VETgirl Veterinary Wellness app

This wellness spotlight features something different. Instead of an event offered by a CVM program/group, this spotlight features an app created by VETgirl. From the personal experiences of a veterinarian, VETgirl was started, and now the VETgirl Veterinary Wellness app is here too.  Continue reading to see what this new app is all about, and how it can be helpful for veterinary students. 

“Wellness” is a ever rising topic of conversation in veterinary medicine. Veterinary medicine is a challenging career field that takes years of preparation to even begin training for. Once in veterinary school, students have 4 years of rigorous course work and clinical experience. New graduates are often met with long hours and little recognition of the dedication it took to reach that point. Without awareness of one’s wellness, veterinarians, as well as others in the veterinary medicine field, can face depression or thoughts of suicide.

Veterinarian Justine Lee, DACVECC, DABT, and CEO of VETgirl, a company which provides CE’s for veterinarians, is all too familiar with the struggles of wellness in veterinary medicine. To help prevent other’s from experience the same struggles which she experienced, Dr. Lee and VETgirl have recently released an app “VETgirl Veterinary Wellness app” to encourage wellness every day to those in the veterinary medicine.

Dr. Lee shared with the SAVMA Wellness committee what wellness means to her and the goals behind creating an app dedicated to wellness:

- What does wellness mean to you and why is it important in the veterinary profession?

 Many are often surprised to know that I struggled with insomnia, burnout, and suicide ideation during my 1st year as an ECC residency at University of Pennsylvania. I wrote about it in a Veterinary Team Brief article here. That's why wellness is so important to me - that we take care of ourselves and our colleagues. This is particularly important in our veterinary profession, as our workaholic, high achieving personalty types, along with our stress level, predispose our field to suicide.

- How does your app promote wellness to those in the profession?

We here at VETgirl are very passionate about wellness. We want to make sure veterinary professionals take care of themselves, due to the growing prevalence of burnout, compassion fatigue, and suicide ideation in our field. 

- What was your goal when designing the VETgirl Veterinary Wellness app?

The goal of our VETgirl Veterinary Wellness app is to provide a gentle reminder -  through a daily "check in" tip - on how to  take care of yourself. It's a small way for VETgirl to help give back to a field that we love:  veterinary medicine.

- How can veterinary students best use your app for wellness?

Make sure to check in every day and check out a new simple tip. It could be something as simple as taking 10 deep breaths. Or turning off your phone. Share your favorite tip with your veterinary colleagues, and encourage each other to take care of themselves.

The free app is available on iPhone and android devices (linked below). Students in Colleges of Veterinary Medicine can benefit from a gentle reminder to take care of themselves every day. This can help create healthy habits in students which they can use for the rest of their career.

For iOs devices: click here

For Android devices: click here