The Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey

A veterinary practice where employees love where they work, because they feel respected, valued, and supported. They feel set up for success and are able to practice veterinary medicine in a way that feels fulfilling and sustainable and in a way that creates a positive experience for everyone (vet team, pet, and owner).

Unicorns aren’t perfect (that’s a mystical beast if there ever was one), but what makes them stand out the most is the way they navigate challenges. Rather than letting challenges drag them down and hold them back, they see them as opportunities to learn and grow to create positive change and lead by example in vet med.

A resource that is going to be a game changer in expediting positive change and empowering hospitals in vet med. Veterinary professionals and pet owners alike are waiting to see which hospitals are added to the list!

There are already veterinary hospitals out there that are doing an incredible job of leading by example and creating a workplace where the veterinary team's energy and well-being are prioritized so that they are set up for success to practice high quality medicine in a way that feels fulfilling and sustainable. Those practices deserve recognition and will be put on the unicorn vet hospital list.

How do you determine what hospital is a "unicorn"?

The workplace satisfaction and well-being survey will be used to identify which veterinary hospitals are doing an amazing job creating a safe, supportive workplace where their team feels valued, respected, and set up for success based on all of their employee's feedback. In addition to questions about work life balance, well-being and workplace satisfaction, psychological safety, and feeling valued, respected, and supported, the survey includes a specific question asking employees if they think that their hospital is  "unicorn". All of those will be factored in. 

The goals:

⭐️To provide a resource that shows proof of what's possible in vet med. Seeing is believing! By having a list of hospitals all in one place, we'll be able to motivate and inspire change by showing that when a workplace prioritizes the energy and well-being of the veterinary team, it's so worth while! Profitability, patient care, client satisfaction, and retention all increase for sustainable success.

The unicorn vet hospital list will help to show concrete examples of how to actually accomplish that so that we can collect data as a profession about what works and what doesn't in order to address root issues at the individual, veterinary school, and practice level. 

⭐️To be a valued resource veterinary professionals turn to when looking for new positions.

Right now there are endless veterinary job postings out there and most of them sound very similar promoting high quality patient care and a good work life balance. It's hard for candidates to tell which hospitals are truly standing out and creating a supportive and positive work environment based on an ad and even during interviews. This unicorn vet hospital is a way for candidates to have the peace of mind that they truly have found a unicorn vet hospital, because the hospital has already been vetted and has actual data to support their claims. 

⭐️As the list grows, it will become a resource that pet owners seek out in order to find veterinary hospitals that they can trust to provide high quality care and a positive experience because a safe environment and the well-being of the veterinary team is prioritized. This has already received a lot of interest from pet owners.

If you don't qualify as a unicorn vet hospital YET:

That's ok! The good news is, now that you have your hospital's survey results you have invaluable insight on your current status, strengths, and areas for improvement so that you can make positive changes that benefit you and your veterinary team (and ultimately your patients and clients).

Your willingness to participate in the survey, listen to your team, and to be open and curious about what can change in order to create a more positive and sustainable environment is key for becoming a unicorn vet hospital. You're well on your way. You'll have the option to repeat the survey to monitor changes so that you can be added to the unicorn vet hospital down the line.

Here's what you can expect when you sign up for the workplace satisfaction and well-being survey:

1. As soon as you sign up,  you'll receive two emails:

• One email will include a link to a questionnaire that the practice owner or manager needs to complete to give information about your hospital and to establish a baseline on how you feel you are doing
• The next day, you'll receive an email with a link to the actual workplace satisfaction and wellbeing survey that you can forward to all of your employees

2. You will need to carve out 15 minutes for each employee to take the survey during their workday (as the owner or manager, it's important that you complete this survey, too!)

3. Once everyone has completed the survey at your hospital, send me an email (amelia@lifeboost.today) to update me (along with the number of surveys I should have received) so that I know to compile your hospital's results

4. You will receive an email with a free report showing these results:

• If your veterinary team feels you qualify as a "unicorn vet hospital" 
• Overall well-being, physical health, mental health, energy level most days, and happiness and how they feel their job impacts those (positively or negatively)
• Overall stress level most days and how much of the stress is related to work
• Overall workplace satisfaction
  
