Who Am I? Identity Crisis in the Early Veterinary Career
“I worked so hard to get here, but now that I’m here, what comes next?”
Upon graduation from veterinary school and starting their first jobs, many early-career veterinarians confess to me that they feel lost. They have worked tirelessly to reach their goal—often, a lifelong goal—of becoming a veterinarian. These veterinarians have focused so heavily on realizing this goal, they have had little time to explore their personal or professional identity.
For many, their professional identities as veterinarians have become so closely intertwined with their personal identities that it becomes difficult for them to unravel who they are outside of veterinary medicine.
Helping our mentees develop their personal and professional identities is one of the many ways that we can promote wellbeing in the early veterinary career. In this article, I will discuss some of the core literature around identity development within the veterinary profession then discuss how veterinary mentors can help promote early-career identity development.
What is Veterinary Professional Identity?
Veterinary professional identity is shaped by the socialization process, the orientation into the veterinary career, the hidden veterinary curriculum, and experiences in practice.
Adams et. al (2006) defined professional identity as “the attitudes, values, knowledge, beliefs, and skills shared with others within a professional group.” Identifying and understanding these values, attitudes, and beliefs is vital to promoting positive wellbeing in the veterinary profession.
By understanding your professional values, you can then practice medicine in alignment with these values. When individuals act in line with their values, they will likely experience more positive wellbeing.
Conversely, when veterinarians are placed in situations where they frequently have to make decisions that go against their values, they will likely feel unsatisfied in their careers, and this may even be a causative factor of burnout in the veterinary profession. Burnout research among physicians suggested that values congruence predicted exhaustion and cynicism—two measures of burnout—for both men and women.
Common Veterinary Values
Values are one of the core aspects of personal and professional identity. When you consider values that may be important to veterinarians, what are values that come to your mind?
Compassion?
Strong work ethic?
Lifelong learning?
Researchers in the UK interviewed 20 veterinary nurses and veterinarians to determine some of the most common veterinary professional values. Their goal was to evaluate career identity in the veterinary profession by identifying these core values (Page-Jones & Abbey, 2015). Not surprisingly, these researchers reported that many veterinarians started developing their veterinary identity from a very young age. In addition, for many of the veterinarians in this study, their identities as veterinarians were central to their overall identities.
The most common veterinary values identified in this study were
Technical Competency
Learning
Ethical
Moral
Teaching
Education
Dedication
Resilience
Early-Career Veterinary Identity
A seminal study in the UK explored the professional identities of new veterinary graduates to determine how professional identity may influence career satisfaction (Armitage-Chan & May, 2018). This narrative inquiry—a method of research that evaluates identity based on the stories that are told—was conducted with 12 recent veterinary graduates in the UK. The researchers identified two primary identities in the early career: diagnosis-focused identity and challenge-focused identity.
Diagnosis-Focused Identity
During the first few months of veterinary practice, many of the new graduates’ narratives focused on diagnosis and treatment. When telling stories about the early-career, the most satisfying aspect of their jobs was obtaining a definitive diagnosis and providing gold-standard treatment to their patients. When the veterinarians were able to practice medicine in congruence with their values of gold-standard care, they were satisfied, but they often expressed frustration or disappointment when something prevented them from getting a definitive diagnosis or providing gold-standard treatment.
This diagnosis-focused identity is frequently modeled and encouraged in the academic setting of the veterinary teaching hospital. The main focus of the veterinary curriculum is how to provide gold-standard care. This is a fantastic place to start, but learning how to operate in the grey areas of veterinary medicine is one of the biggest hurdles that our early-career veterinarians face. The reality is that—particularly in general practice—many veterinarians are unable to regularly practice gold-standard medicine. The researchers suggested that if veterinarians in general practice attempt to replicate the professional identity of academic clinicians, they will likely be at a greater risk for job dissatisfaction.
Challenge-Focused Identity
The researchers identified another common early-career identity, the challenge-focused identity. Veterinarians with this identity have a core value of professional autonomy (the freedom to decide how to use professional knowledge in different situations). Veterinarians with high levels of professional autonomy are able to individualize and adapt treatment recommendations based on the context.
Instead of solely valuing obtaining a definitive diagnosis, veterinarians with a challenge-focused identity find joy and satisfaction in overcoming challenges. Consider the common case example of a pet owner with limited money to spend at the veterinary visit. A veterinarian with a challenge-focused identity would find satisfaction in helping this pet owner given the resources that they have available—even if the veterinarian cannot provide the gold-standard treatment.
