CLEVELAND — Dr. Elizabeth Wierczorek loves being a veterinarian.
She works almost every day. She sees patients physically and virtually and checks in via email. Even with the long hours, she loves what she does.
“Ever since I was little, I've always loved animals. The typical, 'oh it's always fed my soul,'” said Wierczorek. “It's also the client's reaction of 'oh my goodness thank you, thank you, thank you.'”
Unfortunately, every client isn't always as grateful. That is one reason why veterinary medicine is consistently ranked as one of the worst careers for your mental health.
Veterinarians can also carry a large student loan debt and may sometimes be forced to euthanize a patient with a treatable injury or illness because its caretaker can't afford the remedy.
On top of that, there is the technology aspect where people just flat out think they know more than the doctor.
“Over the course of time, technology has played against us,” said Wierczorek. “Like Facebook posts and other social media aspects. That has been the hardest part to combat because I can't combat the internet trolls.”
This can lead to burnout or compassion fatigue, which Wieczorek said are two different things.
“Burnout, I call it a work hangover,” said Wierczorek. “It's like when you've worked four days in a row, hard shifts, hard cases. I'm just physically exhausted. I still care. I'm just like, 'OK, I'm here, I just need some more coffee but I'm here. I can usually work my way out of that. Compassion fatigue is where you've given so much of yourself you can't replenish that. You don't know how to replenish that.”
The situations they see and experience daily take a toll.
“You know, I could have two, three euthanasias today. That's hard,” said Wierczorek. “Then you have a new puppy and then an ear infection. Just the bouncing back and forth.”
Along with the mentally tough workload, the volume of patients, especially over the last year or so, she said sometimes it's a bit overwhelming.
“I am seeing, physically, two patients every 30 minutes,” said Wierczorek. “However, I could see up to six depending on how I'm scheduled.”
She said by far, the lack of trust in the profession is definitely the hardest fight.
“We're not here to take your money,” said Wierczorek. “We're not here to jerk you around. Please just trust us. We go to school for this. We do this because we love it and do it for you guys especially.”
Her best advice is to remember you don't know what other people are going through and she asks to please just keep things kind.
“Just be nice,” said Wierczorek.