Longitudinal study of career plans and directions of veterinary students and recent graduates during the first five years after graduation

Abstract

Most graduating veterinarians, especially those from farms with animals, seek to enter mixed practice initially. Negative experiences are mainly responsible for moves to small animal practice. Gender does not affect the distribution of young veterinarians between mixed and small animal practice.

Examining the dimensions and correlates of workplace stress among Australian veterinarians

“…In New Zealand, client expectations were shown to be an important stressor, especially for females [12]. Personal relationships are also known to affect this particular working group, with difficulties achieving a work-life balance having been previously demonstrated among veterinarians [27]. Stress relating to the work-home interface has also been demonstrated among physicians [28], a comparable occupational group to veterinarians in many ways.…”

New graduates’ conceptions of and approaches to veterinary professional practice, and relationships to achievement during an undergraduate internship programme

“…This has broad applications in career outcomes research for a range of professions. The detailed exploration of new graduates' conceptions of and approaches to VPP conducted in this study complements and extends the results of previous surveys investigating veterinarians' first years in practice and their subsequent career paths (Heath 1998(Heath , 2001(Heath , 2002(Heath , 2007. The outcomes of this research suggest that the quality of veterinarians' conceptions of and approaches to VPP may make a vital contribution to enduring success and effectiveness as a veterinarian.…”

“…Longitudinal research would reveal whether reports of this type of experience are related to ongoing and outstanding contributions to society as new graduate veterinarians become more established in their careers. This has the potential to generate additional insight into the findings of studies linking veterinarians' career satisfaction and longevity in practice with experiences of veterinary work during the new graduate period (Heath 1998(Heath , 2001(Heath , 2002(Heath , 2007. Similar studies could be conducted to investigate factors contributing to career success in other healthcare professions.…”

Length of veterinary working life

“…1 This paper reports some estimates of working life by veterinarians who had graduated a little over 5 years earlier, and who had provided information and opinion at intervals since they started the veterinary course. [2][3][4][5][6] This information has made it possible to test whether factors such as gender, age, experience and background play any significant role in determining how long these veterinarians expect to work in the profession.…”

“…For example, it is likely that when they graduated, many of these veterinarians were suffused with idealistic enthusiasm, but that they suffered a progressive loss of idealism, energy and commitment after experiencing problems involving lifestyle, support, reward and recognition. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] These changes have been reported often in other so-called 'helping professions', and may involve a progression through disillusionment, fatigue, frustration and mental anguish to feelings of incompetence, helplessness and hopelessness. [9][10][11][12][13] They are embraced by the concept 'burnout', which was coined by by the American psychoanalyst Herbert Freudenberger in 1973, 9 but now used widely in society at large.…”