Latest / My Veterinary Life / Room to evolve with Dr. Beth Neuman

Transcript

Room to evolve with Dr. Beth Neuman · My Veterinary Life

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of the My Veterinary Life podcast.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dr. Annie Chavant, and my pronouns are she, her.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And our guest today is Dr. Beth Newman. Dr. Newman
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is the Senior Director of Mentorship at NVA General Practice
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and is this quarter's featured guest. I am so excited
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to share Dr. Newman's story, but before we do, I
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: want to give a special thank you to our podcast partner,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: NBA General Practice. NBA helps great vets become even greater
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: with multiple paths to build a career that's uniquely yours.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Lead a team, explore a specialty, own a practice, or
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: shape care across our network of over 900 neighborhood clinics.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Wherever you want to go next, NBA has a path
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to help you get there. Visit careers.nba.com to find your
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: next role. And with that, welcome to the show, Dr. Newman.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you. It is lovely to be here. I cannot
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: wait to dive into your story. But before we do,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: we do like to start at the very beginning. So
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: can you share how did you first become interested in
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: vet meds? Sure.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: While I did grow up on a farm in North
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Dakota and I did have a dog and a cat,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I was not the typical child that you hear about
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: who knew from an early age that I wanted to
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: be a veterinarian. I graduated from college with a degree
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: in English and communications. I worked for an insurance company
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: right out of school. And I guess you could say
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I moved to the big city and got an apartment
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and a car and And then a cat from the
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: local shelter to keep me company because I was lonely.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: He was awesome.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: And to this day, I am a sucker for an
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: orange tabby. But he was sick. So I made an
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: appointment with a local veterinarian. And obviously, because I'm telling
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: you this story, you know I'm going to say it
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: wasn't a terrific experience. And I walked away dissatisfied with
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: my experience. So I called the University of Minnesota and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I asked about entrance into their veterinary program, thinking I
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: would just fix his problem myself. And I can still
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: hear the laugh in his voice when Larry Bjorklund told
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: me I would be better off making an appointment with
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the internal medicine department because it would take me at
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: least four years to know enough to fix my cat.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I really, really had no idea how hard students had
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to work to get into veterinary school. But one thing
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: about me is if you tell me I can't, I
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: will for sure want to try. So I showed up
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: at a local clinic and offered to clean kennels and
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: walk dogs for a week for the opportunity to interview
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the veterinarians at the practice. And I had a lot
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: of questions. After that week, I was totally hooked. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the rest of the journey to vet school is pretty standard.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Need good grades, volunteer experiences, etc., But what I would
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: like to say to everyone in your audience is that
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: that cat lived a long, happy life, despite what the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: veterinarian told me I should do at that appointment.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That is an amazing origin story. I know we like
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: to say that veterinarians are problem solvers on the show,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: but you really took that to the next level by
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: becoming a doctor to solve your cat's problems. So I
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: love that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: I did.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: But I want to say I did not actually solve
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: the problem. I learned to live with the problem and
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: manage said problem. But yes, it didn't even occur to
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: me that I should just go find another veterinarian.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: I just figured I should do it myself.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Amazing. Also a valuable lesson. Not all problems can be solved.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: So appreciate that as well.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So what did life look like after graduation? What were
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: some of the highlights and challenges of that very first job?
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: My first job.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: After graduation was at a 24-hour emergency clinic. I should
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: back up slightly and say that I had a baby
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: during my sophomore year in vet school. So when I graduated,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I was looking for a job that would satisfy me professionally.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: As well as allow me to have a personal life.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I consider myself a problem solver, so kind of ironic
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that we talked about that already. I love emergency medicine.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I love not knowing what's going to walk in the door.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I love figuring it out. The idea that I can
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: fix something and leave a positive impact on a family
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and their human-animal bond brings me so much joy and satisfaction.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights solving problems and rounding
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: cases to the next DBM on shift so that I
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: could go home knowing my patients were cared for. And
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: then I flipped into being a mom during the week.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And it worked for a while. I learned a lot
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: really fast. So your question about what did I learn?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I had the opportunity to do so many cool things,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: clinical procedures that I might not otherwise have done being
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: in an emergency setting. I learned how critical your support
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: team is, especially as a new doctor. So I want
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: to highlight one of my earliest clinic memories is of
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: my technician, Nikki, lots of tenure behind Nikki, diagnosing my
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: first marijuana toxicity. Just by listening to me describe my
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: physical exam findings to the owner, she stood outside the
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: door and told me what my diagnosis was. I learned
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: that establishing trust and rapport with owners was the key
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: to ensuring that I was going to get the chance
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to help their pet. If they trust you and you've
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: made a connection with them, they're going to be more
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: amenable to your treatment plan.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: So it's crucial.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I think of the pet owner as a really important
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: part of my veterinary team, and I include them in
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: the development of their pet's treatment plan. I learned that
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: really early. One of the biggest challenges for me, though,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: was the isolation that I felt after graduation. I had
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: made about 100 best friends in vet school. And now
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I'm in the middle of a clinic where the cliques
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: were already formed and I was supposed to be the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: leader of the team during the shift. And I don't
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: think I was truly prepared for that. And I'm not
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: going to lie, tears were shed. Honestly, the experiences I
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: had during my first job were critical in my ongoing
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: professional development and have contributed significantly to the veterinarian that
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I am today. Wow.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Yes. You really experienced the full range in that first job.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And it is, it's such a huge transition going from
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: student to veterinarian and the acceleration of learning that you
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: get from that hands-on experience, especially in emergency, just that
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: volume of cases and things that you might not have
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: gotten a chance to see in vet school. And that
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: happens to everybody. But being able to appreciate that clinical
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: experience was one part of that time in emergency medicine.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: And then also experiencing the people.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Side of vet med a little bit more and trying
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: out that leadership role that we find ourselves in as
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: veterinarians and that it's not always a smooth journey. And
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: we do need to, again, problem solve and manage conflict
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: and figure out our place in a practice. And so...
