Tahani Burt

Larkin, M. (2018). Are horse veterinarians checking out early? AAEP-AVMA Economic Survey
shows membership declines among early-career veterinarians, but overall membership
remains stable. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 252(2),
142–145.<https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a
9h&AN=127263860&site=eds-live&scope=site>.

In this article based on the research by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the

author states the reasons for the decline in equine veterinarians. Student debt from

veterinary school is the biggest factor, because most new vets want to pay off their loans.

The second biggest thing is lifestyle. Many horse owners don’t use veterinary services

specifically through veterinarians, so there is less money to be earned when entering the

field.

As a medical association, they are able to obtain data from their members through

surveys which help them look at age-earnings and geographic distribution of

practitioners. The data comes from multiple institutions as well including: The AVMA

Census of Veterinarians, The AAEP Membership Database, and The AVMA Senior

Surveys. The article is honest in how it obtained its findings, and the research is

descriptive and well-referenced.

Volk, J. O., Schimmack, U., Strand, E. B., Reinhard, A., Vasconcelos, J., Hahn, J., ... &

Probyn-Smith, K. (2022). Executive summary of the Merck Animal Health Veterinarian

Wellbeing Study III and Veterinary Support Staff Study. Journal of the American

Veterinary Medical Association,

260(12),1547-1553.<https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.22.03.0134

This article by Mark Hilton reviews the study conducted by the AVMA on

veterinarias well-being and mental health development. The study, which was conducted

during the COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in stress among veterinarians, as well

as depression and suicide rates. The three biggest concerns during this time were

shortage of veterinarians, the increased risk of catching COVID, and longer working

hours.

The article addresses the issues put on from the results of the survey with

solutions to combat veterinarians’ stress. Research from the AMVA is used in this

article, and the author does a good job of explaining the results and breaking them down

into categories. Hilton’s research is accurate, reliable, and well-researched.

Villarroel, A., McDonald, S. R., Walker, W. L., Kaiser, L., Dewell, R. D., & Dewell, G. A.

(2010). A survey of reasons why veterinarians leave rural veterinary practice in the

United States, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 236(8), 859-867.

https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.236.8.859
 This article looks at the reasons why there is a shortage of rural veterinarians in America.

The biggest contributors to the shortage are lack of interest among vet students to work

in rural areas, most students choose career paths that lead them to mixed studies, and

lower salaries. A growing concern among many vet students is paying off their student

loans. Working in rural areas, research is showing that they work longer for less pay, and

many vet students can’t keep up with that lifestyle.

This study by the AVMA looks to identify factors associated with veterinarians leaving a

career in rural veterinary practice. This is a full study which includes a cross sectional

descriptive design, a sample study of veterinarians from the United States who no longer

worked in RVP, and features data, results, and conclusions. The study is from a credible

source and contains data sheets to back information.

Bruce Prince, J., Andrus, D. M., & Gwinner, K. (2006). Academic food-supply veterinarians:

future demand and likely shortages. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 33(4),

517-524.<https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.33.4.517

This article looks at the demands of food-supply veterinarians and how economic factors

play a role in the jobs veterinarians take, and how that may cause production in other

sectors of the field to slow down. There is a growing number of demand for food-supply

veterinarians, but due to labor shortages, many have not been able to obtain these

positions. Besides most articles that focus on the financial and mental health reasons for

the lack of veterinarians, this article focuses on the economics of our society.

This article is a full study which includes research questions brought forth to answer the

reason for the supply and demand of food-supply veterinarians, data that looks at trends
and issues driving the demand for academic food-supply veterinarians, and data that

predicts the demand of veterinarians for future dates. The data is concise and easy to

interpret, and have numerous data tables as supporting evidence.