• Work life balance satisfaction level
• Satisfaction level of feeling supported, valued, and respected at work
• How they rate your practices's overall:
  • morale
  • culture
  • level of comfort speaking honestly to management about frustrations or concerns
  • opportunities to give feedback to management about frustrations or concerns in a way you feel comfortable 
  • feeling like the feedback they provide is taken seriously and valued
• Number of employees who feel burned out
• Number of employees who feel depressed
• Perception of priority for client satisfaction, patient care, veterinary satisfaction, and support staff satisfaction

5. Once you have your report, you have options! 

• The survey gives you a great baseline so that you can monitor the efficacy of any changes that you make. If you watch and implement any of the information from one of the 4 free "Beat The Burnout: What We Should Have Learned In Veterinary School" videos (RACE-approved for 4 hours of CE) or if any of your employees participates in the Game Changer program (RACE-approved for 8 hours of CE), you can repeat the survey and receive another report for free. 
• If you're not already a unicorn hospital, now you will have really valuable insight on where your hospital currently is so that you can be proactive in making changes to improve workplace satisfaction and well-being for greater retention, culture, productivity, quality of patient care, client experience, and long term success!
  • If you would like to dive deeper into the results (for example, what specifically is contributing to low energy and where's the first place to start), to discuss your unique challenges and goals, and to have support coming up with a specific plan that feels doable, you'll have the option to schedule a one hour initial consultation for $200. After our discussion, I will put together a proposal for next steps.
• If your survey results are positive, you can use the stats for marketing.
  • For example:
    
    • Job ad: "We value work life balance and we have data to back that up. 15/15 of our employees say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their work life balance in a 3rd party survey. Here's how we do that..."
    • Marketing to pet owners: "Did you know the veterinary profession has a high burnout rate? Not here! We just got the results of a 3rd party survey and 100% of our employees are satisfied with their work life balance and NOT ONE employee feels burned out. We prioritize the well-being of our veterinary team so that you can have the peace of mind knowing we're here to help you and your pet because we love what we do, not because we have to be. 
• If your results support that you're already a unicorn hospital, you deserve to get recognition!
  • You will be added to the unicorn vet hospital list that I share with my community so that you can help to lead by example and show what's possible in our profession and so that perfect fit candidates can find you if you are hiring.
  • I'd also love to give you shout outs on social media or my podcast so that you can be a part of the conversation about what IS working in vet med and how we can turn current challenges into positive change. We'll discuss how to celebrate this accomplishment more when you receive your report.

The survey is a 15 minute questionnaire that gives your employees an opportunity to have a safe, confidential space to provide honest feedback on their current job satisfaction and well-being. The survey is holistic and includes questions about physical and mental health and life in and outside of work, because low job satisfaction and decreased well-being are multifactorial and everything is connected.

For example, if an employee rates their stress level high it's important to know if the majority of that stress is work-related or non-work related so that you understand how to best support them.

Another example: A common finding is low energy among the team. There are so many factors that contribute to low energy (both mental and physical). This helps me to identify specific factors that may be contributed so that you can make the most impactful changes (ie. if no one is drinking enough water coming up with a way of making it easier for the team to stay hydrated is a very simple place to start to improve energy and mental clarity while helping them to feel supported). 

The goals of this survey:

• To save you time and energy while providing invaluable insight on how your practice is doing so that you don't have unexpected surprises and so you can be proactive in making changes that optimize the well-being and success of your practice
• To give you a doable way to show your veterinary team that you care about their opinions and perspectives to help them to feel valued and supported
• To collect data from a more holistic perspective in order to deepen our understanding of the root issues contributing to low workplace satisfaction and well-being and to identify what initiatives, resources, and programs are truly effective in helping veterinary professionals and hospitals to thrive for long-term sustainable success 

Well-being is complex and multifactorial, which is why I've developed this holistic survey to look at all aspects of life - personal and professional and physical and mental health - in order to identify root issues and to identify which resources, programs, and initiatives are truly effective in creating positive, sustainable change.

The survey was created based on the unique knowledge and perspectives I’ve gained from my diverse experiences as a veterinarian who has overcome burnout and worked in 30+ different hospitals (general practice associate, urgent care, and relief) and as an integrative health and life coach who has helped many veterinarians to overcome burnout and find happiness in their hospital again. 

This survey will help to build off of the findings in the most recent Merck Veterinary Well-being Studies. 