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: To be able to see and feel and experience all
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: of that in your first job is an incredible learning experience.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: So I'm glad that you had it. I'm sorry that
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: there were some challenges, but the challenges are part of
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: it and what we need for that professional development, as
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: you mentioned.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: And sharing my journey with other new graduates in my
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: current role, it's worth it if it helps someone else
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: to be able to navigate. I'm not saying you'll never
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: have a challenge if you avoid the challenges that I
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: was able to avoid. But if I can help you
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: move through it smoother than I did, it will be
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: worth it.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And I suspect that that motivation to make things
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: better for the folks coming after you is going to
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: be a recurring theme in our conversation. So look forward
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: to hearing how that shows up later.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: It just might.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, your next career step was actually into
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: practice ownership. So what motivated that transition from associate to owner?
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: And what did you learn from this new period?
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: This is where I have to admit I had a
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: little bit of an ego trip. I can tell you
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: for sure practice ownership was an eye-opener. I had been
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: watching my bosses for a while, several years as a
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: matter of fact, and thinking I could do a better job.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: So I spent six months developing a business plan, finding
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the perfect location.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: And I jumped right into practice ownership.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: And I learned quickly that what you see on the
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: surface of a situation is not always what was really happening.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: And I've learned to give my bosses some grace. Some
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: people can make ownership look really easy. And there are
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: things about being an owner that were terrific and some
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: that were really just hard. Being an owner was a
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: crash course in practicing medicine while at the same time
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: managing people, which we know is a really tough job
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: or can be a really tough job, and worrying about
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: things like rent and supplies and my marketing and the
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: equipment I need and my reputation in the community. That's
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: a lot to carry. I'm not saying people shouldn't do it.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I really want to help you if you're going into
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: ownership that there's some things you've got to think about
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: more than just practicing medicine. So I grew my first
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: practice from a single doctor practice to a five doctor
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: practice while at the same time growing my family. Then
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I thought I wanted to grow even more and maybe
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: open my own 24-hour facility. And that path led me
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: to building a new hospital from the ground up and
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: starting a second practice while I was also working at
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: the shelter and then eventually landed back in an emergency practice.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say I get bored, but I
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: like to be busy. So this was a time in
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: my life where... Honestly, I.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Learned that I was fallible. I love being busy.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I have a hard time sitting still, but life threw
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: a whole bunch of stuff at me and I was
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: spread extremely thin. I lost any semblance I had of
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: work-life balance. I was doing ER during COVID because it
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: needed to be done. And due to some personal circumstances,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I was forced to take eight weeks off away from practice,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: flat on my back, And I did a lot of
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: soul searching during that time.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: That led me to NVA. Wow.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: And talking about lessons learned, it's so challenging to find
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: where that edge is sometimes unless we go right up
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: to it. And there are circumstances within our control that
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: can affect our career decisions and outside of our control.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: So you obviously enjoyed the challenge of practice ownership, even
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: though it was hard at times and wanted to expand
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: on that. But that came with some additional challenges and
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: pressures on your time and energy. But then we had
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: this unprecedented experience of COVID that nobody could have accounted for.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: And sometimes those types of pressures do give us the time,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: whether we ask for it or not, to do some
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of that reflecting and soul searching, as you said, that
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: can be really valuable. So what came out of that
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the clarity that I got during that eight weeks
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: away from VetMed definitely highlighted how much I love VetMed
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and how much I still have to give to VetMed.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And again, I wouldn't discourage anyone from practice ownership. I
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: think with all that I've learned in my life, I
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: would be a much better practice owner now than ever before.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: But yes, you're right.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: COVID really forced me into some wake-up calls. And so
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: personal circumstances leading to some time away from practice. When
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I was ready to return, there was a fabulous opportunity
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: in the business development office at NVA. So I started
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: with National Veterinary Associates in their business office. And it
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: was an avenue in vet med that I hadn't explored yet.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: So it was super exciting. I learned a ton. And again,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: the clarity that came out of my time away was,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: highlighted for me how much I love the people of
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Vet Med.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: I love my cats and I love my dogs.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: I'll go to the zoo every day of the week,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: but it's really the people of Vet Med that keep
