Work-life balance is essential to reducing burnout, improving well-being.

OBJECTIVE: To assess levels of burnout, well-being, and mental health of veterinarians and compare them to those of nonveterinarians by use of validated instruments, and to identify the predictive values of techniques individuals can use to help reduce burnout and/or improve well-being and mental health. SAMPLE: An online survey of 4,636 veterinarians from a random sample of 40,000 US veterinarians provided by the AVMA. METHODS: The study was fielded from September 11 to October 9, 2023. RESULTS: Burnout and well-being of veterinarians were generally consistent with that of employed US adults. Serious psychological distress was more common among veterinarians than in the general population. Veterinarians on average were more likely to score higher in neuroticism than nonveterinarians, and neuroticism was a predictor of low well-being, poor mental health, and burnout. Work-life balance, an effective coping mechanism for stress, and working in a positive clinic culture were among the significant factors that predicted good well-being and mental health and reduced burnout. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The higher percentage than the norm of veterinarians with serious psychological distress was a concern. Focusing on maintaining a good work-life balance and adopting a reliable coping mechanism can potentially help reduce distress. Veterinary medicine is an inherently stressful profession. The purpose of this study was to identify key factors that contribute to burnout, well-being, and mental health and to determine what behaviors and management techniques help reduce stress and burnout and contribute to well-being and mental health, thus improving job satisfaction and personal fulfillment.

Relationships between undergraduate medical students' attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographics in Zambia: a survey-based descriptive study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to detect relationships between undergraduate students' attitudes toward communication skills learning and demographic variables (such as age, academic year, and gender). Understanding these relationships could provide information for communication skills facilitators and curriculum planners on structuring course delivery and integrating communication skills training into the medical curriculum. METHODS: The descriptive study involved a survey of 369 undergraduate students from 2 medical schools in Zambia who participated in communication skills training stratified by academic year using the Communication Skills Attitude Scale. Data were collected between October and December 2021 and analyzed using IBM SPSS for Windows version 28.0. RESULTS: One-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in attitude between at least 5 academic years. There was a significant difference in attitudes between the 2nd and 5th academic years (t=5.95, P˂0.001). No significant difference in attitudes existed among the academic years on the negative subscale; the 2nd and 3rd (t=3.82, P=0.004), 4th (t=3.61, P=0.011), 5th (t=8.36, P˂0.001), and 6th (t=4.20, P=0.001) academic years showed significant differences on the positive subscale. Age showed no correlation with attitudes. There was a more favorable attitude to learning communication skills among the women participants than among the men participants (P=0.006). CONCLUSION: Despite positive general attitudes toward learning communication skills, the difference in attitude between the genders, academic years 2 and 5, and the subsequent classes suggest a re-evaluation of the curriculum and teaching methods to facilitate appropriate course structure according to the academic years and a learning process that addressees gender differences.

Effects of meteorological and land surface modeling uncertainty on errors in winegrape ET calculated with SIMS.

Characterization of model errors is important when applying satellite-driven evapotranspiration (ET) models to water resource management problems. This study examines how uncertainty in meteorological forcing data and land surface modeling propagate through to errors in final ET data calculated using the Satellite Irrigation Management Support (SIMS) model, a computationally efficient ET model driven with satellite surface reflectance values. The model is applied to three instrumented winegrape vineyards over the 2017-2020 time period and the spatial and temporal variation in errors are analyzed. We illustrate how meteorological data inputs can introduce biases that vary in space and at seasonal timescales, but that can persist from year to year. We also observe that errors in SIMS estimates of land surface conductance can have a particularly strong dependence on time of year. Overall, meteorological inputs introduced RMSE of 0.33-0.65 mm/day (7-27%) across sites, while SIMS introduced RMSE of 0.55-0.83 mm/day (19-24%). The relative error contribution from meteorological inputs versus SIMS varied across sites; errors from SIMS were larger at one site, errors from meteorological inputs were larger at a second site, and the error contributions were of equal magnitude at the third site. The similar magnitude of error contributions is significant given that many satellite-driven ET models differ in their approaches to estimating land surface conductance, but often rely on similar or identical meteorological forcing data. The finding is particularly notable given that SIMS makes assumptions about the land surface (no soil evaporation or plant water stress) that do not always hold in practice. The results of this study show that improving SIMS by eliminating these assumptions would result in meteorological inputs dominating the error budget of the model on the whole. This finding underscores the need for further work on characterizing spatial uncertainty in the meteorological forcing of ET. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00271-022-00808-9.

Executive summary of the Merck Animal Health Veterinarian Wellbeing Study III and Veterinary Support Staff Study.

OBJECTIVE: Merck Animal Health Veterinarian Wellbeing Study III was conducted to continue to monitor mental health and well being within the veterinary profession in the US and to identify factors associated with high levels of wellbeing and lack of serious psychological distress. METHODS: A questionnaire consisting of several instruments and questions for measurement of mental health and wellbeing was completed by 2,495 veterinarians and 448 veterinary support staff. Results for veterinarians were weighted to the US AVMA membership. RESULTS: This study revealed that wellbeing and mental health of some veterinarians declined over the past 2 years, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme labor shortages. Burnout remained at a high level, but there was no increase in suicide ideation. A new companion survey of veterinary support staff demonstrated that staff scored lower in wellbeing and mental health, and higher in burnout than veterinarians. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Importantly, these studies identified techniques that both individuals and employers may find useful in fostering wellbeing and good mental health. A healthy method for coping with stress and good work-life balance was important, as was engaging a financial adviser for those with student debt or other financial stresses. Employers should create safe environments where employees feel comfortable seeking help, reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues. In addition, employers can provide Employee Assistance Programs and health insurance that covers mental health treatment. Fostering a healthy work culture was also important, one with good communication, teamwork, trust, and adequate time allotted to provide quality patient care.

Combined lipid emulsion and ACLS resuscitation following bupivacaine- and hypoxia-induced cardiovascular collapse in unanesthetized swine.

This study examined whether combining lipid emulsion and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) improves survival in an unanesthetized swine model of bupivacaine- and hypoxia-induced cardiovascular collapse. Arterial and venous catheters and a tracheostomy were surgically placed in 26 swine receiving inhalation anesthesia. After a 1-hour recovery period, bupivacaine (5 mg/kg) was administered intravenously over 15 seconds. Following 1 minute of observation and 3 minutes of mechanical airway obstruction, during which all animals exhibited complete cardiovascular collapse, ACLS was initiated. Animals were randomized to receive either intravenous saline or 20% lipid emulsion commencing with the initiation ofACLS. Survival was defined as a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) with unsupported blood pressure greater than 60 mm Hg for 10 minutes after 25 minutes of resuscitation effort. Data collection included electrocardiogram, arterial blood pressure, and arterial and mixed venous oxygen saturations. There was no significant difference in survival between the saline group (4/12, 33%) and lipid emulsion group (6/12, 50%; P > .05). Additionally, there was no significant difference between groups of surviving animals in the time to ROSC (P > .05). The combination of lipid emulsion and ACLS did not improve survival from bupivacaine- and hypoxia-induced cardiovascular collapse in unanesthetized swine.