Thio Sharon Mary Pepita, Quain Anne
Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
Vet Sci. 2025 Jan 17;12(1):69. doi: 10.3390/vetsci12010069.
There is a global veterinary workforce shortage, particularly in rural and regional areas. In response to this shortage in New South Wales (NSW), the State Parliament launched a Parliamentary Inquiry in 2023. The Inquiry received 205 publicly available written submissions, providing insights into the perceived challenges and barriers for veterinarians working in rural practice, and how the perceived impact of the feminisation of the workforce interacts with this. By analysing a subset of submissions written by veterinarians reporting lived experiences in rural practice ( = 63), we identified eight major themes. These were as follows: rural practices are not financially sustainable; rural veterinarians often have a more challenging and higher workload than their urban counterparts; working in rural practice increases challenges to health and wellbeing; it is difficult to recruit and retain people in rural practice; veterinary students are poorly selected and not well prepared for rural practice; clients have unrealistic expectations of rural veterinarians; rural practice is not compatible with family life; and veterinarians have mixed opinions regarding whether an increase in the proportion of female veterinarians is a key contributing factor in the shortage of veterinarians. These findings may assist in the development of recruitment and retention strategies for rural veterinary practice.
全球存在兽医劳动力短缺的问题，在农村和偏远地区尤为明显。为应对新南威尔士州（NSW）的这一短缺情况，州议会于2023年发起了一项议会调查。该调查收到了205份公开的书面意见书，深入了解了农村兽医工作中所面临的挑战和障碍，以及劳动力女性化的感知影响如何与之相互作用。通过分析一组由报告在农村实践中有实际经历的兽医撰写的意见书（n = 63），我们确定了八个主要主题。具体如下：农村兽医业务在经济上不可持续；农村兽医的工作量通常比城市同行更具挑战性且更大；从事农村兽医工作对健康和福祉构成更多挑战；农村兽医业务难以招募和留住人员；兽医专业学生选拔不佳且对农村兽医工作准备不足；客户对农村兽医有不切实际的期望；农村兽医工作与家庭生活不相容；兽医们对于女性兽医比例的增加是否是兽医短缺的一个关键因素意见不一。这些发现可能有助于制定农村兽医业务的招聘和留用策略。