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: me coming back. So when the opportunity to become a
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: mentor to new graduates came along with their new GP
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: mentorship program in 2022, I jumped. It was a dream
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: job opportunity. I mentored brand new graduates in Arizona and
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: California until I was selected to lead the team of mentors.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: I honestly could not have foreseen this job for myself,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: but it aligns perfectly with my personal why, which is
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: to share my hard-earned wisdom and humor with the next
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: generation of veterinary teams so we can make this path
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: smoother for the next generation.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Yes, I love hearing about that pivot and that you
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: were happy with practice ownership and recognized that there were
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: other opportunities within veterinary medicine that could also make you
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: happy and that aligned with that personal why, which is so, so,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: so important for each of us to recognize. define. So
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: I love that you found that fit. And I do
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: want to talk about your progression within MBA. But before that,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I just want to take one step back and ask
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a quick logistical question for those who may be considering
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: career transitions. How did you hear about a business development
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: office position at MBA in the.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: And I was checking job boards. The AVMA has a
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: great job board.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And then connections.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I think that networking and talking to people and showing
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: up at conferences, there are job boards at conferences that
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: you should check out.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Someone somewhere is going to go, hey, I remember Dr.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Newman and she loves doing this. And I know this
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: person and I'm just going to connect them. And I
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: do that for people to this day. If I think
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: somebody would be a great fit or they need an
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: electronic introduction to someone, I'm going to make that happen
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: for them. In my tenure as a practice owner, met Dr.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: Marston Jones as an intern. He was doing an internship.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: And Eight years later, I hired him as a mentor.
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: So that was one of the connections that I had
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: that led to Dr. Jones getting a job and he's
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: doing a terrific job for me. So it can be
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: sometimes who you know and the connections that you have.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Colleagues are so, so important in this industry. So this
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: specific job was on LinkedIn.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Very cool. And thank you for highlighting the many different
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: avenues that we have available to find different positions, but
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: also back to your earlier point of the importance of
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: the people of vet med and how those connections may
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: help you find opportunities that you hadn't even realized might
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: be a great fit for you. So you found your
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: fit at MBA, and then you have since advanced within
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: that company to become the head of their mentorship program.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: So what What does that look like on your day
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: to day? Yeah.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: So you asked about a typical day.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: I wish I could tell you that there was a
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: typical day, but honestly, if there was such a thing,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: I probably wouldn't love my job as much as I do.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I can tell you about some of my responsibilities that
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: make up my day. I currently lead a team of
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: 14 full-time DVM mentors. These mentors are scattered throughout the country.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And we total just over 200 years of collective veterinary knowledge.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: The team experience ranges from practice ownership, government, organized vet med, academia, military,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and everything from GP to relief to shelter med, urgent care,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: and emergency. So I have a great team ready and
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: waiting to support new grads and early career veterinarians. Anyone
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: from zero to 36 months will qualify for a mentor
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: if you join an NVA practice. I also spend time
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: speaking to students, both virtually and on campuses across the country.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I do clinic visits. I meet our managing DBMs and
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: talk through troubles and success stories. We do a lot
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: of collaborating. The mentor team collaborates with all of our
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: business partners in the company. So that would include recruiting
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: and marketing and a whole plethora of other things. I
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: organize continuing education for different facets of our veterinary population.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I am an advisor on our medical advisory board, and
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: I support DVMs across NBA in their professional development. One
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: of the things I'm super proud of is our guided
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: path to ABVP certification, and I support general practitioners in
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: their quest for becoming a diplomate. My growth in the
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: organization just honestly has a lot to do with keeping
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: my eyes open and seizing opportunities that have come along.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: We have a job board internally.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Clinical practice is great, but I just wasn't aware there's
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: so much out there for individuals with a DVM degree.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: And at NVA, you can lead a practice. You can
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: participate in clinical trials. You can become someone who sits
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: on our medical advisory board. And you can become somebody
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: like me who mentors early career DVMs. So there's lots
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: of opportunities at NVA. And there's just lots of opportunities
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: beyond clinical practice.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you so much for giving us a peek
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: at what one day in the life could potentially look like.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of listeners will resonate with
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: wanting that variety. It's sort of in our nature with...
