Stress is a common issue affecting all individuals worldwide, and it can have a significant impact on mental, emotional, and physical health. It is a common challenging aspect of the Veterinary field. Stress management is crucial for all Veterinary team members as they often face a multitude of challenging and emotionally demanding and draining situations while providing the best care for all their patients and clients. Managing stress effectively involves a combination of techniques and tools, here are some common and effective tools and techniques for stress management: • Self-care and Mental Health Awareness – Prioritize your own self-care and positive mental health is key to stress management. This includes proper nutrition, exercise, mental recreation, adequate sleep, and making time for relaxation and leisure activities outside of work to rest and recharge. Monitoring yourself for signs of burnout and mental health concerns and encouraging open dialogue about these topics within our teams. • Time Management, PTO, and Regular Breaks – Prioritize tasks and create efficient schedules to prevent overworking or rushing through any procedures, making sure that yourself and your team members are taking regular breaks during the day (even short breaks can help everyone reset and refocus) and taking regular PTO and spending time away from Veterinary Medicine is a great way to reset and recharge. • Communication Skills and Debriefing Situations – Enhancing your communication skills with dealing with clients and team members, effective communication can reduce misunderstandings and conflicts, which will reduce stress in everyone involved. Debriefing situations with your team members is a great way to reduce stress, especially in stressful cases or emergencies. Having these debriefing discussions around your day-to-day stressful situations will help all share their feelings and learn from the situations. • Team Support and Pet Loss and Euthanasia Support – Fostering a supportive and collaborative team environment where all team members can share experiences and emotions with other team members who understand the unique challenges of our profession. Along with the team support, having compassionate protocols and resources in place for clients with dealing with pet loss and euthanasia will help the team’s stress and emotional health around these difficult situations. • Set Realistic Expectations and Conflict Resolution – Encouraging setting realistic expectations within the team about what can be accomplished in a day. Developing skills around conflict resolution and management will help resolve disputes within the team constructively. • Humor and Resilience – Encourage a sense of humor with the team, laughter can be a great stress reliever and building resilience can help us cope with challenging situations and reduce stress around those situations. • Common techniques and tools such as deep breathing, mindfulness and mediation, yoga and tai chi, journaling, exercise, social support, mental recreation, hobbies, and technology detox and so on. Stress and Stressors for the Veterinary Professional Stress is a fact of life today, and it is a problem within the field of Veterinary medicine that can cause mental and physical problems and disrupt this rewarding career. Stress can be defined as the state produced when the body responds to any demand for adaptation or adjustment. Stress can be good and bad depending on the stressor associated with the stress. Stress can have both negative and positive effects on a person. There are three main stressors that we experience daily, they are: external, environmental, and internal and we can experience all of them or single one at any given time. Each stressor that we experience can act differently in each individual person. The stressor can energize a person to achieve challenges and achievements that normally the individual may shy away from, but on the other hand, the stressor can make the individual feel overwhelmed and exhausted. There are three factors that determine whether the stressor is negative or positive, they are: choice, control, and consequences. Therefore, each of the stressful situations provides an opportunity of choice, a feeling of control, and an anticipation of the consequences, which again can be good or bad, depending on the situation. Since stress is unavoidable, complete understanding of these concepts can help an individual transform adverse stressors into tolerable stressors. Physical and Mental Effects of the Stress on the Individuals Stress, whether good or bad, affects a person’s mental and physical functioning. A complete understanding of how and where stress originates within the body, its pathway throughout the body, and the mental and physical toll it can take on the individual, will help the individual manage his/her own stress and maintain good health. Fight or flight is one concept in daily life and understanding this important will understand your reaction to the stressor plaguing you at the time. Humans are equipped with this concept to help them handle threatening situations, basically to either flee or fight when someone or something is threatening them, either externally or internally. The list of an individual’s internal stressors is unique to each individual, depending on the individual’s background, temperament, and aspirations and the stress response is nonspecific and is mobilized when one is faced with any of these threats, either being perceived or real. There are many good and bad ways of dealing with stress in your life. Some effective ways of dealing with stress are exercise, good nutrition, and plenty of sleep. A negative way, which is too common in the veterinary professional, is the use of illegal or legal substances. Substance abuse and stress are bad influences of dealing with different types of stress. Since the nervous system, brain, and emotions are dependent of the normal action of the neurotransmitters, some individuals suffering from stress may turn to drugs and alcohol as a form of self-medication. Obviously, the risk factors of substance abuse are great for the individual and this type of behavior is also a great risk to the individual’s family, friends, and the patients that are being treated by that individual. Identifying the Stressors in the Veterinary Team Members A Veterinary professional’s stressor load is unique to the Veterinary world, which do include general, basic stressors in anyone world, but also those unique to the Veterinary world. These include life event stressors, environmental stressors, personal stressors, client stressors, and career stressors. We will identify each stressor and have examples for each individual will be able to help identify their individual stressor and help the individual cope with those stressors in a positive way. There are many years, one important aspect is the use of support systems, such as friends, family, coworkers, etc.