Editor's Letter

• EVT_JulyAug2011_Editor's Letter (591.0 KB)

As I write this month’s letter, I’m in the comfortable vantage point of being a baby-boomer. My days of juggling day care, kindergarten field trips, and soccer games are behind me.

When my husband and I had to balance our private practices, community activities, and children, it was difficult at times. Despite that, I have great memories of those years and feel fortunate we had the autonomy and support that made it possible to juggle our work lives. Today I see colleagues, students, and friends still struggling with the same challenges I faced 15 to 20 years ago. My hope is that this issue of Exceptional Veterinary Team (EVT) will help all of us make our work and family life balance doable.

A stark reality of modern-day veterinary medicine is that more women than men are graduating with their DVMs. At Washington State University, classes have been 80% to 90% women for more than a decade. Although not a problem unto itself, many of these women want to start both families and careers around the same time, and young men today indicate that they too want a more active role in parenting than their parents did.

Research shows that part-time employees perform just as well as full-time employees and are often more likely to stay long-term because of the flexibility they receive. Medicine is a career that seeps beyond the boundaries of normal work hours and days. Patients don’t get sick or need us during an 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday schedule. So caring for them often takes flexibility and compassion. Given the struggles we all have with managing life responsibilities it seems to me that this same flexibility and compassion could improve our workplaces considerably if we extended them to one another.

Reflecting on the articles in this issue, I am reminded of a Bob Dylan song from earlier days:

The Times They Are A-Changin’
Come Mothers and Fathers throughout the land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand
For your times, they are a-changin’

As Dylan urges, we at EVT are striving to be part of the solution by investigating how to make part-time and flexible schedules work while ensuring that patient care and client communication still flourish. We help you find productive ways to negotiate proactive solutions to balancing life and work. And we’ve asked several DVMs to share the wisdom they’ve gained through years of attending to this delicate balance. 
Embracing the new possibilities and novel ideas presented here may just make our practices and hospitals better for all of us. Read. Ponder. And better yet, pick at least one idea to apply and try.

We’re here to help you “make the change!” 

Warm regards,

Kathy Ruby, PhD
Editor in Chief