Veterinarians work 60 hours

[Ges]

Are all or most vets REQUIRED to work 60 hours a week? I've read and heard that MOST of the vets work 10 - 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Is this true? Are vets able to negotiate their work hours and choose to work normal 40 hours a week, 5 days only? I want to become a vet in the future but this issue worries me a lot.

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[that redhead]

It really depends on the field of vet med, the region, the clientel and the specific work location. In my work at a busy small animal clinic, we easily worked 10hrs a day 5 days a week and then ~5hrs on Saturdays.

At the lab animal facility I worked at, it was strictly 8-4pm. Head vet was technically "on call" all of the time on weekends but rarely had to come in.

Generally speaking, vet med doesn't exactly lend itself to the 9-5 lifestyle. In most scenarios of general practice you'll see a good number of patients each day, you'll have surgeries that may encounter complications, you'll have an emergency every now and again, you'll have calls the morning of, you'll have to wait to discharge/talk with owners, you'll have to make sure any cases staying over night are stable, etc. You can't just leave because it's 5, you know?

I think if this is an issue for you, it may not be the best fit.

 

[cs5910]

Every situation is going to be different. One vet I interned with owned his own practice and easily worked 72 hours a week, thats if there were no emergencies on a Sunday (when he was usually off). I intern now at a large hospital, where there are four doctors. Each of them probably works 40-50 hours a week.

Now, it also depends on the type of animals you see, i.e. most large animal/food animal vets here in Florida are on call 24/7, Emergency Medicine vets can have night vs. day shifts, etc. Also depends on if you are a specialist vs. generalist practitioner, researcher, public health vet etc. EVERY situation is different. So you can't generalize the 60 hour thing. You won't be given a specific answer to your question unless you describe what kind of medicine you are asking about.

 

[ThePiedPiper]

The dental vet I work for comes in early in the morning and stays until evening. Say she comes in at 7:30am for an 8am consultation, sees patients until around 11 or noon time, and then does her procedures. She prefers two procedure days but we often see three procedures in a day, depending on what those procedures are. She probably finishes up procedures between 4:30 and 5:00pm but in no way does this mean she's off work. She still has to call the client, have the client come pick up their animal, speak to the client, and then there's all the other duties that the techs mostly help with but she'll still do some of it and oversees most of it. I would say she leaves at around 6pm at the earliest on weeknights and Saturdays. So that's a... 11+ hour day, on average? Most vets I know work this schedule and they work even longer or more strenuous hours if they do anything mobile or are involved in emergency med. Out of all the clinics in our area, I think only one is closed on weekends. Most are open at least for a half-day on Saturday if not until 5-6pm, and most vets are there well after closing. I'm sure it's not the case for all practices, but it's been the case as far as the ones I know. I have a friend who's a vet tech in Idaho whose clinics operate the same way. Days are easily 10+ hours. But as others have mentioned, it varies depending on practice, staff and type of medicine.

 

[prevetdreamer]

Like others have said, there is way too much variety to generalize. In my corner of the world there are many emergency clinics, so most general practice and specialties are closed at about 6, short day on Saturday and closed the rest of the weekend. That's only small animal, I believe LA clinics would have more on call duties. Most SA clinicians I know work about 40-50 hours per week, but that can vary depending on how many doctors are at the clinic and if there are any emergency hospitals close by.

it really, really depends on what area and a whole list of other factors. If you're worried about being committed to 60 hour work weeks just know that you'll find a lot of variability. You can probably find a job that has the time commitment you want in the field you want, as long as you are willing to negotiate and be really picky about a position. Having requirements like that may make it more difficult for you to find a job and take a longer time, but you can probably do it if that's what you really want. Some areas will definitely be easier than others.

 

[Foxhunter]

The clinic I worked the most in had three vets. Each worked 4, 9-10 hour days a week, two worked every Saturday (4 hours, so you'd have every 3rd Saturday off). Then they alternated being on call nights/weekends. I think two doctors would alternate M-Th, then the other would be on call Fri-Sunday. At the low end of the spectrum this was a 40 hour week. I'd say 60 was the extreme high end. The nice thing for them was they all had one weekday off.

 

[lailanni]

Most areas of vet med are not a 9-5 day.

If you want specific hours in a medical field try pharmacy. Or get really specific with vet med - lab animal medicine, clinical pathology, etc.

