Pilot Online Professional Development Program to Enhance Well-being for Veterinary Graduates Transitioning to Practice

In this pilot outreach program, a professional development program will be implemented to support veterinarians during the transition from student to clinician. The transition from student to practicing veterinarian is a stressful time, and with high rates of suicide among veterinary professionals, it is important to equip veterinarians with resources to help support wellness, well-being, and community support within the veterinary profession. A group of graduating veterinary students from the University of Tennessee will be invited to participate in this outreach program. The goals of this program will be to (1) develop an evidence-based, transdisciplinary, online professional skills development curriculum to equip new veterinarians with non-clinical skills to improve resiliency, self-efficacy, and coping skills (2) conduct monthly guided online small-group meetings with participants to reinforce skills learned through reflection on relevant scenarios where skills were used in practice, (3) used social media strategies to create an online social support community for veterinarians to stay connected with their peers, and (4) assess program success to determine feasibility of program expansion to a larger population of new veterinary graduates. The expected outcome of the program is an improvement in well-being and a decrease in stress for veterinarians transitioning into practice. Program efficacy will be evaluating by surveying all participants and select students will be interviewed after the conclusion of the program. Findings from this pilot program will be presented at a national veterinary conference.