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: wanting to be involved in vet med is new challenges
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and different things to see and different things to learn.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: And there are so many ways that you can exercise
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: your different muscles based on the description that you gave us.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: So I think that's really fun to share. And the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: other thing that I want to highlight before we move
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: on is the diversity of backgrounds that you mentioned, because
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I think that's really fascinating and important to share. It
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: sounds like there's not one type of veterinarian that can
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: join MBA or can transition from clinical practice. Each person
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: has their story and they might fit in a different
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: place or find a different passion within that organization. But
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I would encourage our listeners, but just because our path
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: has looked one way previously, that doesn't limit our options
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: moving forward.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: 100%. Well said.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: I think that the diversity in vet med, you might
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: put a whole, maybe you put 200 veterinarians in a
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: room and the only thing they have in common is
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: that they're veterinarians.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: I love that for us.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I think that is a terrific component. It makes the
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: industry exciting and it makes talking to people wonderful and
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, exhilarating maybe is a little bit extreme, but
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I just love meeting people and hearing their stories.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: So yes, the diversity.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: And especially if your listeners are thinking, hey, I've been
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: doing this for 15 years.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: I don't know anything else. That's okay, too.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: If you want to be a clinical practitioner for your
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: whole career, I applaud you.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: We need that.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I would rather have somebody get bored in clinical practice
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: and look for another way to contribute to the industry
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: and to vet med than to leave completely.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: So whatever path you choose is the right path. Whatever
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: path that is for you, I love it.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Whatever path that is for you, I love it. And
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I also love what you said about getting 200 people
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: in a room and the only thing they have in
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: common is being a veterinarian. Because I'm picturing that room
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: and I know that the conversations are going to be amazing.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: If that's the only thing we have in common, that's awesome.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: And we're going to have a great time and it
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: might even be exhilarating. So I really like that visual. Yes.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: And I think that one thing that can help us
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: with some of that career decision-making and giving us some
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of that clarity is mentorship, and especially with our early
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: career veterinarians. And that's obviously something that you're very passionate about.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: And I want to talk to you a little bit
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: more about that concept as we wrap up our time today.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So I know that we hear the word mentoring fairly
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: often now. So I want to know, What does effective
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: mentoring look like to you specifically? And how can mentees
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: make the most of those relationships?
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Honestly, mentorship has kind of turned into a buzzword that
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: has lost some of its meaning for me. When I
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: speak to students, I most often ask them to tell
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: me what mentorship means to them first. Because by listening
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: to what they have to say, we can formulate a
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: mentorship program that works for them. It's very flexible. So
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: for some, it's a really close relationship with daily check-ins
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: and constant case reviews. And for others, it simply means
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: a colleague that you can call in a time of need.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Maybe post-operatively something didn't go well or intraoperatively something didn't
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: go well. To me personally, it's a mutually beneficial relationship
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: between colleagues. And what I mean by that is for
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: as much as I teach our early career DVMs, I
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: learn too. I take their excitement and their enthusiasm, their
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: knowledge about new drugs and new techniques. And so for
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: as much as I feel like I share, I feel
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: like I benefit from that as well. The cool thing
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: about the NVA GP mentorship is that there is a
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: virtual component. We are a phone-a-friend all the time, but
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: we also have some in-person opportunities, too, where we can
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: work on clinical skills and surgical techniques and procedures. We
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: have a great new state-of-the-art experience. training facility called the
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Pet One Veterinary Training Center that we will bring our
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: early career grads to for hands-on learning and training. My
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: advice is that you get out of a mentoring relationship
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: what you put into it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: So it's going to take care.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Just like a garden, you need to water it. I
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: think it works best when there is a discussion at
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: the beginning of the relationship. Even if it's a relationship
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: that's developing organically, that you have a conversation and come
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: to an agreement of what that relationship is going to
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: look like. Maybe even how long that relationship is going
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: to last. Looking back, one of my professors in vet
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: school is still someone that I talk to. And I
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: have other colleagues that have come into my life and
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: gone out of my life after a season. So if
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: you have an understanding of what that relationship is going
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: to be like and how much work it's going to
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: take from both sides, that's how you get to be
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: a successful mentor-mentee.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I love that. So making sure that we've got clear expectations,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: defining together what success looks like, and expecting a dynamic
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: component in the relationship. As you said, there might be
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: some give, there might be some take, but at the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: end of the day, it really should be mutually beneficial.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Beth.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your wisdom
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and expertise with our listeners today. Thank you for helping
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: us think about the many opportunities both within NBA general
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: practice and within our profession as a whole for inspiring
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: us to find our fit and helping us define what
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: mentorship can mean and what a difference it can make
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: in our careers. My pleasure.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: And thank you to each of you for joining us
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: on this episode of My Veterinary Life Podcast. We love
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: sharing this journey with you. And remember, we want to
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: hear from you. So please be sure to leave us
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: you listen to. And you can also email me at
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: mvlpodcasts at avma.org. Take care, and we'll see you next time.