. "2 State and Quality of the Current System." Animal Health at the Crossroads: Preventing, Detecting, and Diagnosing Animal Diseases. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005.
The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
Animal Health at the Crossroads: Preventing, Detecting, and Diagnosing Animal Diseases
TABLE 2-1 Employment of U.S. Veterinarians Who Are AVMA Members
Private Clinical Practice
2004
1986
Number
Percentage
Number
Percentage
Large animal exclusive
1,887
4.0
1,936
5.7
Large animal predominant
2,596
5.4
4,570
13.5
Mixed animal
3,868
8.2
3,397
10.1
Small animal predominant
5,507
11.7
4,722
14.0
Small animal exclusive
29,951
63.4
17,276
51.1
Equine
2,257
4.8
1,888
5.6
Other
1,198
2.5
Subtotal
47,264
100
33,789
100
Public and Corporate Employment
2004
1986
Number
Percentage
Number
Percentage
College or university
3,961
46.7
3,713
39.5
Federal government
641
7.6
2,212
23.5
State or local government
542
6.4
756
8.0
Uniformed services
474
5.6
586
6.2
Industrial
1,566
18.5
2,128
22.7
Other
1,294
15.2
Subtotal
8,478
100
9,395
100
Grand Total
64,867
43,184
SOURCE: Pritchard, 1988; AVMA, 2005b.
(NRC, 2004b). While it is too early to tell whether the recommendations from the 2004 NRC report have had an effect, the employment demographics of veterinarians over the last 15 years (Table 2-1) suggest that many of the Pew report recommendations have not been realized, due largely to the limited amount of funding provided and the complete lack of follow-up and continuity.
Private Veterinarians
Veterinarians in private practices, generally supported by veterinary technicians, are among the front-line health professionals dealing with animal disease. They constitute about 80 percent of the veterinary workforce (ca. 47,000, as shown in Table 2-1). Fewer than 10,000 derive a significant portion of their income from food-animal practice, and the number is declining (AVMA, 2005b). Rural demographic changes, inten-
