NEWStat®

Veterinary burnout survey continues to seek prevention strategies

Ivan Zakharenkov, DVM, MBA, chief executive officer of Galaxy Vets, turned his own experience of burnout into a passion for ongoing research of mental health and wellbeing in the profession.

Published Jun 22, 2023

By Kate Boatright, VMD

[Trigger warning: This article mentions suicide.]

Ivan Zakharenkov, DVM, MBA, chief executive officer of Galaxy Vets (also known as Dr. Zak), has spent the last several years “on a continuous search of why burnout happens” in the veterinary profession. He said he is working on “dissecting [burnout] down to small particles and seeing [if] can we change certain items” to prevent it.

From ER to burnout researcher

“As a graduating veterinarian, I had an interest in ER and critical care,” he said. “I’m passionate about chaos and unpredictable environments. And, certainly, ER gives you that, but what I didn’t know comes with it is the wear-and-tear on you.”

For six years following graduation, Zakharenkov pushed through a rigorous ER schedule, including picking up shifts on his days off. After a while, he became disinterested in his work. He no longer cared about his cases and felt detached and unemotional. He felt increasing frustration with clients.

“I got yelled at a lot,” he said.

“I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t call it burnout. I just thought I was crazy,” he said. “Now I reflect back and I can say, ‘oh, that was burnout.’ At that point, I just thought ‘I can’t do this’ and lost interest in the profession. It was a dark place. Unfortunately, part of my story is that I ended up attempting suicide. Obviously, it wasn’t successful, and I’m grateful for that.”

He left the industry for six months while working with mental health professionals to recover. He did return to clinical work but then pivoted into entrepreneurship. While earning his MBA, Zakharenkov wanted to do “something useful for the industry.” As he looked for a topic for his dissertation, he recognized the growing awareness around burnout and thought, “if this is so systemic in the industry, I would like to learn more about it.”

His research began with investigating how prevalent burnout was. “Is it like a shark attack?” Zakharenkov wondered. Noting that everyone knows when a shark attack occurs, even though the event has a low incidence. In his initial work, he found that burnout was widespread in the profession and not only affecting veterinarians but the entire veterinary team.

After his dissertation, he continued to research burnout through his position as CEO of Galaxy Vets. His work moved from detecting burnout and investigating treatments to looking for prevention strategies. Each year, Galaxy Vets launches a burnout survey using the Professional Fulfillment Index from Stanford University to track burnout levels and assess hypotheses around contributing factors.

Results of the third annual burnout survey

In March, Galaxy Vets published the results of the third annual burnout survey, which was conducted in 2022.

Overall burnout levels decreased compared to 2022, returning to the pre-pandemic levels found in 2020. Younger veterinary professionals continued to experience higher rates of burnout, as has been seen in previous years and across multiple studies of mental health in the veterinary profession.

This year, practice managers showed the highest levels of burnout of any position in the clinic.

A “notable relationship” with euthanasia

The first notable finding was the relationship between euthanasia and burnout levels. “Euthanasia itself does not increase the chance of burnout,” said Zakharenkov, “but specifically economic euthanasia [does increase] the chance of burnout.”

Veterinary professionals who perform a higher percentage of euthanasia for economic reasons have higher levels of burnout, according to the survey. Zakharenkov noted that some clinics and organizations work against economic euthanasia utilizing tools like payment plans and increasing the focus on preventive care.

Salary versus production-based pay

The survey also investigated the relationship between type of veterinarian compensation—production-based pay versus straight salary—and burnout.

While the survey did not reveal a direct relationship between compensation and burnout, it did find that those with less certainty about their future and retirement are more stressed and burned out than those with certainty.

“There are people who like salary and certainty and those who like commission and opportunity and those in between,” he said, and the preferred pay structure will vary by individual preference. But whatever makes the person feel most secure will likely reduce their levels of burnout.

Hybrid work gains popularity

The final major finding in the survey was that hybrid work environments are growing in appeal, especially to CSRs and practice managers, who can easily do administrative tasks from home. There are a growing number of remote opportunities for all members of the veterinary team, which provides not only a change in environment but more flexibility in scheduling.

“I’m a big proponent of telehealth in a very specific slice,” shared Zakharenkov. “I see it as a supplement to the hospital but as a separate structure.”

In other words, instead of having doctors trying to run a full appointment book and see telemedicine appointments simultaneously, allow a doctor to work from home seeing the telemedicine appointments while others are in the clinic. “You can expand your hospital beyond the four walls,” said Zakharenkov, though he reminds veterinary practices to “watch the VCPR laws in your state.”

Overwork is not burnout—What your practice can do to help

“What I don’t like in the industry right now is that people overuse the word burnout,” Zakharenkov said.

A common mistake is to associate overwork with burnout, he said. “It’s not necessarily true. You could be working over 60 hours a week but be so in the flow and happy if everything is normal and not burn out. It will be overworking. You’ll be tired. But you’re not particularly burned out. It’s very important to understand the distinction.”

Overwork is only one of the six burnout triggers originally identified by burnout researcher and social psychologist Christina Maslach, PhD, and the only one that is sometimes directly within an individual’s control.

“The other five are really about the community and what happens in the hospital, so managing the hospital against these triggers [is essential],” said Zakharenkov.

These triggers include:

Values disconnect, where individual values and the values of the clinic or workplace are not in alignment
Breakdown in community, which is related to conflict, hostile work environments, lack of feedback, and more
Unfairness, which may be due to discrimination or favoritism in the workplace
Insufficient reward, or under-appreciation, which Zakharenkov notes does not have to be compensation-based (He reminds veterinary practices that “Thank you is free.”)
Lack of control, which is often experienced by team members who do not have the ability to influence the way a clinic runs

When there is an accumulation of these triggers, burnout becomes increasingly likely. Galaxy Vets recently released a resource to help practices look at how each trigger is manifested in the industry, how to evaluate if it is present in their hospital, and how to address the problem(s).

With his ongoing research, Zakharenkov continues to work toward his goal of helping the veterinary profession “manage organizations and people with burnout prevention in mind rather than treatment after the fact.”

Important: If you find yourself in crisis, you can call/text 988 to be connected to the suicide lifeline.  