Record-breaking veterinary school applications relieve Brooklyn animal hospital workload

Photo courtesy of VERG.

Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group (VERG)—a 24-hour specialty and emergency Brooklyn veterinary hospital—is experiencing workload alleviation as they see improvement in staffing after a 5.5% increase in veterinary school applications in the US for the 2021-2022 school year.¹

“We definitely have seen an improvement with staffing and more people applying for employment, which is great,” said Brett Levitzke, DVM, chief medical officer of VERG, in a company release.²

“Our workload is still high, but since adding more staff and implementing surge-control policies when we’ve gotten too busy, we have been doing a lot better handling the high demand for veterinary care and protecting our team from burnout,” he added.

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC),¹ found that the most recent admissions cycle, which closed September 29, 2021, displayed a record 10,834 applicants seeking enrollment in veterinary school. Additionally, the Veterinary Medical College Applications Service (VMCAS) also revealed that students applied to an average of 5.37 different veterinary schools for the 2021 to 2022 cycle.¹

All US veterinary colleges—except for Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences —receive their student applications through the VMCAS.

To address the record increase in veterinary school applicants, 24 industry leaders wrote an open letter to the American Veterinary Medical Association board of directors urging them to support the increase in veterinary college class sizes. They also want the organization to promote other plans to relieve an “acute and growing” workforce dilemma.

Although the cause of the surge is unknown, veterinary clinics like VERG are embracing the trend and seeing its positive effects.

References

1. Another solid increase in veterinary medical school applicants for 2021. American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. October 14, 2021. Accessed February 11, 2022. https://www.aavmc.org/news/another-solid-increase-in-veterinary-medical-school-applicants-for-2021/
2. Brooklyn Animal Hospital sees staffing, workload improvements following record-breaking applications to veterinary schools amid worker shortage. News release. Veterinary Emergency & Referral Group. February 8, 2022. Accessed February 11, 2022.