Pulse - April 2022 - 15

TOOLS FOR SUCCESS
Why Everyone is Flocking to House
Call & Mobile Practice
Part 1 of a 3 part series on House Call & Mobile Vet Practices
Eve Harrison, VMD, CVA
H
i there - I'm Dr. Eve Harrison! I have a full
time integrative concierge house call practice
in Los Angeles, and I'm living life on my own
terms. Before that, however, I spent years working
crazy hours in clinics, hospitals, emergency rooms,
and even a surgical residency that left me so burnt
out I almost quit entirely. I had a miserable work/life
balance, and my physical and mental health suffered.
I needed to find a better way to give my patients,
their caregivers, and myself, the level of care we all
deserved. My story is not unique. In this day & age,
we can't talk about veterinary medicine without
talking about compassion fatigue, burnout, moral
injury, and... suicide.
After years of working in practices on other peoples' terms,
I just couldn't take it anymore. It was at the point of desperation
that I made a bid to get my life back. I made a decision
to step right out of the box of traditional veterinary medicine,
and into the unknown.
And that is when I started my own house call veterinary
practice.
Although it wasn't an immediate success... It WORKED.
After learning quite a bit the " hard way, " my business eventually
did succeed in ways that I never could have imagined. I
had no idea how much financial growth, personal fulfillment,
and freedom running my own business would provide. I have
learned so much in this process, that I created The House Call
Vet Academy to share everything I've learned with others, so
they don't have to learn everything the hard way, like I did.
More veterinarians than ever are making the transition into
in-home-euthanasia-only practices, integrative or TCVM
practices, palliative in-home practice, clinics on wheels, preventative
care & concierge house call practices! This tidalwave
of transition has been very exciting to witness. I am
seeing, over and over again, that doctors who have previously
felt isolated, burnt out, or aimless in the profession for years...
are now self-actualizing. Veterinarians are falling in love with
their work again in niche house call practices of their own.
The origins of shift
What is causing this shift towards house call veterinary
practice? First, many veterinarians, who were already teetering
at the edge of a precipice of burnout, were finally
pushed over the threshold by the pandemic. The effects of the
PULSE
APRIL 2022
pandemic on our industry have been multifactorial, including
increased caseloads coupled with staff shortages, progressively
disgruntled & thankless clientele, and new challenges regarding
childcare/homeschooling. Numerous veterinarians came
to the realization in just the past 2 years that their careers
were no longer sustainable in their current form. House call
practice for many was a way OUT.
Outside influence and transition
The second reason for this transition, I believe, is the result
of outside influences on veterinary medicine. There are
increasing influences from corporate interests and non-veterinarians
on how we are instructed to practice. Our industry
looks very different now than it has during any other time,
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Pulse - April 2022

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