Relief veterinarians: Steps for success, and the role of CE By Kiley Daube DVM

Remember your first day at a new clinic? The excitement of meeting your co-workers, getting to know the layout of the hospital, learning where the break room is, the clinic cat’s name. Now imagine if this was your experience every day you went into work. It is for a relief veterinarian. 

What is a relief veterinarian? 

A relief veterinarian (sometimes called a locum vet) is a freelance veterinarian who fills in for another doctor temporarily – like when someone is sick, on family leave or vacation. They also fill short-term roles for a hospital after a doctor leaves for other employment. Relief vets may work at a clinic for a day, a week, a month or any time in between. They can be used to give the doctors at a practice time off to ensure a work-life balance or are hired to boost practice revenue during a busy season where more appointment times are needed. 

 What are the advantages of being a relief veterinarian? 

Many choose relief work either as their primary form of employment although some use it to supplement income outside of their regular clinic job – picking up shifts here and there as it fits with their schedule. This type of employment allows for fantastic flexibility – something that’s often more challenging to find when you work in this field. 

Vet relief work provides the freedom to choose when you want to work. Need the whole month of August off? Done. No more missing doctor’s appointments or school performances because of a work shift. No more on-call. Your time is really your time when you want it. You can work as much or as little as you want. 

Vet relief work provides the freedom to choose where you want to work as well. If you don’t like the culture of a practice or the medicine at a clinic then you don’t have to go back. If you love working at a certain spot – you can choose to take more shifts with them.  You can even choose what hours you work and what type of medicine you practice. There are shifts available with full day or half day hours, daytime or overnight shifts. There are surgery, dentistry, general practice, urgent care and ER shifts. 

What are the challenges of relief veterinarian work? 

These perks do come with a trade-off. Replacing a veterinarian at a hospital is not an easy task. Relief vets must not only be able to handle a wide range of cases wherever they go but must also master new skill sets to succeed in this line of work. They need to be able to adapt their communication and leadership skills to each clinic’s culture and each clinic staff. They must quickly familiarize themselves with an individual clinic’s protocols, drugs of choice, and electronic medical record system (or paper records, as they are still used in many hospitals). Their medical records need to be thorough and completed by the end of the shift as this allows patient care to continue seamlessly after their shift has ended and the regular doctor returns. 

For many relief veterinarians, the medicine is actually the easy part. The bigger challenges include finding vet relief work, setting fees/billing hospitals, and figuring out benefits in a less traditional employment role – oftentimes paying out-of-pocket for licenses, scrubs and veterinary continuing education (CE). 

How to find work as a relief veterinarian 

Finding work as a relief veterinarian can be accomplished a few different ways. Some relief vets are employed by a company that finds shifts for you. These positions usually include benefits like health insurance, PTO and stipends for CE. The company will also usually handle the financial aspect of relief work – taking the challenge of setting fees, establishing contracts and billing out of the hands of the relief vet (which many are happy to hand over).  

Some work within a specific parent company and travel around to clinics within that hospital network. However, most still find vet relief work the more traditional way – via networking, using online veterinary relief job posting platforms and marketing their services directly to clinic management.  

Local veterinary CE events are a great way to connect with other doctors and practice managers at hospitals in your area. These events can lead to finding new practice employment opportunities and help keep relief veterinarians connected within their local veterinary community. 

Relief veterinarian CE 

Quality CE is extremely important for relief vets. CE allows relief vets to receive additional certifications (i.e. Fear-Free Certification, Cat Friendly Certification) that may make them more attractive to a partner hospital looking to hire a relief vet. 

CE opportunities allow access to new and different treatment protocols. This is especially important for relief work as relief vets need to be able adapt their knowledge and skillset to the different practices environments they work in. CE courses in specific areas of medicine – like emergency, critical care, and ultrasound – can help equip them with skills necessary for any situation they may encounter at a new hospital. The more skills you have under your belt, the more likely a hospital will ask you back to cover additional shifts. 

Since relief vets are constantly working with different support teams, being an effective communicator and being able to adjust your leadership style is needed with each new hospital. CE courses on different communication techniques, leadership/practice management and even business management are especially important to help relief vets figure out some of the trickier aspects of this line of work. 

Conclusion 

In the end, even though relief work brings new challenges for veterinarians – job satisfaction for relief vets is among the highest in the field. Relief work has helped many doctors struggling with burnout, those who want more time for their family, or those who just want more say in when and how they practice. Plus, through continuing education, you’re always learning and staying sharp, which is perfect for tackling the wide range of cases you’ll encounter.  You’re helping clinics when they need it most, and there is always the fun and excitement of finding a new clinic cat to meet.