Dr. Patty,

You make some very good points. It is easy to burn out on anything that is routine in our lives. Even the most spectacular of jobs would cause a person to go crazy after a while. You have every right to want something different - the question is, how will you do it? Maybe you should set aside 2 nights a week (full nights, from 5 or 6 pm until the next morning) where you have no obligations to anyone or anything but yourself. If you want to go to a movie on the whim - just go. If you want to take a Tylenol PM and sleep from 5 pm - the next morning, just do it! Burn out is a crazy thing that will get the best of you one little bit at a time. As a grad student who also works full time, I constantly have to remind myself to just FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE for a full 24 hours at least once a month. I also try to take at least half a day out of the week on a day off from work where I do nothing but sleep or watch an On Demand movie. If nothing else, its good for the soul and it resets my engines.

That poor woman in the ICU. I often think that I could go off the deep end one day and have 100 rescue cats in my house. Last night, I was watching an animal adoption show and saw a cat that looked just like Thumbs (completely white). For a brief moment, I wanted to call the shelter and have her adopted out to my home. Thankfully, the moment of sanity hit and I realized that being an all-white cat does not obligate the cat to being anything like Thumbs. That cat doesn't deserve to be held up to "Thumbs Standards" and I don't deserve to have to buy yet another lint roller. This morning, I got up and wrote a small check to an Animal Rescue Fund in Alabama. I felt a lot better knowing that I had done "something" but had not over-extended myself in the process. (Besides, I couldn't possibly deal with one more cat who wants to sit on my laptop or its keyboard for warmth:) )

Try to take some time for YOU!

Wendy January 17th, 2008 09:02:00 AM

Wendy: My favorite approach is to warn clients ahead of time that I will be on a boat, in the Keys, away at a conference or visiting family in New York. I try to devote one weekend a month to this. If I spy an "inactive" month coming up I make sure I plan something (trip to the Everglades, kayaking or boating) so that I force myself to be away. That usually works.

Dr. Patty Khuly January 17th, 2008 09:48:00 AM

I am pretty good about blocking out time where I am unavailable--both my boss and a co-worker have smart phones so they can get email on the fly. I don't, and I won't.

I am considering taking a sabbatical next summer--I have money in the bank and I'll likely knock out my student loan by the end of the year, meaning I will be 100% debt free. The idea of taking mid June to mid September to just go down the shore or putter in my garden and only play with MY cat is really attractive for me!

I don't know how it will fly with my employer, of course--he's the one I need to get around. It can be REALLY tough working for a workaholic--he doesn't see that my need to make sure I eat lunch (and not some stuff my face in 30 seconds deal) or get out on time so I can go exercise, or being able to step out of the office for 20 minutes to do errands is something that will keep me healthy...so that I can continue to keep his clients happy.

I really would love to see some cultural shift that takes some of the guilt out taking time to take care of one's self.

DrSteggy January 17th, 2008 12:01:00 PM

What are the aspects of your job that help you feel like going on? One of my vets told me something that lifts her spirits are good owners with well-cared for pets. Last week I had seven-year-old Eli in to have blood drawn to check his thyroid. I asked my vet for a reference to a chiroprator because I could feel heat on his back and he had balked at the A-frame the day before. She felt his back and was surprised to feel how hot it was - then looked him in the face and said, " Eli, you are lucky to have a Mom so in tune with you." Of course, it doesn't hurt that my dogs are always happy to see the vet. One of them would push the door to the clinic open to get to his friends. Like dentists, it must wear on vets that so many of their patients are afraid to be there. As I was reminded by the dog in front of us, an overweight Lab who slunk into the examining room with her tail between her legs.

What makes your day?

Linda H January 17th, 2008 01:06:00 PM

Hmmm...compliant owners and recovering cases. My intussusception patient, for example. He's going home today two days post-op--hooray! Thanks for asking!

Dr. Patty Khuly January 17th, 2008 02:44:00 PM

Even working well away from the front lines I sometimes get exhausted dealing with the things people do with animals. I like to go to sites like dailypuppy to see that many people have great relationships with happy thriving pets that they love. It's all too easy to forget.

emily January 17th, 2008 04:31:00 PM

I’ve burnt-out on a few issues over the years, the chief of which is dealing with the unwitting shenanigans of an intellectually disabled sister, unfortunately.

It seems to me you are really at risk of burnout when you are getting really high value rewards out of a situation or activity which is also significantly destructive to you in some way. The exceptional joy of reaping those rewards can blind you to the downside so that you fail to protect yourself from the more negative aspects as you usually would. The damage quietly accumulates, nonetheless, until it is overwhelming – and something has to give. There often seems to be something of the addiction in these situations.

Alison January 18th, 2008 12:52:00 AM

Is there recovery? I have been a vet tech for 21 years and I felt "something" coming on. I changed jobs and now I am so screwed up in the head. Have every symptoms going for burn out. I want to feel normal again.

Joan C March 3rd, 2008 08:21:00 AM

I am just so sick of clients and incompetent staff and an uncaring, oblivious boss. My stress level and burn out meter have reached such levels that I am becoming intolerant of anything less than 100% effort from staff and clients, and how unreal is that?? I am just so sick of clients, who B.S. me about how much they love their pet and that they dont know what to do now that fifi has some horrible problem for which they have no money to treat, and proceed to assume a service will be provided for free, bc that is the compassionate thing to do, while they have never put the dog on HW prevention and the thing is crawling with fleas, has horrible periodontitis, pus coming out of an ear (which they had no idea was there until the appointment with me)! I mean come the f... on!! When I go to Midas and have $700 worth of work done on my car which was okd by me on an estimate, they expect payment up front (all of it) when I pick up the car, otherwise I DONT GET THE CAR BACK! I've worked hard to be where I am and have lost a lot along the way, bc I wanted to become a veterinarian, just to have some idiot play the compassion card on me so that they can go get their nails done, buy their pack of cigarettes or display the latest in cell phone tech, while driving away in a dam hummer, while I cant even afford medical insurance for myself. Im just sick of it, people suck, how they treat their animals is borderline neglect/abuse, and I dont know how not to feel ugly and dirty inside being part of this game, while having to be courteous and polite.
Anyway im just venting, not all days are this bad but when they're bad, they are really bad.

joyce October 9th, 2008 11:53:00 AM

Patty,

Good, relevant, post.  I have just read some alarming statistics regarding burnout in our profession: truly shocking. I went through it last year and am going through some tough times now as well.  Part of me wants to open up my own practice, while another part wants out of small animal practice (see Joyce's post for details).  I am on the road to rehab certification in an attempt to re-invigorate my passion for veterinary medicine.

Joyce, I empathize with you fully.  You must do something about this now.  If not, your feelings will quickly spiral out of control and therefore will be much harder to manage at that point.  Remember, you are in demand.  Find a place where you'll be happy.... and do it now.

- TorontoVet

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