dvm360 Leadership Challenge: The working parent

Balancing your veterinary career and parenthood. If there were an easy answer, you would have figured it out already. Here, you'll find advice from your colleagues who have come through the struggle a little wiser, honest thoughts shared as part of the Vet Confessionals project and one veterinarian's experience with a thing that many mothers face, postpartum depression.

Join us as we ask the important questions. What do working associate veterinarians wish their bosses understood about raising kids in the midst of a veterinary career? What do practice owners wish their associates with children understood about the realities of running a business? We explore these perspectives, and also look at crazy ways some veterinary practices are making it work for their everyone involved.

The big picture

Surviving work and parenthood in veterinary medicine

Sure, there are tough days to balance family and my career, but here's how veterinary professional and mom Oriana Scislowicz, BS, LVT, aPHR, makes it work-complete with tips for you.

'Mommy needs to save lives'

Missing family milestones because of work can be heartbreaking for kids and parents. How can veterinary professionals help their families understand their jobs. 

Do parents rule your practice?

Not everyone working in a veterinary hospital has kids (or wants them). How can you, as a practice owner or manager, fairly accommodate everybody's work schedules?

Data: Balance in parenting and vet med is hard

Exclusive dvm360 research shows how veterinary professionals manage the pull of parenting and dedication to their patients.

Data: Do vet moms and vet dads balance their careers differently?

Exclusive dvm360 research shows how moms and dads differ-and how they don't-in thinking about balancing a career in veterinary medicine.

Commentary 

How my daughter saved my life

It wasn't just the postpartum depression. It was all the other things that piled on, all the ways my brain betrayed me as I grew more and more overwhelmed. What hurt was also the thing that brought me back.

Commentary: Maternity, motherhood and veterinary medicine 

Parenthood evolves our careers, it doesn't end them-even if some of us choose to quit the profession altogether.

Vet confessions: Work and family 

Parents in veterinary medicine often find themselves missing out on milestones. 

Tips and tools to help

What have apps done for you lately? 

You're a working parent and you're a full-time veterinary employee. So much to do, so little time. Torry Chamberlayne, RVT, shares her favorite apps for getting it all done. 

Demystifying family leave for veterinary professionals

With a variety of different state and federal policies, knowing what leave you're entitled to can be an arduous task.

Wrangle your to-do list for less stress

Strike a balance between responsibilities at home and at your veterinary practice with these tips.

Double take: What working parents and practice owners wish the other side understood

Balancing the demands of parenthood with a veterinary associate job is no easy undertaking. Neither is running a successful business. Here both sides plead their case.

It starts in vet school: Pregnancy and parenting support lacking for students, study finds

Tufts researchers hypothesize potential parents may delay having children because policies at institutions are rare.

Motherhood and the veterinary profession: a series of hurdles

Moms-who are also veterinarians-chime in on what makes this arrangement difficult.