Workforce Needs in Veterinary Medicine (2013) / Chapter Skim
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2 Companion-Animal Medicine
2 Companion-Animal Medicine
Pages 28-45
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From page 28... ...
. LIFESTYLE BENEFITS OF COMPANION-ANIMAL MEDICINE Veterinarians in private practice are typically practice owners or work as associates in practices established by others, including animal health care companies, such as Banfield, which, with a network of 2,000 veterinarians and over 750 pet hospitals, is the largest such firm in the United States.
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From page 29... ...
In 2007, the median income of a companion-animal-exclusive practice owner was $133,000, which was about the same as practice owners in food-animal or equine private practice. In 2009, the median income of exclusive practice owners increased to $139,000, while that of food-animal-exclusive and equine practice owners was $133,000 and $109,000, respectively.
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From page 30... ...
Companion-animalexclusive associates with 25 years or more experience earn substantially more (median income $115,000) than equally experienced associates in food-animalpredominant (median income $64,000)
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From page 31... ...
As is discussed in greater detail in the Chapter 10 and elsewhere, graduates from veterinary colleges are facing educational debt burdens due to rising tuition costs that are increasing more rapidly than starting salaries. Women and Companion-Animal Medicine Since the late 1970s, the number of women entering veterinary schools has been growing (while the number of male applicants has been declining)
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From page 32... ...
. Average veterinary expenditures per pet-owning household grew even more quickly than the populations of companion animals, particularly those by dog and horse owners, which are nearly twice the average expenditures per catowning household (Figure 2-3)
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From page 33... ...
Thus, it might be possible to calculate the demand for veterinary services in the future using data on the current number of pet visits annually (and an estimate of 2 Count of advertisements of openings for DVMs in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
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From page 34... ...
. Using AVMA membership information on the numbers of veterinarians in each category and the percentage of time spent treating companion animals, the committee calculated that services for the 188.7 million pet visits were met by the full time equivalent (FTE)
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From page 35... ...
TABLE 2-1 Companion-Animal Full-Time Equivalents in 2006 Number Half-time Total CA Total Veterinarians of DVM FTE FTE FTE FTEs Food-animal-predominant 4,924 165 4,594 4,759 286 Mixed animal 5,192 192 4,808 5,000 2,450 Companion-animal-predominant 6,745 489 5,767 6,256 5,630 Companion-animal-exclusive 44,065 4,274 35,516 39,790 39,790 Total 48,158 NOTE: CA=Companion-animal, DVM=Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, FTE=Full-time equivalent The estimate that 188.7 million pet visits in 2006 were accommodated by 48,158 DVM FTEs can be equivalently stated as 3,918 visits per DVM FTE per year. In the context of a typical work year, 3,918 visits per DVM FTE equates to approximately 83-87 visits per DVM FTE per week (assuming the work year includes 2-3 weeks of vacation, 6-9 holidays, 4-5 days of continuing education, and 5-6 sick days)
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From page 36... ...
being performed than in noncorporate veterinary practices, so higher numbers of visits per week could be expected. Notwithstanding the limitations of the AVMA membership data and the survey limitations, the committee's calculation of between 83 and 87 visits per DVM FTE per week falls in the middle of the range of reported figures from the surveyed practice owners and Banfield.
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From page 37... ...
In the absence of better data on both the demand for pet services and the number of pets attended to by veterinarians in a given year, the predictions in Table 2-2 should only be considered as broad estimates. The weak economy notwithstanding, responses to the committee's survey of current veterinary practice owners lend support to the committee's predictions of increased future demand for more veterinarians in the companion-animal sector.
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From page 38... ...
The results of the committee's calculations are displayed in Table 2-3. Estimating the Number of New Companion-Animal Veterinarians Predicting the number of veterinary school graduates who will join the companion-animal private practice workforce by 2016 is a little less straightforward.
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From page 39... ...
For accredited veterinary colleges outside of North America, the committee predicted annual increases of 10% in the classes of 2013-2016. Table 2-4 summarizes the committee's projections for new DVM graduates between 2008-2016.
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From page 40... ...
For this, the committee relied on AVMA market research statistics and data made available from the American Colleges of Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Internal Medicine on residencyor graduate-study trained board certified specialists in 2007. That information indicated that 36% of board certified specialists in all fields were employed in companion-animal private practice specialties (AVMA, 2007b; ACVS, 2008; T
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From page 41... ...
Estimated Total 2016 Supply versus Demand Based on the committee's calculations, the projected total supply of companion-animal DVM FTEs in 2016 is 51,445, comprised of 38,329 currently working veterinarian FTEs, and 13,116 FTE graduates of accredited schools between 2008 and 2016. As noted earlier, based on differing levels of efficiency of private practices (see Table 2-2)
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From page 42... ...
more efficient use of paraprofessional staff, such as veterinary technicians, so that client needs can be met with fewer DVM FTEs; 2) additional graduates of currently non-accredited schools entering the companion-animal workforce, and 3)
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From page 43... ...
Proper and appropriate use of veterinary technicians, which utilize their technical expertise, will allow veterinarians to concentrate on the responsibilities that require their knowledge and skill. An alternative for meeting the demand for companion-animal veterinary services is to increase the number of veterinarians devoted to companion-animal private practice.
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From page 44... ...
students attending veterinary school outside the United States, whether accredited or not, necessitates that they will enter higherpaying practices such as companion-animal-exclusive so their educational debt can be served more readily. The redirection of veterinary manpower from other sectors of the profession where service is sorely needed to the companion-animal sector is also apparently occurring as large animal practitioners are increasingly becoming mixed animal and companion-animal practitioners.
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From page 45... ...
Chapter 11 provides an analysis of these issues in the overall context of veterinary profession and offers recommendations for addressing them.
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