Podcast reframes veterinary burnout around purpose, not pressure

A new dvm360/Vet Blast podcast episode is making a familiar veterinary problem sound a little different. In “From ‘I should’ to ‘Why?’: A different approach to burnout,” The Resilient Vet cohosts Aaron Shaw and Jennifer Edwards argue that burnout in veterinary medicine persists not because professionals haven’t heard enough wellness advice, but because many interventions never get past surface-level expectations. Their core point: lasting change starts when people move from what they think they “should” do to understanding what actually matters to them. (dvm360.com)

That framing arrives in a profession that has spent years openly confronting burnout, compassion fatigue, moral stress, and retention strain. The veterinary sector has expanded wellbeing programming, mentorship, and mental health resources, yet the burden remains significant. Merck Animal Health’s fourth Veterinary Wellbeing Study, released in January 2024 in collaboration with AVMA, found high career pride and job satisfaction alongside ongoing concerns about exhaustion, work-life balance, and staffing shortages. The same study also showed some progress in access to support, including a rise in clinics offering employee assistance programs, from 27% in 2019 to 38% in 2023. (merck-animal-health-usa.com)

The newer AVMA economic data suggest the profession still hasn’t fully bent the curve. In the 2025 Economic State of the Veterinary Profession report, AVMA said the average burnout score for veterinarians in 2024 was 26.4 out of 50, the same as in 2023, with variation by role. Associate veterinarians’ burnout scores have trended down since the pandemic spike in 2020, but relief veterinarians’ scores have been climbing since 2021. The report also noted that only about half of veterinarians were satisfied with the profession as a whole, even though solid majorities reported satisfaction with their jobs, compensation, and lifestyle. (ebusiness.avma.org)

Against that backdrop, Shaw and Edwards’ message fits with a broader evolution in how burnout is being discussed. In the podcast summary and transcript excerpt, they say the obstacle is often not knowledge, but the gap between knowing and doing, shaped by culture and personal barriers. That echoes CDC and AVMA-backed guidance that has pushed healthcare leaders to stop relying primarily on individual-level advice, such as self-care or resilience training, and instead address operational causes of distress. CDC’s Impact Wellbeing framework specifically highlights staffing, demanding schedules, and excess administrative work as systemic drivers that workers want leaders to confront. (dvm360.com)

Industry commentary has increasingly moved in the same direction. In Merck’s 2024 wellbeing release, AVMA President Rena Carlson said sustaining animal health requires supporting the wellbeing of the people delivering care, while MentorVet founder Addie Reinhard pointed to evidence-based mentorship programming as one route to reducing burnout. Those comments stop short of endorsing the podcast’s exact framework, but they reinforce the same underlying idea: burnout is not just an individual toughness problem, and support systems need to be structured, practical, and sustained. (merck-animal-health-usa.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this episode is less about a new data point than a useful reframing of an old one. If burnout persists even as awareness rises, practices may need to ask whether their wellbeing efforts are too generic, too individual-focused, or too disconnected from day-to-day realities. A “why”-centered approach could be useful in coaching, mentorship, retention conversations, and team development, especially for early-career associates and relief veterinarians, who face distinct pressures. But the available evidence also suggests personal insight won’t be enough on its own unless clinics pair it with workload design, staffing support, open discussion of mental health, and leadership accountability. (dvm360.com)

For hospitals and practice leaders, that may be the practical takeaway. The profession has no shortage of wellness messaging. What remains in shorter supply is protected time, operational flexibility, psychologically safe communication, and systems that make it easier for teams to act on what matters to them. In that sense, the podcast’s challenge, moving from “I should” to “Why?”, may resonate most when it’s applied not only to individuals, but also to workplace design. That’s an inference based on the broader evidence base around burnout, rather than a direct claim from the episode itself. (dvm360.com)

What to watch: Expect more veterinary wellbeing coverage to focus on combined models, pairing mentorship and self-reflection with measurable workplace changes, as employers continue to grapple with hiring, retention, and uneven burnout across roles. (avma.org)