Features of Canadian swine veterinarians and implications for recruitment to swine medicine.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE AND PROCEDURE: Anonymous surveys were completed by swine veterinarians in Ontario and western Canada to obtain insights to enhance development of training and recruitment programs to attract swine veterinarians to practice. The surveys probed what swine veterinarians do, attractants to swine medicine, swine-related experience, university education, and preparedness for swine practice. RESULTS: Most respondents (30/44) had started or completed a degree in agriculture or animal science/husbandry before veterinary school and most (40/51) had obtained swine experience before graduation. Seventy percent (31/44) of respondents spent > 90% of their professional time working with pigs and 70% (31/44) were working at full capacity. Frequent factors attracting veterinarians to swine medicine were mentorship, enjoyment of the job, and desire to work in population/food-animal medicine. Preparedness for swine practice was variable upon graduation, with 19/51 respondents feeling confident but requiring expert advice or resources, 8/51 feeling they lacked clinical training, and 12/51 understanding only basic principles. Preparedness was correlated (rho = 0.3;= 0.035) with number of educational opportunities completed during veterinary school. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Swine-medicine training programs targeting the commercial swine industry should include a variety of clinical and experiential learning opportunities, ideally facilitated by private-sector partnerships.