Survey says… we need your help

Our goal at the AVMA is to support and enhance the professional success of our members. We serve as your voice in policymaking, provide services to help you succeed in your job and thrive personally, and advance public understanding of all the vital work that veterinarians do.

To do this, we need an in-depth understanding of your individual experiences as veterinary professionals. The AVMA is better able to effectively advance shared interests, values and goals by staying abreast of members’ evolving needs. That means we need your help.

Throughout the year, the AVMA conducts member surveys to gain insight into the many facets of veterinary medicine and practice. Here is just a sampling of the surveys we conduct and how they benefit AVMA members:

• Our Employment and Compensation Survey helps us analyze unemployment, underemployment and veterinary compensation to determine the overall health of the veterinary job market. We use these results to develop strategies that improve employment in the veterinary profession.
• Our Practice Ownership Survey measures the use of veterinarians, technicians, administrative personnel, and even physical space in veterinary practice settings. This helps us determine how practice owners can most efficiently use available resources.
• Convention surveys give us valuable insight from conference attendees, exhibitors and speakers so we can improve future events.
• Our annual AVMA Performance Survey helps us understand the breadth of our members’ needs and determine how we can better meet them.

We analyze the results of these surveys — and others like them — and use the information to guide us in developing better programs, solutions and educational opportunities for AVMA members, year after year. They also provide the basis for much of the analysis in the veterinary economics reports we provide to AVMA members free of charge, and the articles and presentations that our Veterinary Economics Division staff publish and present at industry events nationwide. Additionally, the information we gather bolsters our advocacy work on behalf of veterinarians at both the federal and state levels.

Our aim is to translate all survey results into actionable ways to improve veterinarians’ lives and enhance the veterinary profession. Your input is vital to this goal. If you receive a survey request from the AVMA, we need your participation. Since we limit the number of members asked to respond to each survey, your answers carry extra weight.

A note on survey fatigue

As an association of, and for, medical professionals, the AVMA recognizes the importance of member data. However, we also know your time is valuable.  That’s why we work vigorously to streamline our survey processes and reduce the number of surveys we ask you to fill out. This includes:

• Stratifying the sample of our membership — We look at the number of veterinarians needed to fulfill a good sample for each survey, and then randomly assign members to surveys all at once, instead of one at a time. This helps us limit the number of survey requests that members receive throughout the year.
• Reviewing which data should be collected annually and which can be collected less frequently — This cuts down on the number of surveys we request, and also makes individual surveys shorter and easier to complete.

The next time you receive a survey request from the AVMA, we hope you will participate. Your involvement is essential. By sharing your input, you will become an important part of advancing the success of your colleagues, yourself and the entire veterinary profession.