Key areas of interest: 

• Since this survey is being done at the hospital level, it will be interesting to see how the well-being and burnout rates in this survey compare to Merck's study that relied on voluntarily participating in the survey on an individual level. By carving out time for all employees to participate, it will potentially help to get an even more accurate representation of the current state of vet med. This is valuable since my hypothesis is that if a veterinary professional is experiencing low well-being or high burnout, they are less likely to be motivated to voluntarily fill out a survey. However, if it is included in part of their workday and they know that providing feedback has the potential to positively impact their well-being and job satisfaction they may be more likely to participate. 
• Exhaustion was the predominant cause of burnout, which means that low energy among the veterinary team should be treated as a red flag. Being proactive in supporting the energy of veterinary professionals will help to avoid reaching burnout. This survey helps to identify physical, mental, and emotional causes of low energy (up to this point physical causes of low energy among vet professionals has been largely missing from conversations and research) so that hospitals can be proactive in creating an environment that supports the energy of their team. 
• The Merck study found that veterinary professionals have a higher rate of neuroticism compared to the general population and that has been correlated to lower rates of well-being. Thanks to neuroplasticity, this is not a fixed trait. This survey will help to monitor the efficacy of resources and programs that empower veterinary professionals with anti-anxiety tools and increased awareness of how their brain and nervous system work in decreasing negativity, irritability, anxiety, depression, self-doubt, or worrying.
• Physical and mental health tend to be treated as separate things when it comes to well-being and burnout in vet med, however they are not separate. We now know that chronic low-grade inflammation (such as from chronic stress, ultra processed food, trauma, toxins, infections, etc.) leads to neuroinflammation, altered brain cell function (specifically microglia), and contributes to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional changes including anxiety and depression. This survey helps to identify potential causes of chronic inflammation (such as higher levels of UPF consumption and low intake of vegetables) and to see if there is a correlation between high rates of decreased well-being, burnout, high stress, and depression.   
• Assessing the impact that teaching a nervous system perspective and fear free approach with humans has on overall well-being, workplace satisfaction, energy, burnout, anxiety, depression, and client interactions. In my experience, educating veterinary professionals on the signs of stress responses in people has a dramatic, positive impact on their own well-being and results in more positive and supportive interactions with coworkers and clients. This survey can help to collect data to support this. 
• Examples of how this can shift perspectives and help to address current challenges:
• Fight, flight, and fawn behaviors (such as irritability, trouble taking time off/resting even when exhausted, and saying yes to too many things) are common in vet med, but they are signs of a stress response and not sustainable. When these behaviors are ignored (or even rewarded in cases of flight and fawn) rather than treated as a sign to pause and release stress, it is more likely someone will shift into freeze/shut down (feeling depressed, lazy, hopeless aka signs of burnout). By having conversations around the signs of the stress response and what they mean, the profession can be more proactive in making changes before an employee reaches burnout.
• Understanding that a difficult/rude client is simply a human in the fight stress response because something is feeling stressful/overwhelming/scary/hard from their point of view helps to shift the employee from a “me vs them” mindset or defensive reaction to focusing on how to connect with the person in a way that helps to re-establish safety. This approach has the power to make interactions with challenging clients more positive and empowering vs draining and frustrating. 
• The typical approach with a lazy employee is to think they need to be pushed harder. From a nervous system perspective, perceived laziness is a sign of an overwhelmed nervous system (freeze/shut down). When that’s the case, these conversations that push employees harder add stress which may keep them more stuck in that behavior even if they want to change. By recognizing these signs, supervisors can change their approach to one that is more effective in supporting their employee in an effective way. 

This is just a glimpse of my approach and the interests and perspective that led to this survey and my future goals with research. I am excited about the potential for how we can use this information to be proactive in supporting individuals and hospitals starting at the vet school level in order to create a new norm in vet med where it is convenient to thrive. If you're curious to learn more, don't hesitate to reach out at amelia@lifeboost.today.

⭐️If you are looking to hire, you will have data supporting your claims (as long as they're accurate). Instead of simply saying "we prioritize the well-being of our team" you may be able to say, "15/15 of our employees agree that we qualify as a unicorn hospital" or "In a third-party survey, 100% of our employees said they were very satisfied with their work life balance". 

⭐️You may find that when we look at your team's overall well-being, energy level rated the lowest. That's a huge opportunity to dramatically improve the productivity and success of your hospital since energy is at the root of everything.