Have you spent time in a practice? What area of vet med are you interested in? If you spend time at a SA clinic, you'll see that most vets do more than 40 hours a week. Nothing is mandatory. You can work part time (good luck paying off those loans) or try and be picky about your job. In this economy though there isn't much wiggle room to be that picky about a job. Unless you managed to keep your loans down in the first place.

Also you may be required to be on-call.

60+ hours isn't "mandatory", but most vets who work in a SA practice are above 40 regularly. I can't speak for equine or LA med since that's not what I do.

 

[Kpowell14]

The SA hospital I work at has a doctor there from 9am - 7pm M-F , 9am- 5pm Sat, 10am-5pm Sun . We are only closed on Thanksgiving day and Christmas Day. We have a mix of doctors that work either 4 day or 5 day weeks. Either way it is definitely more than 40 hrs, probably close to 47-52 hrs a week. 60 would be quite a stretch, but 50 easily happens. I worked 53 hrs last week as a tech 😳

 

[DVMDream]

I would say that all of the vets I worked for pulled over 40 hours/week easily... 50 is a good estimate but 60 probably happened at times... There are just some weeks where it doesn't matter how hard you try, there is no getting out "on time".

 

[ViaBea]

I shadow one small animal vet that works only about 28 hours a week plus whatever time he spends going in at night, but he is older, does not accept new clients, and there are emergency clinics nearby.

On the other end of the spectrum, I also shadow an equine specialist that is always on call for emergencies. He is usually there at least 9:30-5 Monday-Saturday (I'm not sure if he goes in Sundays or not because he has a tech working to take care of the in-patients). There are days where they don't have a lot of appointments and there is a lot of waiting around, but it doesn't always happen. For example, last week we weren't done with everything until 7:30. I also remember one Friday where he didn't get to leave most of the night because of an emergency, and then the next day did not get done until 8:30 at night due to emergencies coming in and having to work around the appointments scheduled.

 

[Foxhunter]

Most areas of vet med are not a 9-5 day.

If you want specific hours in a medical field try pharmacy. Or get really specific with vet med - lab animal medicine, clinical pathology, etc.

Have you spent time in a practice? What area of vet med are you interested in? If you spend time at a SA clinic, you'll see that most vets do more than 40 hours a week. Nothing is mandatory. You can work part time (good luck paying off those loans) or try and be picky about your job. In this economy though there isn't much wiggle room to be that picky about a job. Unless you managed to keep your loans down in the first place.

Also you may be required to be on-call.

60+ hours isn't "mandatory", but most vets who work in a SA practice are above 40 regularly. I can't speak for equine or LA med since that's not what I do.

I don't think lab animal medicine is 9-5 or can promise 40 hour weeks. The weeks may be a little more cushy/less crazy than other fields, but not necessarily. Especially when working on big/important grants.

 

[Foxhunter]

I for one plan on marrying rich while in vet school. Then rather than having a 60 hour a week job, I'll just pull relief gigs to keep from getting bored and take care of my friends and family's animals the rest of the time.

 

[pirateyoho]

I've got an example from the other end of the spectrum. The vet I work for has 3 other vets working under him part-time, so he only works 4 days a week, and only from about 8 am to 3 or 4pm on those 4 days. But he makes a six-digit salary, which is also extremely rare for vets, so you can't really expect his case to be the norm. I just wanted to further reinforce the statement that you really can't give a concrete answer to how many hours a week a vet works because it's going to depend on a number of factors.

 

[Rainheart]

With my clinic, we have the practice owner who works 4 days a week and 1 Saturday a month. And also, our other full-time vet with basically the same schedule. They usually get in between 8:30 and 9 in the morning and stay until about 5:30 or so.

Of course, there are crazy days where no one gets a lunch break and we don't make it out until 6:30 or 7pm (we close at 6pm).

But generally, no, none of the vets I work for have 60 hour weeks.

 

[rushrhees]

I will say just most white collar jobs tend to be about 50-60 hour weeks as it is common to take work home. If a 40 hour week is a high priority then really examine what you are getting into.

 

[chickenlittle]

There are full-time jobs out there with 40-hour weeks or less, but they're not very common and obviously they don't pay as well. There are also plenty of part-time jobs, but those obviously won't pay enough to pay off student loans, etc. If working limited hours is a huge priority to you, then you may want to look at another field.

