Career switch - job or place

[FarmerMacK]

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I’m a 2023 DVM grad who has been working as a general practitioner in a busy clinic and I absolutely hate it. I have stuck it out for 2 years hoping that maybe I would start to like it but I haven’t. The clinic I work at is great, the people I work with are great I just never really felt motivated/excited about literally anything I do and I hate working with pet owners… I also feel terrified every day and it feels like I’m on my way to battle every time I go to work, I know that’s dramatic but it’s true. I have went to therapy, been on medications but I just don’t want this to be my life. I’ve been thinking of working with the CFIA honestly since veterinary school as I enjoy regulatory and compliance work, the only thing I’m a bit hesitant about is that most of those jobs are located in very small towns. I did find one job however it’s 1 hour away from the nearest city. I’m kind of nervous that if I don’t live in a city I’m going to be miserable so I’m contemplating (I know it’s probably crazy) living in a city and commuting out 1 hour. Is this crazy? I’ve always kind of known I wanted to work for the CFIA I just am struggling with moving to the middle of nowhere. Does anyone have advice?

 

[JaynaAli]

A lot of us like living in the middle of nowhere.

I don’t have a lot of specific advice, but an hour commute is a lot, especially if you’re in a role where you have to put in a lot of driving time between facilities during the day. People do it, but that’s quite a lot of time to be sacrificing driving each week. Yesterday, my best friend just quit her clinical job after 10 years in rural mixed GP and starts as a regional vet medical officer in our area in two weeks. She’s mostly doing it for long term stability and benefits, but her thoughts were that if she didn’t like the job, she’s still a vet and could go find a different job at a clinic. Your situation is obviously different in that you don’t enjoy clinical work, but I think the same advice still holds…if you find the commute intolerable, you could move to the small town…or alternatively if you move and hate small town living you could move back to the city and do the drive…and if you find out you also hate government work, you quit and find a different option whether that’s back in GP or another nonclinical route.

It’s okay to take a risk and pivot if it doesn’t work out like you had hoped.

 

[pp9]

I did find one job however it’s 1 hour away from the nearest city. I’m kind of nervous that if I don’t live in a city I’m going to be miserable so I’m contemplating (I know it’s probably crazy) living in a city and commuting out 1 hour. Is this crazy?

Or just live in between the city and your office? Or a little outside the city?

 

[battie]

An hour commute is rough. It's even worse if it's a job you don't actively like.

Clinical practice is rough. It's even worse if it's a job you don't actively like.

However, not all clinical jobs are the same. What else is going on in the clinic where you feel you are on the verge of constant battle?

If youve been in the same clinic or hospital since graduating, there's also the option of finding some place new or trying something new. I went from GP to ER and it was the best thing I could have done. We had some crazy shenanigans happen this summer and I seriously considered leaving. Yet I'm still here and I don't regret staying.

 

[pp9]

Just wanted to add in that my commute is currently 40-50min depending on traffic. It's not amazing, especially if I get called in for an emergency, but we kinda had no choice. It was either this, or buy a house we wouldn't like for even more than we paid for our current one.

The reasons why my commute are not as bad as they could be: 1) I don't hit any real traffic on my route, and avoid the highways (which in my metro area, are super unpredictable and close down entirely for construction every 5-10 years). 2) I pass decent amenities on the way to/from - Costco (gas/errands), fast food, coffee, etc. 3) My route is still a highly traveled main road, so it gets decent snowplow/salt truck attention in the winter.

An hour commute through the boonies is different than passing through actual cities and whatnot. You might also find that you're on the good side of traffic each way every day, which can help. I'd suggest doing the commute at least once during what your actual driving times would be (if possible) to see how miserable it really is, or if it's not so bad. Podcasts and audiobooks also are helpful.

Again, an hour isn't amazing, but tons of people do that or longer every day because their home base location was more important or was necessary.

Another thought - even if you do take this new job, I wouldn't move until you know you're happy with it. Give it a few months.

 

[FarmerMacK]

An hour commute is rough. It's even worse if it's a job you don't actively like.

Clinical practice is rough. It's even worse if it's a job you don't actively like.

However, not all clinical jobs are the same. What else is going on in the clinic where you feel you are on the verge of constant battle?

If youve been in the same clinic or hospital since graduating, there's also the option of finding some place new or trying something new. I went from GP to ER and it was the best thing I could have done. We had some crazy shenanigans happen this summer and I seriously considered leaving. Yet I'm still here and I don't regret staying.

I feel like the clients are terrible and I’m assuming that’s a universal problem. Also I feel like clinical work and working up cases just makes me very anxious. I also feel like it’s so hectic and my attention is pulled in so many different ways during the day it’s just exhausting. So I have thought of trying to do other clinical work, I just think I’ll have the same problems.

 

[battie]

feel like the clients are terrible and I’m assuming that’s a universal problem.

This really depends. I worked Thurs, Fri, and Sun this last weekend and we had 1 to 2 actually bad clients. We keep communication open with the clients about wait times and such, so that helped. We also don't tolerate bull****, so we shut down the negativity. Bad clients simply don't come back.

clinical work and working up cases just makes me very anxious

What about it makes you anxious? At this point being a few years out, it makes total sense since you don't have all the pattern recognition yet and still are figuring out your vibe and efficiency.

it’s so hectic and my attention is pulled in so many different ways during the day it’s just exhausting

Super valid. Being the ICU doc was wild this weekend between the case load in hospital as well as working the triage board. I had some things slip through the cracks that I had to go backwards to fix.

