Torn between responsibility and loyalty: how the veterinarian profession designs antibiotic resistance policies that shake its foundations

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) policies, which aim to redefine how antibiotics are used, reshape the veterinary profession’s relationships in at least two ways. The policies can give state veterinarians greater power over practising veterinarians and thus change the relationship between the profession and the government supposed to regulate it. The policies also call for coordination with other relevant professionals, mainly in the areas of human medicine and food safety, which can limit the veterinary profession’s autonomous decision-making. Based on a survey of veterinarians working at different levels of the administration and their non-veterinary colleagues in Switzerland, it is shown that AMR policies, by strengthening the administration’s planning and supervisory functions, do contribute to increased state control of the veterinary profession. However, this shift is limited because implementing the policies requires negotiating with representatives of the profession.