Weekend Rounds is a newsletter by Obi Veterinary Education. Each week, we'll round up what's new and noteworthy across veterinary medicine - both within the Obi community and veterinary industry at large - and deliver it right to your inbox.

New and Noteworthy

Research Highlights Pay Gap for Veterinary Trainees

A

new paper, published in JAVMA open access,

highlighted the average pay of interns and residents against current living wages. Unsurprisingly, the study found that the average starting salary of veterinary interns ($28,372) and residents ($35,098) falls well below that of a living wage in most areas of the USA. Furthermore, veterinary interns and residents fall well behind MDs who make approximately $60,000/year at the same point in their career.

Obi co-founder, Ryan Appleby tweeted a call for better wages for interns and residents in March of this year.

The detrimental impacts of low wages and financial insecurity are well documented and many are explored in the paper. Notably, as the authors state, "the implications for mental health and potential bias that such financial stress can produce should not be underestimated and, therefore, invite deeper consideration into current remuneration practices."

Deeper consideration is right. With a global shortage of veterinarians coinciding with a shortage of available specialist referrals - re-evaluating how interns and residents are paid can have drastic effects on the profession as a whole. For groups that espouse a dedication to improving practices related to diversity, equity and inclusion, improving pay for trainees seems like low hanging fruit. If wages are less than what a single childless person can afford, we are excluding anyone with a family, and plenty of socio-economic backgrounds from participating in training programs.

How can we expect a diverse, equitable and inclusive profession when we are excluding those who cannot afford to participate in specialty training?

We need industry leaders to take charge. Mars Veterinary Health - if you are truly

committed to your people

let's see it happen. And academics - if

diversity matters to you as you claim

make some changes to the requirements for certifying training programs.

Carole Baskin goes for a Rebrand

The 2020 hit TV show Tiger King on Netflix was nothing short of spectacular. The breakout star was Carole Baskin, the antagonist to Joe 'Tiger King' Exotic. First, her wealthy husband mysteriously disappeared leading many to believe there was some degree of foul play. But perhaps most interestingly, Baskin claims to do everything for the love of animals while posing in front of giant lions in cages smaller than most people have for their Labrador.

Unsurprisingly, the internet was not convinced with

countless memes

dedicated to the idea that Baskin fed her husband to her lions and tigers. But now, she is back with a new show on discovery and wants to

set the record straight.

We're undecided on this one. One the one hand, Baskin will forever be a great Halloween costume but where there's tigers and a mysterious disappearance... well, you be the judge.

Don't forget, you have access to 4 hours of RACE-approved continuing education:

Foundational Concepts in Thoracic Radiology

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