What is changing is the availability of veterinarians. The US has a shortage of veterinarians, with many practices unable to even attract applicants, let alone hire doctors who will be good for our patients. 2019 estimates are that with Walmart and Petco adding clinics, yet another 3500 veterinarians will be needed. Then COVID hit, and many veterinarians planning for retirement left, and others ended up staying home long-term with their families.
To pet owners, this means that your veterinary practice has to work to be more efficient, and is likely to lead to more patients per veterinarian, meaning you will get less personal interaction from your pet's doctor, and more of the care will be provided by the nursing team. This isn’t necessarily bad, but veterinarians are rarely used to working this way, and want more time with each patient. They will now have more of the hurry-up stresses faced in human medicine.