In general practice, our early-career veterinarians will not always be able to obtain a definitive diagnosis and treatment. By learning to find meaning and joy in other ways—helping a pet parent given limited resources, navigating an extremely busy day, or learning a new skill—veterinarians will likely find more satisfaction in their early career.
Identity Development in the Early Veterinary Career
As vet mentors, we can help our mentees develop their professional and personal identities, and there are several steps that we can take to help our mentees in this identity development process. By encouraging identity development, veterinary mentors are able to help promote wellbeing in the early career.
1. Encourage Personal Identity Development
Help your mentee discover who they are as a person outside of veterinary medicine. As discussed previously, personal and professional identities often become so closely intertwined, it can become difficult for veterinarians to see themselves as anything other than veterinarians. Ask your mentees about what hobbies they enjoy and encourage (and model) healthy self-care habits.
2. Introspection
Introspection is the process of looking inwardly at your feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Introspection is important when developing your professional identity as it will allow you to identify your values and beliefs. There are a few ways that you can help your mentee become more introspective:
Ask great open-ended questions about their thoughts, beliefs, and values!
Encourage them to journal about their experiences in veterinary medicine.
Help them identify their assumptions and biases.
3. Debriefing and Feedback
Debriefing and providing feedback are other ways you can help your mentee learn more about their professional identity and how they respond in various scenarios. You can help your mentee objectively observe their behavior and actions by asking questions about how they reacted in certain situations. During a veterinary debrief and feedback session, ask your mentee what happened in the situation and how they responded. To debrief, consider asking your mentee:
What did you do well in this situation?
What do you wish you had done differently?
What did you learn?
What are you grateful for in this experience?
If your mentee begins to objectively observe their actions, they will likely determine how they typically will react in various situations, and this will also help them uncover some of their core values and beliefs.
4. Values Exercise
Help your mentee clarify some of their core values. There are many online values exercises that can be used as a guide to help your mentee determine their core values. In addition, have them consider some of their professional values as veterinarians. Do they value care along a spectrum, or do they value providing the most advanced and state-of-the-art care?
By identifying these core values, they will begin to make more decisions that align with their core values. Identifying their core values will also help them better navigate ethical dilemmas as well as understand why certain conflict arises.
5. Reflect and Adapt
If you find that your mentee seems stuck in a rut in their early-veterinary career, encourage reflection, adaptation, and growth. After having reached a big goal, it can be normal to feel a bit lost, but be sure to encourage your mentee to reflect on their amazing journey. Take time to look back upon the journey and celebrate the destination. Remind your mentee that it is okay to take a moment to pause before jumping into the next big goal. The practice of self-compassion can be helpful in moments like these!
If they have discovered that their values do not align with their current situation, encourage them to adapt by finding more opportunities to align their actions with their values. For example, if your mentee loves performing surgery, you might consider helping them learn a new surgical procedure. If your mentee values client education, empower them to learn more about adult learning and to create more client educational content for the practice.
A value of lifelong learning is common among veterinary professionals. Encouraging personal and professional growth is one of the best ways to help our mentees in the transition to practice. Help them clarify what comes next in their veterinary journey. What are their special interests within the profession? Are there any certifications that they would like to pursue?
Final Thoughts
The early-career can be extremely challenging and a particular area of stress for our early-career professionals is personal and professional identity development. By helping our mentees become more aware of what it is that they truly value, we can empower them to find more opportunities to act in line with those values. As veterinary mentors, we have the power to promote early-career veterinary wellbeing by supporting the personal and professional growth of our mentees.
References
Adams, K.L., Hean, S., Sturgis, P., & Clark, J. (2006). Investigating the factors influencing professional identity of first‐year health and social care students. Learning in Health and Social Care, 5, 55-68.
Armitage-Chan, E., & May, S. A. (2018). Identity, environment and mental wellbeing in the veterinary profession. Veterinary Record, 183(68), 1-7.
Larkin, M. (2017). The hidden curriculum. When the college's curriculum says one thing and the culture says another. JAVMA News.
Leiter, M. P., Frank, E., & Matheson, T. J. (2009). Demands, values, and burnout: relevance for physicians. Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 55(12), 1224–1225.e12256.
Page-Jones, S., & Abbey, G. (2015). Career identity in the veterinary profession. Veterinary Record, 176 (17), 433.
