There is a nationwide veterinarian shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vet clinics are being overwhelmed with new business which is pushing wait times to hours.
Were you one of the thousands of people who got a pandemic pet?
While it's great so many animals were rescued in the last year, now there's a not so happy fallout regarding veterinarians.
There's a shortage, both here in Ohio and nationwide, and vet clinics are being overwhelmed with new business which is pushing wait times to hours.
"With COVID it's gotten so much worse, we never shut down we've been running curbside it's been extremely stressful and of course the public's stress, there was a lot of patience and understanding early in covid, but it's done," says Dr. Kari Swedenborg, DVM, one of the partners at West Park Animal Hospital. Last year, three veterinarians left, two due to burnout.
"One vet who left is considering leaving the profession with probably two hundred thousand dollars in school debt, it's just super sad," Dr. Swedenborg said.
A common scenario across the nation. An estimated shortage of nearly seven thousand veterinarians in the U.S. The 32 Veterinary medical schools produce about 32 hundred graduates each year. Not nearly enough to cover doctors who retire and the increase in demand from pandemic pets.
"There's not enough people, not enough shifts and it's really about burning people out, which is the last thing we want to do because then we'll have fewer people in the profession," says Rustin M. Moore, DVM, PhD, DACVS, dean, The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
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