I'm a small animal vet, and I've averaged about 40-50 hours/wk in a total of four jobs over the last seven years. The most common SA schedule in my area is four full days per week (usually a 10ish-hr day... most clinics are open 9.5-10 hours, and you may get to take a lunch break but you also will likely have to stay past closing most days) and a half-day every other weekend. Also, you'll factor in an additional 3-5 hours per week from home for keeping up to date on veterinary journals, researching tough cases, etc. I hear that some people have time within their workday for those sorts of things, but I've never worked at a slow enough clinic for that to be the case - I've always been with patients from the time I walk in the door until the time I leave.

I currently work for a corporate practice and I'm scheduled 9a-7p three weekdays per week and 9a-5p on Saturday. I REALLY love my schedule right now, but keep in mind that many days I don't get lunch and most nights I'm there at least an hour after closing.... so it still works out to about 40-45 hrs/wk plus the additional time from home that I mentioned. Also, there's no flexibility in my schedule.... days off have to be requested at least six weeks in advance and are not always granted, calling in sick is really frowned upon unless you are seriously ill (that's the case at all vet clinics - I've called in twice in the seven years that I've been in practice), and coming in late / leaving early is absolutely not an option so I miss out on a lot of evening events because I'm usually stuck at work until at least 8pm or so on days that I work. Also, I was just recently allowed to go back down to this cushy schedule after three months of being made to work a lot of 5-day (50-55 hr) weeks. I get paid extra when I take on those extra days, but it really burns me out.... luckily, after three months of begging/pleading and finally just refusing to work any more long weeks (which was a scary move, because I half-expected them to just fire me), I got back down to this schedule. For now, anyway.

I'd love a 9-5 job, but it's really not an option for a vet unless you own your practice (and the only way to get to that point is to work a lot of really LONG weeks, so again not really a path for someone who wants a lot of work-life balance). If a 40-hr week is a huge motivating factor for you, I'd definitely start looking into other career options.

 

[Emiloo4]

Or you could do certain parts of vet med like anatomical pathology. At least that's what path doctors here love to claim as their favorite part 😀
WTF may correct me, but for the most part, your patients aren't in a hurry in A path 🙄. I'm sure C path is different.

 

[BlackDog17]

The SA clinic I worked at, there were two vets and they each worked about 45-50 hours a week. Each of them had one day off during the week, and they took turns being "on call" on the weekends. Being on call wasn't a big deal though - we never had hospitalized patients over the weekends, except in very extreme cases. Basically an assistant would go in twice a day to take care of any boarders we had, and then they'd phone the vet on call to let her know that everything was okay. It was very very rare for either of the vets to have to go into the hospital on weekends. There were some days when we got behind schedule or had an emergency and the vets had to stay late, but for the most part they were done by 6:30 every night. They both had families and personal lives outside of work, so it definitely is possible.

Keep in mind though, this was one of the best clinics in the area and had a well established and very loyal clientele. There was also an emergency clinic about 20 minutes away, so any animals that needed to be hospitalized over the weekend were usually sent there instead, and on weekends the clinic phone lines automatically switched over to a pre-recorded message letting clients know that the clinic was closed until Monday and they should call the emergency hospital instead. True, the clinic probably lost some money that way, and not all clinic owners will be willing to do that.

Basically what I'm saying is: it is possible to keep a relatively "normal" work schedule, but you need the right kind of situation for it. And I definitely wouldn't count on being able to find a cushy 40 hour/week job straight out of vet school. It's hard enough for vet grads these days to find ANY jobs, let alone one with an accommodating schedule.

 

[2CatMatt]

If working limited hours is a huge priority to you, then you may want to look at another field.

I'm not just picking on chickenlittle here because there were several similar quotes other people made in this thread as well, but statements like this really irk me. I am switching careers into vet med from the legal industry and have dealt with similar pressures for awhile now where employees are pressured to work harder and longer hours. A lot of that pressure came from other coworkers. People expected you to be on-call and have the blackberry nearby at all times. The glorification of the "type-A" personality in our culture and insistence that more hours equals better work is (1) not true, (2) not sustainable and (3) leads to burnt-out and unhappy workers. Where is the support for each other to demand a normal work/life balance?

