Veterinary medicine is losing its personal touch

For the past 15 years I’ve been attended by only one GP physician. Enjoying this single-doc relationship in the personal way I prefer has meant submitting to a fee-for-service format, concierge-style, with no insurance intermediary. I have the option of patronizing a reference lab chain if I want my insurance to cover my lab work, but I’m otherwise obligated to pay as I go. Totally worth it. Emphatically. Full stop. The greater access, continuity and reliability this more personal service offers has translated to a level of care well beyond what I’ve received from my OB/Gyn, psychiatrist, or any of the other GPs I’ve been to over the years. Consequently, my once-dwindling opinion of the medical profession has taken a turn; so much so I’ve convinced most of my family to take the same route (with much success). Since switching, I’ve seen their level of satisfaction with the medical community greatly improve, as well. How could it not? What they’re paying out of pocket goes straight to their deductible and amounts to an average of less than $200 a visit. For inarguably better care. Longer, more detailed office visits. Someone who knows you. Someone willing to call you on your BS. Someone who will take your call on your way to the ER and attend to you while you’re hospitalized, too. All of which makes me wonder. Why would anyone of at least modest means elect any other option? Despite the intro, this column is not about human medicine. It’s about us and the care we offer our pets and their families. Since joining the profession as a full-fledged, companion animal veterinarian in the mid-1990s, I’ve borne witness to the gradual transformation of our industry. I’m sure many of you have, too, so most of what follows will likely sound familiar (and hopefully not too curmudgeonly). To be sure, veterinary medicine’s potential level of care has dramatically improved, especially with respect to high-end critical and specialty care. However, our overall effective level of care for the average patient-client duo, in my opinion, has not necessarily kept pace. Why? I believe it is largely because, as we have observed on the human side, our care has become increasingly depersonalized. Is the VCPR lip service? What do I mean by that? Well, at a macro level, just take a look at the almighty veterinarian client patient relationship (VCPR), for instance. What we once considered the holy trinity of veterinary medicine it has largely been relegated to a four-letter acronym most often couched in legalistic or managerial language, and, consequently, reduced to the level of a transactional relationship instead of a personal one. Perhaps it has never seemed that way to you, but to me the VCPR used to connote a singular sort of bond with emotional undertones and the promise of personal connection. Instead, it has gone the way of animal agriculture, evoking widgets more than wire-haired terriers on yoga mat-clad exam tables whose worried people cling to your every word now that he’s on his third bout of pancreatitis. Do I romanticize? For sure. However, that’s what I’ve always read into the VCPR. For me, it is that personal connection that matters most because, without it, I might as well be an accountant, or some other brand of desk jockey. The way I see it, if I’m not invested in my patient and their people, I would not be as motivated to be kind, compassionate, thorough, and diligent. It may all sound smarmy to you, but without this incentive, would I be doing as good a job? I don’t see how. I know I’m not alone in my perspective, but I’m also coming to understand others do not share my enthusiasm for mixing the personal with the professional. In fact, I recently had a veterinarian tell me she preferred her specific kind of corporate relief job precisely because she couldn’t “get involved” with her clients and patients. She’s a sweet, kind person, and a highly competent practitioner, but she also wants to go home on time so she can turn off her workday. Those who argue in favor of this divestment do not necessarily see being a veterinarian as anything more than a job. In fact, I believe they often aspire to a professional life divorced from their family, at-home, personal life. Meanwhile, I see my work in the opposite light; I’m married to it and actively pursue balance, lest I end up burned out and divorced. But then, I own my own place. It may be more time consuming, but it’s probably easier to experience its rewards. Indeed, when you look at many professional trends, it is hard to argue against work-life separation. Now that independent practice ownership is down, corporate management is up, practices are larger, and turnover is brisker, it is easier to see how this increasingly popular point of view evolved. After all, when we lose more of our professional freedom, personal independence and job stability, we also risk losing the ability to forge long-term relationships, along with our ability to communicate more honestly and openly with our clients. To me, all this is alarming. To those who know of no other paradigm, that is what sanity looks like. I get it. Because, sure; avoiding compassion fatigue seems psychologically advantageous. Unfortunately, a total separation of work and personal life takes its own emotional toll. Given that avoiding the lows means losing the highs, too, loving your work becomes increasingly elusive. This kind of thinking is just as psychologically depleting and, ultimately, dehumanizing. After all, when work becomes just work, and satisfaction is measured in clinical wins and defeats, or the size of your paycheck, work becomes more of a tedious game than a personal adventure. So, after a few years of this, how emotionally satisfied with your life, your career, and your profession can you expect to be? I mean, why did you become a veterinarian in the first place? Was it to work with animals without any emotional investment? I think not! How then does a veterinarian handle the work without losing their sanity? The key is not to divorce the personal from the professional; it is to limit both highs and lows so you’re not banging along, rail to rail, as you move through your career path. I’m not saying it is easy. I’m just saying work-life separation isn’t as rewarding as it sounds — less so if the end result is a more depersonalized brand of veterinary medicine. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t love that for me; and I definitely don’t love it for my profession. Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, owns a small animal practice in Miami and is a passionate blogger at drpattykhuly.com. Columnists’ opinions do not necessarily reflect those of VPN Plus+.

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Veterinary medicine is losing its personal touch

Here’s a look at how and why

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