Message from the President

Dear PVMA Members,

PVMA is in the final stages of choosing an association management company to partner with to help continue the day-to-day operations of the organization. This will allow your elected leadership to focus on topics and events that are important to you—our members. We realize that we have not been as present over this past year. The past two years have seen numerous changes within the organization’s leadership and staffing. We are constantly being challenged as to what are the best and most productive activities to benefit our members and profession. We are constantly looking for the best process to work with our constituents.

This past year has been a fine dance of keeping the PVMA functioning and retaining our current staff. We have asked our few remaining staff to go above and beyond to perform tasks they were not initially hired to do and never meant to undertake on their own. We have expected our volunteer executive board members and Board of Trustees to spend countless hours volunteering their time to perform duties that would normally be done by staff members. Everyone has come together in honor of the organization and our members. We all hope for a bright future with better things on the horizon.

The above trials and tribulations sound similar to the unfortunate events that are occurring in veterinary clinics around the country. Our ideal of the workplace is being challenged. Our concept of the boss-employee relationship is evolving. As much as we are fatigued by mention of the pandemic, it has been the first time in recent history that we have been forced to stop. Many were mandated to stay home or at the very least, reimagine and reinvent the day-to-day they once knew. This shift in routine combined with an already brittle profession resulted in the swinging of the pendulum of values towards quality of life over financial gain.

We are in unprecedented times with severe shortages of both experienced veterinarians and support staff. We are being forced to manage a much larger volume of patients with, often, a much smaller, less experienced staff. New graduate veterinarians are being left alone for shifts and with cases that they are doing their best to manage with little to no mentorship.

We often forget that we are all fighting the same battles in our profession. We often forget that it would be easier if we worked and communicated better as a team within our practices. If we broke down the boundaries within our profession, our lives would be so much easier. Kindness and camaraderie go a long way when we are all in the struggle. Taking the time by reaching out and communicating to your fellow associates, your new CVT, your head receptionist, the ER clinician who took care of your favorite client, etc., can mean the world to that person.

As we challenge ourselves intellectually, we are also forced to do so medically. Medicine is in constant flux. The statement that it is a practice and not an exact science is so accurate in that the way of yesterday is not necessarily the way of tomorrow. Offering best practice medicine and techniques for animals should be everyone’s goal. We of course need to manage our aspirations within the confines we have been given to work. But whether it be a client’s budget, facility budget, board recommendation, or other factor, we should always be striving for what is best practice to advance care for that animal. Veterinary medicine would never evolve if we did not continue to educate ourselves and those involved with the care of animals.

Education is the topic of this volume of the Keystone Veterinarian. Education can easily be dismissed as a topic for students; but it is, in fact, the life blood of all fields of medicine. It helps us to mentor future veterinarians in techniques and concepts to continue our work. It attempts to help pet owners understand the cause and treatment for their dear companion. It helps us to work with farmers to maintain the safety of our food chains. Education is all encompassing and our mentorship and inclusion of our future generations, colleagues, veterinary teams, communities and the like are needed to ensure the success and progress of the veterinary profession.