A Comparative Analysis of Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in the Field of Veterinary Medicine: Evaluating the Wellbeing of General Practice Veterinarians and American Board Certified Specialists

The field of veterinary medicine is dedicated to promoting and protecting the mental and physical wellbeing of animals, and thus, it follows that veterinarians are highly vulnerable to experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue. With greater reported suicide rates than those measured among the general population and across other occupations, factors that impede and promote veterinarian wellbeing need to be identified to aide in the implementaion of strategies to better support and sustain mental health and wellbeing in the veterinary profession. Due to the differences in the experiences of general practice, emergency, and specialty veterinarians, recognizing factors that are common practice-specific sources of burnout and compassion fatigue may be helpful in more effectively improving veterinarian wellbeing.