The fear of making a mistake: veterinarian edition
Nobody likes making mistakes, but the consequences of our mistakes vary so much in severity depending on the situation. As a veterinarian, making a mistake could mean anything from a minor inconvenience to a pet owner, all the way up to the absolute worst possible situation: a beloved pet dying. We all know the saying goes “nobody’s perfect,” but in a career where mistakes can have such serious consequences, it’s difficult to accept that any mistakes are allowed. Most veterinarians are of the perfectionist personality, so we often already beat ourselves up more than is necessary for minor mistakes. It goes without saying that one’s mental health can suffer big time with this mindset, especially when the lives of our clients’ furry family members are on the line.
There is quite a long list of possible consequences that can result from a mistake. Short term, there is any effect on a pet from the mistake (diarrhea from a mislabeled medication dosage, stress of having to come back again to the clinic for a second blood draw, etc). One step further is the effect on the pet owner: concern and distress for their pet’s situation or potential increased cost or time needed to care for their pet, to name a few. Additionally, if I made the mistake, I feel guilty and frustrated about the above consequences for the pet and pet owner. Backing up another step, is where things can get even more impactful long term for me. If a pet owner verbally abuses the veterinarian or their staff, lashing out and berating them for the mistake, there are feelings of distress throughout the clinic. Pet owners may even bash the veterinarian or the clinic on social media, sharing their story (too often one-sided or out of context) to dozens or hundreds of other clients or potential clients. The pet owner can also complain against or sue the veterinarian, which can cost a large amount of money, time, and mental effort to deal with, whether the complaint was founded or unfounded.
All of these potential consequences naturally lead my colleagues and I to put up pre-emptive defenses against making mistakes. The positive side of these defenses is that we are doing everything we possibly can to reduce the likelihood of making a mistake, which benefits pets, pet owners, veterinary clinics, and ourselves when mistakes are avoided in the first place. Things that I regularly do to prevent mistakes can include double and triple-checking all my drug dose calculations, following certain protocols in the clinic to facilitate medical records/billing/filling prescriptions, and always asking for a colleague’s opinion or even recommending a specialist referral if a case is not typical or straight-forward.
On the flip side is the negative impact of constantly bracing for the possibility of making a mistake. After work or on the weekends, my mind often drifts to cases I saw recently and I will suddenly wonder if I should have recommended one extra blood test or prescribed one less medication for that pet. If I receive a text from a colleague on my day off, my mind instantly jumps to whether one of my cases has come back in because I did something wrong. If I see that a pet that I recently performed surgery on has an unplanned recheck appointment on the schedule, my stomach drops and I rack my brain for what I could have possibly done wrong during the surgery. The night before I have a day of many surgeries, I sometimes have nightmares about making a mistake. All of these knee-jerk reactions can be mentally straining, especially during my time off when I should be recharging and not thinking about work.
This mental torture that I put myself through is 99.9% of the time for no reason at all. I have a process when I prescribe medications for pets to make sure that there are no drug interactions. I am very thoughtful about my plan and recommendations for each pet I see. Post-surgical complications do happen occasionally, but often due to a pet being too active and not resting appropriately at home, not typically due to fault of the surgeon. I am very cautious and careful during surgical procedures. Even so, I have apparently trained myself to blame any little possible problem on a mistake that I must have made, which is one aspect of “imposter syndrome,” a common issue of veterinarians.
It is true that everybody makes mistakes, and it’s impossible to never make a mistake. Exhaustion or work overload can increase the risk for mistakes, especially these days, when the entire veterinary industry is completely overloaded with pets needing care. There is only so much time in a day and only so many pets that I can provide top-notch care for before that care level will slide down a notch as a result of adding more pets to my workload. I just have to hope that when I do make a mistake, as everybody does, that it is a minor one. If and when a mistake is made, it is important to focus on how to rectify the mistake, yes, but also how to prevent the same type of mistake from happening again.
There is a whole extra category of stressful situations where no mistakes have actually been made, but the veterinarian or veterinary team is blamed when an unfavorable outcome occurs (e.g. a pet passes away due to a disease that was too far along by the time the pet owner brought the pet in for care). These situations are also mentally taxing, but since no mistakes truly occur, there is no avoidance strategy, but communication with pet owners is certainly important here.
To help myself work through the fear of mistakes, I do my best to distance myself from work when I’m at home by being mentally present. Immersing myself in a good book, going for a run, or spending time with my cats and husband help me relax and not think about work as much. Having wonderful and understanding pet owner clients is also vastly helpful for getting through the tiny mistakes that cause only minor inconveniences. Every day I go into work, I try my absolute best to be the best doctor for my patients, and that has to be enough.
