In a new article for Today’s Veterinary Business, Caleb Frankel, VMD, founder and CEO of Instinct Science, shares personal insights and survey findings from 959 veterinary professionals across general practice, emergency, specialty, and urgent care. The data show a profession rethinking how work gets done, with flexible scheduling becoming an expectation, staffing pressure continuing across practice types, and hiring alone falling short of what teams need.
The article also points to growing financial strain for clients, with nearly 80% of specialty and emergency respondents identifying client financial limitations as a major pressure point. However, Dr. Caleb notes encouraging signs, including declines in reported stress, compassion fatigue, and mental health challenges from their 2023 peak. Technology is playing a larger role in this shift: nearly half of general practices are already using AI in some form and 91% reported adopting or changing at least one technology system in the past year.
Dr. Caleb argues that the practices best positioned for the future will be those that use technology thoughtfully, support their teams, and redesign workflows around the realities of modern veterinary medicine.
Source material: Today’s Veterinary Business, “Veterinary Industry Survey: Staffing, Burnout, and AI Adoption.”
