"How important is Continuous Education for Vets?"

Ilona Otter, DVM, MSc, MRCVS, Sp Comp Int Health, WVS Director of International Veterinary Training

In all professional fields and industries, it is important to keep updating existing skills and gather new knowledge. What we learned once in college in our early twenties does not suffice to carry us through our career as professionals. Veterinarians are no different in this regard. Many countries require a set number of hours every year to be spent in continuous professional development (CPD). For example, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in UK sets the recommended minimum requirement for all its registered member veterinarians as 35 hours of CPD every year.

In addition to gaining more knowledge in a certain subject, continuing education has many other benefits as well. Attending to CPD programs helps to expand your professional network; you will meet other professionals and other like-minded individuals with similar goals as you have. This will further encourage you to develop and improve yourself but it also provides you with a network of colleagues to whom to turn for advice in matters that are more of their speciality and less of yours. And vice versa.

It is unfortunately rather common for veterinary professionals to begin to experience burnout, feel stuck in their careers, or get bored with the usual cases. Compassion fatigue is a well-known condition among the veterinarians. It is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion leading to decreased ability to empathize or feel compassion for others. By investing in your continuous learning can encourage creativity and help to reignite your passion to the profession and remind you why you chose this path. It may also help you to discover new fields within the profession that are of specific interest for you and where you want to begin to direct your career to make it more rewarding mentally as well as perhaps also financially.