Telling someone who wants to work full-time while maintaining a work/life balance to go find another career is not helpful to any of us. Yes it's extremely difficult to stand up for yourself, but the onus is on you to set your own boundaries, and the more that do so the better off we all are. And there may be times when it's just not possible and we may have to take a job with ****tier hours, especially as a recent graduate or the type of specialty you go into. But in the end, demanding a 40-50 work schedule should be encouraged and supported by all of us in this career because it leads to being better doctors and living better lives.

Also, I was just recently allowed to go back down to this cushy schedule after three months of being made to work a lot of 5-day (50-55 hr) weeks. I get paid extra when I take on those extra days, but it really burns me out.... luckily, after three months of begging/pleading and finally just refusing to work any more long weeks (which was a scary move, because I half-expected them to just fire me), I got back down to this schedule. For now, anyway.

Good for you for sticking up for yourself. But what's sad is that you see it as being "allowed" to go back down to a "cushy schedule" of 40 hours a week after being "made to work" 55 hours a week. You shouldn't feel like you'll be fired for demanding a normal work week and I hope you realize the work environment you describe is not a healthy one. Again, not picking on you specifically, I was just a little thrown by the lack of encouragement for the OP.

 

[cs5910]

It would take a lifetime to pay back the vet school debt if you only planned on working part time... So yes, while no one in their right mind wants to work 50+ hours, unless you are in a high income situation/come from money, it might be essential to work 50 or 60 hours a week to pay back the incredible debt that is taken out for veterinary education....

Obviously, there are exeptions, but this idealogy seems to be the norm at the hospitals I have worked at.

 

[KCgophervet]

It would take a lifetime to pay back the vet school debt if you only planned on working part time... So yes, while no one in their right mind wants to work 50+ hours, unless you are in a high income situation/come from money, it might be essential to work 50 or 60 hours a week to pay back the incredible debt that is taken out for veterinary education....

Obviously, there are exeptions, but this idealogy seems to be the norm at the hospitals I have worked at.

40 hours a week is not "part time." I find it slightly terrifying that this seems to be the implication in this thread. I currently work in research so while I'm well acquainted with the fact that some weeks are just stupid busy and there's no way to work less than 50 hours, I really don't think that should be the norm. If vets are being forced to work 60 hours a week that simply means the clinic should be hiring more vets. I realize that's not always possible with the economy as it is, but at some point people are just going to burn out or hate their lives (or both).

I agree with 2CatMatt, while fresh from graduation might mean making sacrifices to get your foot in the door somewhere, vets should not allow this 60 hr/week practice to become the norm. I don't have an answer for how to do that, other than doing what chickenlittle did and insisting on a normal schedule.

 

[katryn]

I'm not just picking on chickenlittle here because there were several similar quotes other people made in this thread as well, but statements like this really irk me. I am switching careers into vet med from the legal industry and have dealt with similar pressures for awhile now where employees are pressured to work harder and longer hours. A lot of that pressure came from other coworkers. People expected you to be on-call and have the blackberry nearby at all times. The glorification of the "type-A" personality in our culture and insistence that more hours equals better work is (1) not true, (2) not sustainable and (3) leads to burnt-out and unhappy workers. Where is the support for each other to demand a normal work/life balance?

Telling someone who wants to work full-time while maintaining a work/life balance to go find another career is not helpful to any of us. Yes it's extremely difficult to stand up for yourself, but the onus is on you to set your own boundaries, and the more that do so the better off we all are. And there may be times when it's just not possible and we may have to take a job with ****tier hours, especially as a recent graduate or the type of specialty you go into. But in the end, demanding a 40-50 work schedule should be encouraged and supported by all of us in this career because it leads to being better doctors and living better lives.



Good for you for sticking up for yourself. But what's sad is that you see it as being "allowed" to go back down to a "cushy schedule" of 40 hours a week after being "made to work" 55 hours a week. You shouldn't feel like you'll be fired for demanding a normal work week and I hope you realize the work environment you describe is not a healthy one. Again, not picking on you specifically, I was just a little thrown by the lack of encouragement for the OP.

You make some very good points, and our practice management/vet business teacher made a lot of those same points too. But he also made the point that a veterinary degree is expensive, and you will probably end up making sacrifices to pay off your student loans.

