Burnout Among Relief Veterinarians Rose by 25%, New Serenity Vet Study Finds

The survey examined burnout and mental health trends among relief veterinarians, focusing on potential contributors such as compensation, scheduling, administrative responsibilities, and the role of technology in easing workload burden.

Serenity Vet, a subscription-based relief management platform for veterinary practices, released findings from its study on burnout and emotional well-being among relief veterinarians. Developed to deepen the industry’s understanding of modern relief practice, the survey explored key contributors to burnout and their impact on practitioners’ mental health – including compensation, scheduling pressures, administrative demands, and the increasing role of technology in daily clinical workflows.

The study was prompted by a concerning rise in burnout among relief veterinarians. According to the 2025 AVMA Report on the Economic State of the Veterinary Profession, burnout in this group has steadily increased since 2021, and relief veterinarians report the lowest overall satisfaction with the profession. Serenity Vet’s whitepaper offers new data to better understand these shifts and identify practical solutions that support a more sustainable ecosystem and stronger collaboration between clinics and relief practitioners.

Key survey findings:

• Burnout among relief veterinarians is on the rise.
  Burnout scores rose by 25% compared with 2022, surpassing the peak levels recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
• Job fulfillment improved, but exhaustion and disconnection intensified.
  While professional fulfillment among relief veterinarians has increased by 32%, levels of work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement have also climbed (by 24% and 29%, respectively). The findings suggest that meaningful work doesn’t always protect against emotional and physical strain.
• Overcommitting to shifts is the top stressor reported by relief veterinarians.
  Other major stressors included income unpredictability, administrative burden, difficulty finding work, and a lack of community.
• Income predictability remains a central concern.
  While 62.9% feel their income meets their needs, 33.8% report unstable or unpredictable earnings, pointing to a potential area of vulnerability in relief work. However, these financial concerns appear to have a lower impact on burnout among less experienced veterinarians.
• Many relief veterinarians face obstacles in negotiating pay
  Nearly one-third indicate they either struggle to negotiate effectively or avoid pay discussions altogether due to discomfort. These responses indicate that even among those who attempt negotiation, many do not feel positioned to advocate effectively for their compensation.

“As more veterinarians transition to relief work, their experience is often overlooked in discussions of well-being and career fulfilment. The rising burnout in this part of the profession, which is meant to offer greater flexibility and work-life balance, suggests that the emotional cost of financial pressures, constantly adapting to new environments, and administrative burdens may be underestimated,” Dr. Andrew Ciccolini, co-founder of Serenity Vet. “We hope that findings from our study will bring greater visibility to the challenges they face, support meaningful action to prevent burnout, and help relief veterinarians and clinics build more sustainable relationships.” 

Conducted between June and August 2025, the survey gathered 151 responses from relief veterinarians. The study was initiated by Serenity Vet in collaboration with Talkatoo and was reviewed by the Tufts University Social Behavioral & Educational Research Institutional Review Board. To support trend analysis, Galaxy Vets provided anonymized data from its burnout surveys conducted between 2020 and 2022 using the same methodology. The questionnaire was based on the Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index (PFI), a validated tool that measures professional fulfillment (the intrinsic positive reward derived from work) and burnout (work exhaustion and interpersonal disengagement). Additional questions were included to explore the specific challenges of relief practice.  

A full copy of the white paper is available on Serenity Vet’s website:

About Serenity Vet

Serenity Vet is a subscription-based relief management platform that combines a staffing marketplace with powerful business tools for both veterinarians and clinics. Veterinarians can take control of their careers through features like income forecasting, goal-setting, and personalized scheduling. For clinics, Serenity Vet provides a centralized system to manage their entire relief network, including booking, payments, and streamlined communication with trusted professionals. With tools like profitability calculators and AI-powered shift recommendations, clinics save time on staffing while improving fill rates and maintaining profitability. By supporting fair compensation, financial predictability, and flexible scheduling, Serenity Vet helps relief veterinarians build sustainable careers while making it easier for practices to maintain consistent staffing and operational efficiency.

For more information, visit https://serenity.vet/.

About Talkatoo

Talkatoo was founded in 2019 as the first AI company in veterinary medicine. Talkatoo provides time-saving AI vet tools that enable vet professionals to complete their work and get home on time. These tools include:

• Auto-Records: Record your appointment, and Talkatoo will write your medical notes for you. It’ll create a standard SOAP, or use whatever template you upload.
• Call Summary: Place a call using the Talkatoo mobile app and instantly receive a summary of your conversation and a full transcript.
• AI Assistant: Cruise through tedious tasks with the AI Assistant. Summarize and edit notes, write emails, generate discharge reports, and more.
• Veterinary Dictation: Talk anywhere you can type, with our trusted speech-to-text dictation tool – made for veterinarians.

Learn more at https://talkatoo.com/.