It honestly sounds like you need some more solid mentorship than what you've had to learn both the medicine skills (to help with the anxiety of case work up) and soft skills (organization, prioritization, client communication). We obviously cannot do that in great detail here, but you're still welcome to DM me for further discussion, or continue to post here cause my advice will likely to be helpful to others.

It's never wrong to find something better elsewhere, regardless of what type of medicine you practice. If you want to give clinical medicine another shot, I'd say you need a new clinic that's supportive of the mentorship needs you have. Likewise, if you want to take the plunge outside of clinical med, we need docs in those roles too.

 

[FarmerMacK]

This really depends. I worked Thurs, Fri, and Sun this last weekend and we had 1 to 2 actually bad clients. We keep communication open with the clients about wait times and such, so that helped. We also don't tolerate bull****, so we shut down the negativity. Bad clients simply don't come back.



What about it makes you anxious? At this point being a few years out, it makes total sense since you don't have all the pattern recognition yet and still are figuring out your vibe and efficiency.



Super valid. Being the ICU doc was wild this weekend between the case load in hospital as well as working the triage board. I had some things slip through the cracks that I had to go backwards to fix.

It honestly sounds like you need some more solid mentorship than what you've had to learn both the medicine skills (to help with the anxiety of case work up) and soft skills (organization, prioritization, client communication). We obviously cannot do that in great detail here, but you're still welcome to DM me for further discussion, or continue to post here cause my advice will likely to be helpful to others.

It's never wrong to find something better elsewhere, regardless of what type of medicine you practice. If you want to give clinical medicine another shot, I'd say you need a new clinic that's supportive of the mentorship needs you have. Likewise, if you want to take the plunge outside of clinical med, we need docs in those roles too.

Thank you so much for all this great advice! Yea, the clinic I worked at was in an urban area and extremely busy and we had so many “caution clients” that got their way too often and it was honestly defeating. We would fire clients but I just found all the complaints added to my anxiety and the clinic manager would just always be in our office talking about complaints, etc or the front desk would be like “this persons mad because they didn’t get their way” and ya just like a lot.

I think what makes me the most anxious is just the thought of not knowing what to do or there’s something I haven’t seen before or doing something wrong and getting sued. I feel like being sued was brought up so much in my client like everyone was so scared of it all the time or something? Which I get but idk to be scared of that all the time was exhausting. Also just not knowing what I was going to have to deal with that day makes me really anxious too.

I did think I had good mentorship but it’s the only place I’ve ever worked so not sure what it would be like elsewhere. I think I got solid mentorship for the first 6 months and then it kind of dropped off when I started getting really busy which wasn’t great but I think they thought I could handle myself. There was a few times I felt like I was almost already burning out and I guess I’m just scared it’s going to happen again, maybe I need a smaller clinic or something not sure. But they were really good in making sure I was never alone.

 

[battie]

We would fire clients but I just found all the complaints added to my anxiety and the clinic manager would just always be in our office talking about complaints, etc or the front desk would be like “this persons mad because they didn’t get their way” and ya just like a lot.

Learning how to deal with complaints does take time. Some of them just need to be ignored (like the lady who claimed I was just trying to rack up her bill) because they don't amount to anything useful or something you can learn from. Others, the complaint is valid and working with the team to figure out improvement points is important.

Also learning to not take things personally is important. A lot of complaints are either meaningless or are a legitimate concern on the part of the client. Therefore they shouldn't be considered a personal attack. As an example, if you're consistently falling behind during the day, is there a point of efficiency that can be improved?

just the thought of not knowing what to do or there’s something I haven’t seen before

Vet school wasn't meant to teach you everything in every aspect of medicine. It was meant to teach you basics and teach you how to find the answer. I'm 5 years out and we still talk about cases as a doctor group. We will call each other on our shifts to look at x rays, ask another doc if the lac repair looks too tight, or if we're missing something on blood work. When I clock in and log into EzyVet, I log into VIN at the same time.

In short, know where to look for help and know how to ask for help. Never be afraid to ask for help.

But also don't be afraid to be confident either.

doing something wrong and getting sued

I was taken to the board 3 years after I graduated and nothing ultimately happened. The majority of cases that are lost are lost due to bad paperwork and client communication.

You ***will absolutely*** screw up someday. No getting around it. However, what matters is how you fix the screw up that matters so that screw up doesn't happen again.

I think I got solid mentorship for the first 6 months and then it kind of dropped off when I started getting really busy which wasn’t great but I think they thought I could handle myself

This goes back to learning how and when to ask for help!

 

[pp9]

You ***will absolutely*** screw up someday. No getting around it. However, what matters is how you fix the screw up that matters so that screw up doesn't happen again.

so much this

ETA: Came back to say that probably 95% of the time, lawsuits and board complaints are frivolous though. A client WILL do one/both to you at some point in your career (and chances increase tenfold if you work ER, in my experience). I don't think many vets out there in clinical/client facing roles can say they've gone their entire careers without facing at least one.

As long as you write good records, are practicing decent medicine, and maintain liability insurance, you're fine. It's always stressful nonetheless, but most of these situations are clients that think they can hold you responsible for either their own mistakes/lack of action or the fact that we can't always outrun the grim reaper. Not all clients are rational people so no amount of good communication will help in those situations. You'd probably be fine even if you truly did make a mistake though. I guess idk about Canada but in the US you really have to do something crazy to get your license suspended. Most of the time they just mandate extra CE or something.

I have not gotten a formal board complaint yet, but I did get a small handful of lawsuits in my three years of FT corporate ER. All were bogus and dropped once the client's lawyer got a hold of the medical records. I also got more than a small handful of lawyers requesting to see our insurance policy/something like that, and those also never went anywhere. I've always assumed our legal team just handled it, or the lawyers realized the case would be worth absolutely nothing financially?