The journey of becoming a veterinarian

On this week’s episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Connor Barich, DVM, MPH, sat down with host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to chat about his journey into the veterinary profession. Throughout the episode, Barich shares more about his childhood goal to become a “guinea pig doctor,” his unique educational path, working as a relief veterinarian, and now his latest journey into practice ownership.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Okay, so cut to practicing, doing your thing, on your journey of being an awesome veterinarian, and now you're at a different or a new chapter, I would say, in the world of relief veterinarian. So tell me more about that.

Connor Barich, DVM, MPH: Yeah, so when I graduated, I didn't really think at all about relief. I didn't know it was a thing. I was in private practice at first for probably the first 3 and a half years of graduating, and then we found out we were pregnant with our second kid, and that was a surprise. It was kind of a shock. We weren't quite ready yet, so we needed a pivot. And just around the same time, it was actually 2 years ago at VMX, the first time I went, I was speaking with IndeVets.

One of my classmates, her former boss, now worked for them, and so she just kind of got me interested and piqued my interest about the company and the whole concept of relief. And the more I talked with them, the better it sounded for our needs and our current lifestyle and situation. I loved my practice where I was at. It was a really hard decision to leave them. He was honestly, my boss was the best mentor I've ever had, and this last year, year and a couple months of doing relief has been phenomenal.

One just for the flexibility, allowing me to have time off with the kids if my wife needs a break or she has to work, keeps us from having to use daycare things like that, and it has allowed me to make a lot of great connections with other veterinary professionals in the Metroplex. I did go into this with some goals of gaining confidence in being a solo doctor running a practice, because a lot of times with relief you don't have other doctors with you, I wanted to see a lot of different ways of practice, take what I like, leave what I don't like, eventually incorporate that into my own practice, and relief has really allowed me to do that. It's given me a lot of confidence and great connections.

Christman: I used to do relief work too, and I always equate it as being like the culture builder. They kind of look forward to having you come to the practice, because it's someone different, different perspective, different way of practicing, how you say things. And I don't know, it was always like a fun thing, because it's a mutual token, because I go into these practices like, ‘Oh, I really like how she worked up that Cushing's case’ or ‘I really like how he did close that surgical incision.’ So you learn these different things as you go into these practices. And now, to your point, it gives you that confidence to be that solo doctor.