I highly value my work/life balance, especially because I have a baby now, but if it comes down to having a job that has more hours than I'm comfortable with or putting my loans in remittance.....I'm going to take the job while I look for something else. I think it is important to recognize that with the current market, you're job is probably going to be less than ideal, and you will probably have to fight for the job aspects that are truly important to you, and take hits on a few other aspects.

A lot of discussions on this forum lately have centered around debt and job market, with the focus being on realistic expectations. This is not a bad thing.

 

[cs5910]

40 hours a week is not "part time." I find it slightly terrifying that this seems to be the implication in this thread. I currently work in research so while I'm well acquainted with the fact that some weeks are just stupid busy and there's no way to work less than 50 hours, I really don't think that should be the norm. If vets are being forced to work 60 hours a week that simply means the clinic should be hiring more vets. I realize that's not always possible with the economy as it is, but at some point people are just going to burn out or hate their lives (or both).

I agree with 2CatMatt, while fresh from graduation might mean making sacrifices to get your foot in the door somewhere, vets should not allow this 60 hr/week practice to become the norm. I don't have an answer for how to do that, other than doing what chickenlittle did and insisting on a normal schedule.

I was thinking 30 (or less) hours would be considered part time, definitely not 40!

 

[LetItSnow]

I'm not just picking on chickenlittle here because there were several similar quotes other people made in this thread as well, but statements like this really irk me.

I think chickenlittle's points were practical and a good generalization. *shrug* There's always exceptions, but jobs are hard to find and if it's a priority for someone (like the OP, for whom it mattered enough to post) that they not work more than a 40 hr work week ... then I agree, I'd at least think twice about this field because you may simply not have much of an option unless the marketplace changes dramatically for the better.

So I think chickenlittle was right to point that out and warn the poster that after investing a crap ton of money, it is likely to be difficult for them to find a job that makes enough to pay off those loans while still meeting their time criteria. Sound advice.

I come from two former careers. I worked easily 70-80 hr weeks in the news gig. When I moved into telecom I started out working 60 hr weeks, but by the time I left was down to maybe 30- to 35-hr weeks.

Honestly, it's way, way, way better to work a 60-hr week in a field you enjoy than a 35-hr week doing something you can't stand.

 

[LetItSnow]

I was thinking 30 (or less) hours would be considered part time, definitely not 40!

Well, technically that may be true. But for many salaried jobs (like my last career) it's more about getting your work done than how many hours you put in. In my job, as long as my projects were getting completed, nobody cared if I was there 1 hour/day or 15 hrs/day, and my time was never tracked.

 

[StartingoverVet]

I'm not just picking on chickenlittle here because there were several similar quotes other people made in this thread as well, but statements like this really irk me. I am switching careers into vet med from the legal industry and have dealt with similar pressures for awhile now where employees are pressured to work harder and longer hours. A lot of that pressure came from other coworkers. People expected you to be on-call and have the blackberry nearby at all times. The glorification of the "type-A" personality in our culture and insistence that more hours equals better work is (1) not true, (2) not sustainable and (3) leads to burnt-out and unhappy workers. Where is the support for each other to demand a normal work/life balance?

Telling someone who wants to work full-time while maintaining a work/life balance to go find another career is not helpful to any of us. Yes it's extremely difficult to stand up for yourself, but the onus is on you to set your own boundaries, and the more that do so the better off we all are. And there may be times when it's just not possible and we may have to take a job with ****tier hours, especially as a recent graduate or the type of specialty you go into. But in the end, demanding a 40-50 work schedule should be encouraged and supported by all of us in this career because it leads to being better doctors and living better lives.



Good for you for sticking up for yourself. But what's sad is that you see it as being "allowed" to go back down to a "cushy schedule" of 40 hours a week after being "made to work" 55 hours a week. You shouldn't feel like you'll be fired for demanding a normal work week and I hope you realize the work environment you describe is not a healthy one. Again, not picking on you specifically, I was just a little thrown by the lack of encouragement for the OP.

In my experience this is very unrealistic.
Unless you are in a profession desperate for workers, or you are at the top of your field and can negotiate your terms, most people have to take what they can get in difficult times.

Sure you can pass up lots of job opportunities to get a good fit, but especially once you are in a job, good luck trying to "demand" what you want. Most people can be fired for most any reason not against the law in this field, and if you are replaceable, you will be replaced.

