engagement, diet, and economic satisfaction, and more than half of house officers report their work-life balance as unsustainable (40). Almost 1/3 of participating veterinary house officers evaluate their current eating habits as poor, with >90% attributing this at least partly to programmatic demands (40).…”

“…Veterinary house officers commonly describe an inability to balance training demands with maintenance of at least one aspect of personal health such as exercise, social engagement, diet, and economic satisfaction, and more than half of house officers report their work-life balance as unsustainable (40). Almost 1/3 of participating veterinary house officers evaluate their current eating habits as poor, with >90% attributing this at least partly to programmatic demands (40). Veterinary residents in academia are particularly affected as they receive 2-3 fewer days off per month and obtain 3-4 h less sleep per 48 h than those in private and corporate practice (41).…”

“…Most veterinary house officers consider their current economic situation to be fair or poor, and a striking 95% report feelings of anxiety related to finances (40). This finding likely reflects that veterinary resident and intern annual salaries do not meet the minimum income standard of a living wage (56).…”

“…On top of these pay disparities, 87% of veterinary graduates leave school with veterinary degree student loan debt (58). Inadequate financial reward for work and financial stresses are consistently demonstrated to be important contributors to burnout among veterinary and physician house officers (40,59,60).…”

“…Relative salary differentials may also be symptomatic of organizational inequities (222), which may be yet another contributor to higher rates of burnout in women than men, given the gender pay gap (89,91). However, for individuals (e.g., house officers) who are at higher risk for burnout as a result of serious financial limitations relative to costs of living, increasing take-home pay is the most obvious, just, and urgent solution (40,56,223). Increased resident income is associated with increased career satisfaction (34,183).…”