The Emotional Impact of Patient Loss on Brazilian Veterinarians

Simple Summary Unlike human physicians, veterinarians may follow their patients throughout their lifetime, from conception to end-of-life care. Due to the high involvement with the animal, healthcare providers (veterinarians and veterinary staff) are likely to be exposed, together with the caregivers, to the impact of negative events including death and euthanasia. The degree course of veterinary medicine should contain a course that prepares future veterinarians for bad news delivery in order to better handle these challenging situations. Along with the need to further explore this topic, veterinarians should be taught how to recognize psychological fatigue and avoid burnout, seek medical and psychotherapeutic advice, look for ways to lessen these effects and make it easier to identify workers who are most susceptible to burnout early on.Abstract Veterinarians, unlike human physicians, could potentially care for the patient for several years, from conception to end-of-life care. Because of their close relationship with the animal, healthcare providers (for example, veterinarians and staff) are more likely to be affected by bad events and end-of-life care. The purpose of this study was to assess the emotional impact of patients' deaths on Brazilian veterinarians; 549 Brazilian veterinarians (78.3% females) completed a 20-item online questionnaire. Females were more emotionally affected than males by having to talk to the owner about their animal's death and more emotionally affected by the animal's death itself. Furthermore, the emotional impact of an animal's death was heavily influenced by the number of animals euthanized and varied greatly across veterinarians based on their age, with vets over 50 years old being less affected than vets between the ages of 31 and 40. The majority of responders (91.0%) were not trained to deal with grief during their degree. Those who had some training reported being less affected by bereavement. These findings indicate that patient death is a significant emotional concern for veterinarians. Specific education during the degree course, aimed at preparing future veterinarians to deal with death and death communication, is lacking but necessary.