Again, I just think this is a bit optimistic, although theoretically I agree is sounds right.

 

[wildowl]

Honestly, it's way, way, way better to work a 60-hr week in a field you enjoy than a 35-hr week doing something you can't stand.

👍 I find myself dreading days in lab and I am here probably 40 hours a week on top of teaching and classes. I never felt this way when I was working under the vet at a wildlife center, sometimes from 7am until 10pm.. I actually looked forward to going there.

 

[felinelvr44]

Honestly, it's way, way, way better to work a 60-hr week in a field you enjoy than a 35-hr week doing something you can't stand.

👍 This times a million.

My day job is painful. I work as a tech at a SA clinic on Sundays - I don't really need the money but it's what gets me through the week. I would gladly work a 60 hour work week in something I loved versus my current 40 hours a week at something I hate. That being said, everyone has different priorities. I am very "career focused" and don't plan on having children - so 50 or 60 hours doesn't seem that bad to me. Perhaps if I had other areas of my life that needed significant time (like kids) I would feel differently.

 

[DVMDream]

With my clinic, we have the practice owner who works 4 days a week and 1 Saturday a month. And also, our other full-time vet with basically the same schedule. They usually get in between 8:30 and 9 in the morning and stay until about 5:30 or so.

Of course, there are crazy days where no one gets a lunch break and we don't make it out until 6:30 or 7pm (we close at 6pm).

But generally, no, none of the vets I work for have 60 hour weeks.

This schedule would even be unusual for the vets I worked with (nothing against you Rainheart just quoting you for example)... they would get in at 7:30AM and would work until 5:30 or 6:00... and on one or two days of the week would work 7:30AM to 7PM when we closed, and we never, ever got out at 7PM... we were usually there until 8PM or later (a couple occasions until midnight).

Vet med is highly unpredictable and really you can just not expect to have any set schedule at all. Of course you are always welcome to turn down that client that is running in at 10 minutes before close with the emergency, but in reality, are you going to? No. Or the patient that has been hospitalized at the clinic for a few days that suddenly starts to deteriorate right before you are supposed to leave... you will stay there until they are stable, probably later. How about the surgery that went ok earlier, the pet woke up well, but while being monitored after has suddenly started to have complications and needs to be taken back into surgery? You will do it.


When I was working as a tech and wanted to make plans after work with family or whatever they would always ask, "When do you get off?" My response: "I have no clue." I think to expect a 40 hour work week in vet med, is a bit ridiculous, honestly... 40 hours is full-time for most jobs, but there are so many factors that go into our job that even if you were scheduled for 40 hours, chances are, you will be getting more than that.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Or you could do certain parts of vet med like anatomical pathology. At least that's what path doctors here love to claim as their favorite part 😀
WTF may correct me, but for the most part, your patients aren't in a hurry in A path 🙄. I'm sure C path is different.

True, necropsies are a bit more laid back, but biopsies usually get done in a hurry! Overall, pathology (even CP) is more lifestyle friendly than, say surgery.

As a resident, I work an approximately 50 hour week depending on which service I am on, and study at least 3 hours a day at home (study at work if I'm not on duty) during the week and 6-8 hours/day on weekends.

Pathology specialties doesn't require you to physically be AT the hospital as much as some other specialties, but you make up for it with all the "at home" stuff you do -especially board prep. Our board exam is an absolute monster that you need to prepare hardcore for at least a year in advance.

Most of the pathologists in academia work about the same 8-5 or 8-6 (minus the studying because they have boards under their belt - lucky!) So if you're looking for more "normal" hours and want to specialize, I would consider pathology or maybe radiology. Maybe therio or nutrition too.

Industry is more, though - I know a lot of pathologists at places like IDEXX, Antech, Pfizer, etc who easily work 60 hour weeks constantly. Academia is on the cushy side.

 

[chickenlittle]

You shouldn't feel like you'll be fired for demanding a normal work week and I hope you realize the work environment you describe is not a healthy one. Again, not picking on you specifically, I was just a little thrown by the lack of encouragement for the OP.

I think the OP was asking for realism, not encouragement. And yes, maybe my work environment is an unhealthy one (that is what my physician told me, when I needed a brief period accommodations due to medical issues and it was not very well-received at work), but I work for one of the largest employers of veterinarians in the country. Most vets will cycle through this 'unhealthy' work environment at some point in their careers, so it's realistic to understand that and make plans for it.