When your employees don't have energy, that negatively impacts client interactions, more mistakes and medical errors occur, patient care declines, and ultimately your hospital's efficiency and profitability suffers. This survey helps to identify mental and physical factors that may be draining energy, so that you have the option to dive deeper to identify how to support your employees in a way that will have the greatest positive impact on their energy. 

⭐️You may identify that nearly half of your employees have high stress levels but that only a moderate amount is coming from work.

With that knowledge, you know that empowering your team with anti-anxiety tools and well-being resources that address stressors in and outside of work will have the greatest impact rather than just making changes only at work. I'll point you to specific resources depending on what sounds most appealing and doable to you (this can range from free resources like a free 50 minute video you can share with your team teaching anti-anxiety tools that actually work to scheduling a 1 hour initial consultation to discuss a personalized plan to address your unique challenges and goals so that I can help to make your life easier while increasing the profitability and long-term success of your practice). 

⭐️ If you're dealing with hospital drama and negativity, we'll look for physical and mental stressors that could be decreasing resilience among your team. 

For example, one hospital found that the majority of their employees were very sleep deprived which means their employees were arriving to work already in a high stress, low energy state where emotional regulation is much more challenging and they have lower processing speed and brain power (meaning they're more likely to seem unmotivated, irritable, lazy, and to make mistakes). Identifying this as one of the root issues meant that they had a deeper and more holistic understanding of how to be proactive in supporting their team instead of continuing to be frustrated when certain employees seemed to be negative or lazy despite disciplinary attempts. 

For this hospital, there was a clear divide and frustration between employees: some felt that they were pulling all the weight and it wasn't fair. This is where teaching a nervous system perspective where perceived laziness is actually a red flag for an overwhelmed nervous system (freeze/shut down) makes a huge difference and talking about physical, mental, and emotional stressors that fill up your "stress balloon". In this case, lack of sleep will add a huge amount of stress on top of the other stressors in and outside of vet med. That helps to shift perspective from judgment and polarization among the team to compassion and curiosity to understand why employees (or themselves) are behaving a certain way and to understand how to best support them. 

The more information you have, the more you can remove the guesswork out of understanding how to best support your veterinary team. This is meant to be an empowering opportunity for them to have a confidential and safe space where they can have their voice heard. The foundation of the unicorn movement is prioritizing safety, and if an employee does not want to participate it's likely because they are perceiving the survey as threatening in some way. 

In order to create an experience catered to everyone's individual comfort level, all questions are optional and have a "prefer not to answer" option. 

With that said, it is totally fine if a certain employee doesn't want to participate. I encourage you to get curious and to ask that employee what format helps them to feel most comfortable in giving feedback so you can understand how to best support them. In order to qualify for the unicorn vet hospital list, the vast majority of your team needs to have participated so that we have an accurate representation of how your team is feeling.

Your hospital's results will be completely confidential.

This assessment will be used to identify "unicorn hospitals". If you qualify as a unicorn hospital, you deserve recognition for leading by example! You will have the option to be added to a list of unicorn hospitals that will serve as a resource so that new grads and other veterinary professionals who are open to new opportunities can find you if you are hiring and so that pet owners who support the unicorn project can find you. I will also give shoutouts on social media (if you consent) so that the veterinary profession can see proof of what’s possible.

In addition to providing you with valuable insights about how to support the energy and well-being of your team for optimal productivity and success, the feedback your hospital provides will be used to collect data on how our profession is doing as a whole and to identify and guide conversations around what resources, initiatives, and programs are actually effective in supporting the well-being of veterinary professionals.

As I collect data, I will be able to give you additional insights into how your hospital's satisfaction and well-being compares to other hospitals and what changes are most effective in improving those. 

In my experience, many members of the veterinary team are hesitant to provide honest feedback or don't give accurate feedback to their employers for a variety of reasons:

• They are afraid of negative repercussions if they're totally honest 
• They don't trust that their feedback will be anonymous even if you tell them that it is when the feedback channel is coming directly from you
• They don't have enough time to reflect on their answers before being asked how they're doing on the spot so that the information they provide may be not be accurate or the full picture   
• They have people-pleasing tendencies and reflexively say what they think you want to hear without tuning into what they actually need

Another reason your check-ins or assessments aren't working:

• They're not happening because you're too busy (even though you keep meaning to make them a priority)
• You aren't asking the right questions and your blind spots are the biggest opportunities for improvement (for example: you may not be thinking about how physical health is connected to your team's mental well-being)
• You get feedback, but it's overwhelming and you're not sure where to start or what will actually help
  

My goal is to make your life easier! My approach, resources, and programs consistently help stressed and exhausted veterinary professionals to make changes that help them to decrease overwhelm and genuinely enjoy going to work again. This survey addresses key data to help to orchestrate that change at the hospital level and to prevent you from wasting time, energy, and money on things that don't work. 

