Aircraft have come a long way since the first flight of the Wright brothers, and so has veterinary medicine. In the 1970s, the veterinary profession's duties primarily consisted of what are really simple tasks, vaccines, preventive health care, spays and neuters, abscesses, emergency practice and fixing broken legs. In the '70s, the numbers of academically qualified veterinary students dramatically outnumbered the available seats in veterinary schools. From top to bottom, the veterinary student was the cream of the academic crop. So we matched strong minds with a strong work ethic with fairly simple professional duties.
Today is different.
Even if the academic strength of the incoming first-year students were still in the top of their class, the amount of material that must be digested in a couple of short years exceeds the typical human mind. Plus, the workplace has changed because all veterinarians desire a balanced life, we now have paraprofessional help and professional business folks are now starting to dictate how medicine should be practiced. Yet, some of these individuals have never stood with a family as a dog, cat or favorite horse has been euthanized. Perhaps, we could once overpower everything with diligence, hard work and longer hours. But as the days get longer, the fun disappears and stress takes over.