As much as I'd love to set my own boundaries, I need to support my family. There are no other veterinary jobs in this area so my hands are tied to keep my employer happy, even sometimes at the expense of my sanity and my family. It happens. That's life.

 

[dyachei]

I think the OP was asking for realism, not encouragement. And yes, maybe my work environment is an unhealthy one (that is what my physician told me, when I needed a brief period accommodations due to medical issues and it was not very well-received at work), but I work for one of the largest employers of veterinarians in the country. Most vets will cycle through this 'unhealthy' work environment at some point in their careers, so it's realistic to understand that and make plans for it.

As much as I'd love to set my own boundaries, I need to support my family. There are no other veterinary jobs in this area so my hands are tied to keep my employer happy, even sometimes at the expense of my sanity and my family. It happens. That's life.

chickenlittle, any chance you want to expand on the bolded part? If not here by PM perhaps? I work for the same company.

 

[TXvet]

I'm not just picking on chickenlittle here because there were several similar quotes other people made in this thread as well, but statements like this really irk me. I am switching careers into vet med from the legal industry and have dealt with similar pressures for awhile now where employees are pressured to work harder and longer hours. A lot of that pressure came from other coworkers. People expected you to be on-call and have the blackberry nearby at all times. The glorification of the "type-A" personality in our culture and insistence that more hours equals better work is (1) not true, (2) not sustainable and (3) leads to burnt-out and unhappy workers. Where is the support for each other to demand a normal work/life balance?

Telling someone who wants to work full-time while maintaining a work/life balance to go find another career is not helpful to any of us. Yes it's extremely difficult to stand up for yourself, but the onus is on you to set your own boundaries, and the more that do so the better off we all are. And there may be times when it's just not possible and we may have to take a job with ****tier hours, especially as a recent graduate or the type of specialty you go into. But in the end, demanding a 40-50 work schedule should be encouraged and supported by all of us in this career because it leads to being better doctors and living better lives.



Good for you for sticking up for yourself. But what's sad is that you see it as being "allowed" to go back down to a "cushy schedule" of 40 hours a week after being "made to work" 55 hours a week. You shouldn't feel like you'll be fired for demanding a normal work week and I hope you realize the work environment you describe is not a healthy one. Again, not picking on you specifically, I was just a little thrown by the lack of encouragement for the OP.

Good luck finding a job with your demands-I have a feeling you will need it!

 

[LetItSnow]

Good luck finding a job with your demands-I have a feeling you will need it!

.... and if you (2cat) could let me know where you're applying, that would be great. I'll be happy to let them know I'm willing to put in whatever hours it takes...

 

[laurafinn]

Two doctors at my urban, three-doctor, small animal general practice work 4 days a week, one works 3 days a week. The clinic is open weekends, so we all work 1 weekend day as part of our normal schedule. We all make a decent living. I think most vets in my geographic area work 4 10-hour days rather than 5 days; here, 4-day weeks are considered full-time. There are also a fair number of people around here who work part-time.

Veterinary medicine can be what you make of it. I wouldn't be dissuaded from the profession just because you want a job with work/life balance. It's definitely possible.

 

[adams30]

Two doctors at my urban, three-doctor, small animal general practice work 4 days a week, one works 3 days a week. The clinic is open weekends, so we all work 1 weekend day as part of our normal schedule. We all make a decent living. I think most vets in my geographic area work 4 10-hour days rather than 5 days; here, 4-day weeks are considered full-time. There are also a fair number of people around here who work part-time.

Veterinary medicine can be what you make of it. I wouldn't be dissuaded from the profession just because you want a job with work/life balance. It's definitely possible.

👍 There was also a small animal vet at the urban clinic I shadowed at who worked part time as well because she had young children. I agree that it's definitely what you make of it!

 

[chickenlittle]

Wish I could cut back to part-time, but I need the benefits. Maybe someday!! 🙂

 

[katryn]

Four 10 hour days plus rotating weekend shifts is also the norm here for full time, and there are a lot of vets that work part time as well. Thanks to the presence of ER clinics, there aren't a lot of clinics that keep emergency hours either. But being a vet school city, we are also way oversaturated with vets, so pay is not the greatest and jobs are hard to come by. 🙁