…. Burnout and Compassion Fatigue – Comparisons to Stress Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations. Veterinary medicine has a high burnout rate, especially among the veterinary technician and support staff. There are many physical symptoms of burnout, they include illnesses such as ulcers, gastroenteritis, cardiac issues, heartburn, etc.…. Behavioral symptoms of burnout include withdrawal, overeating, increase in alcohol or drugs intake, constant fatigue, agitation, nervousness, anger, or aggression, increase spending, etc.…. As we go through the lecture, we will discuss the four major stages of burnout that each individual goes through, they are: • Physical, Mental, and Emotional Exhaustion • Shame and Doubt • Cynicism and Callousness • Failure, Helplessness, and Crisis Along with the stages, we will discuss the signs and symptoms of burnout and how to help identify them to get the support needed before getting to the point of such burnout that the individual leaves the profession. Also, in this lecture, we will discuss the difference between stress and burnout for that individual will understand what stage of this common disease within our profession. Compassion is defined as a deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it. Fatigue is defined as the mental weariness resulting from exertion that is associated with attending to the emotional and physical pain of others. Combined, compassion fatigue has been called the hurt of the heart something all of us in the veterinary profession are susceptible to, and many of us today suffer from this condition. Why us? Only compassionate, empathic, loving, and caring people suffer from compassion fatigue—the very people who are so vital to the animal-care field. Stress is a common challenge affecting all individuals on a worldwide basis and it can have a significant impact on everyone’s mental and physical health. Here are some of the statistics and concerns related to stress management for everyone: Prevalence of Stress: • Work-Related Stress – According to the American Institute of Stress, work-related stress is the leading cause of stress among American adults, with 40% of workers reporting their jobs as very or extremely stressful. • Global Impact – Stress is a concern on a global basis. In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 35% of people of worldwide reported feeling stressed each day. Impact on Health: • Physical Health – Prolonged stress can lead to various physical health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and a weakened immune system. • Mental Health – Stress is a major contributor to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. In a World Health Organization survey states that depression is one of the leading cause of disability worldwide. Stress Management Concerns: • Lack of Coping Skills – Many individuals struggle with coping skills, leading to ineffective stress management and learning to cope with in healthy way is crucial. • Stigma – the stigma associated with seeking help for stress and mental health issues can prevent individuals from reaching out to professionals or sharing their concerns with friends and family. • Work-life balance – Achieving a healthy work-life balance is a significant concern, as the demands of work and personal life can often contribute to stress. • Financial stress - economic concerns, such as job security, debt, and financial instability, can lead to high levels of stress for everyone. • Social isolation – the recent pandemic has highlighted the issue of social isolation, which can lead to increased stress and loneliness, especially among those who are unable to engage in social activities. • Access to Mental Health Care – limited access to mental health care services and resources is a concern for individuals seeking professional help for stress management and mental health issues. Positive Trends: • Increasing Awareness – There is a growing awareness of the importance of mental health and stress management, which has led to open discussions and reduction of the stigma around mental health conditions and concerns. • Digital Resources – The availability of technology and digital resources, including mental health apps and teletherapy, have improved access to all types of support, especially those for the mental health and wellbeing. • Employer Support – Some employers are increasingly recognizing the importance of employee mental health and are providing support through employee assistance programs and workplace wellness and wellbeing initiatives. • Self-care Trends – the self-care industry has gained popularity, with more practices, such as meditation, mindfulness, and exercise for stress management. • Community Support – Many communities offer support groups and mental health resources to help individuals manage stress and mental health concerns. Remember that not all stress management tools and techniques work the same for everyone. Experiment with the various techniques and tools to find what works best for you as the individual and also utilizing a combination of these techniques and tools to build a comprehensive stress management strategy. Individuals facing continuous stress should seek help and support and utilize available resources from a mental health professional, social support networks, and stress management techniques and tools, to reduce its impact on their well-being. It’s essential to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress and take proactive steps to manage it effectively. Remember, stress is a normal part of the job, but how you manage it is critical to maintaining your health and well-being. By implementing different strategies, Veterinary teams can better cope with the unique challenges and demands of their profession while providing the best possible care for their patients and clients.