While you could do a survey on your own, what matters most is if you are asking the right questions, how you interpret those results, and what you choose to do with that information. I've taken care of all of those tricky parts for you! You'll also be helping our profession to collect data on what works and by participating in the survey you'll receive updates on the findings (if you choose to). 

I sometimes hear this question from practice owners, or a worry that asking the questions in the survey will stir up trouble when it feels like everything is going relatively well. You don't want to rock the boat, right?

That’s a sign that you’re operating in survival mode and making choices based on fear (very common in vet med!) versus being proactive and seeing challenges as opportunities to continue to grow and make changes that strengthen your team, make your life easier, and support the success of your practice. 

The problem with survival mode is that it’s only focused on short term results (ex: getting through the day) instead of the big picture and long term success. This survey is a simple way to start shifting out of survival mode so that you can go from survival mode to thriving.

The questions in this survey are not going to create problems, they just help you to become aware of potential issues so that they don’t become even bigger problems. Once you're aware of a problem, you have the power to change it!

I have a huge variety of options to support you in making changes that feel doable to you once you get your team’s report.

One of the first places to start:

• How are you doing?
• What is feeling hard or draining right now?
• Do you feel supported?
• What do you need in order to have the energy and resilience to support your team, to be receptive to their feedback and to see it as an opportunity rather than a threat, and to be proactive in preventing unexpected surprises and setting you and your practice up for long-term sustainable success?

Every single member of your team has a unique perspective that is hugely valuable in helping you to see challenges from new angles in order to see things more holistically and to problem solve. As long as you meet any feedback with the 3 Life Boost C’s (compassion, curiosity, and connection), it will be invaluable information in moving forward and making changes that help your practice to be even more in alignment with your values and goals for your practice.

The simple act of giving your employees time to participate in this survey sends the message that you care and value their voice and perspective - that alone is really powerful and important when it comes to achieving high retention and satisfaction. 

If you don’t ask for feedback, you risk your team feeling like their voice doesn’t matter, that you don’t care, or that things will never change. You also risk losing a reliable employee who you always count on because you assumed they were doing okay instead of prioritizing checking in with them (this is very common because of the people-pleasing tendencies in our profession and avoiding or being “too busy” for difficult conversations that could make things better). 

If you're concerned about unrealistic expectations after this survey, this is where communication, transparency, and the messaging you use makes all the difference!  Send me a message if you’d like to talk through this prior to participating in the survey.

Once you have the report, you’ll also have the option to schedule a consult with me so that we can go over how you’re feeling about the feedback and the best first step for you.

If you want to focus on your own well-being and stress level prior to participating in the survey, check out the resources on my website, send me an email at amelia@lifeboost.today, or schedule a short call with me so that we can talk about the best first step for you. 

Hi! I'm Dr. Amelia Knight Pinkston - veterinarian, integrative health + life coach, consultant, and advocate for change in vet med. 

I'm dedicated to helping veterinary practice owners lead the way in creating sustainable, thriving workplaces. With experience across diverse veterinary settings, an entrepreneurial mind, extensive training as a coach, and a deep commitment to transforming workplace culture, I partner with practices ready to stand out as leaders in veterinary medicine by prioritizing well-being, team satisfaction, and long-term success.

I'm here to help you work smarter, not harder so that you're living a life in and outside of work that lights you up instead of burns you out.

Learn more about my programs and resources here.

Education and Certifications:

• Wheaton College - BA degree in biology + pre-med (2009)
• University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (2014) - VMD
• VBMA - business certificate
• Curacore - veterinary medical acupuncture 
• Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) - integrative nutrition health coach
• Ethical Coaching Collective and International Association of Counselors and Therapists - certified integrative change worker and life coach
• Center for Integrative Hypnosis - certified integrative hypnotist 
• PQ program for coaches
• Fear free certified
• Senior Dog Level 1 certified
• AVMA workplace well-being certificate program
• QPR training
• Additional courses and continuing education in gut health, unshaming, trauma, anxiety, nervous system regulation, and more