Photo courtesy Roo Veterinary medicine is in the middle of a workforce transformation. Between staffing shortages, evolving technology, and rising client expectations, the profession looks really different from what it did just a few years ago. If you are a practice manager juggling staffing, inventory, and patient care, change can feel like one more thing you just don’t have time for. However, change management may be the most important skill for veterinary leaders today. If there is one thing I’ve learned over a long career in practice management, it is the practices that thrive in this environment are not the ones that simply stay the course. To be successful, it is up to the leaders to adapt to change as it happens in ways that help us provide better care, support our teams, and grow our businesses. Harnessing change to address vet med’s biggest challenge Right now, one challenge looms larger than almost anything else in veterinary medicine: the shortage of talent. The success of every practice will hinge on our ability to recruit and retain great people. The profession is facing a significant workforce challenge. By 2030, the United States could face a shortage of up to 24,000 veterinarians, according to research from Mars Veterinary Health.1 At the same time, turnover across veterinary teams remains high. The average annual turnover rate is close to one in four team members,2 and the estimated cost of replacing a veterinarian, once you factor in lost revenue and recruiting expenses, can exceed $100,000.3 When you look at those numbers, two things become clear: first, recruiting matters more than ever; second, retention matters just as much. The practices that succeed over the next decade will be the ones that learn to do both differently. There are new tools, staffing models, and ways of thinking about team structure that can help recruit and retain more effectively. Some of them may feel unconventional at first, but many are already proving to be powerful solutions. Relief as a strategy, not just a backup plan One of the biggest shifts we have seen since the pandemic is the rise of relief veterinarians. Relief work has grown significantly in recent years, with nearly 10 percent of veterinarians now working in relief roles, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.4 Alongside that growth, we have seen an explosion of platforms designed to connect hospitals with relief professionals. Roo relief veterinarians concluding another day of patient care at 2525 Sunset Veterinarians. Photo courtesy Roo Many hospitals typically bring in relief support reactively, often when the need is urgent. Maybe a doctor calls out sick, someone is out for a bit on planned maternity leave, or a schedule suddenly falls apart. Suddenly, there is a scramble to find coverage. What we are seeing now is a shift in that mindset: Practice managers are using relief in new ways that are proactive rather than reactive. Instead of waiting for that urgent need to strike, they are using relief veterinarians strategically to grow their appointment capacity, protect their teams from burnout, and improve their clients’ access to care. Think about your busiest day of the week. Maybe it’s Monday, when weekend cases pile up, or Saturday, when everyone wants appointments. Maybe it is the day your surgical schedule always runs long. These are predictable pressure points. When we plan ahead and bring in an extra doctor, even for just half a day, something interesting happens. Your team is no longer sprinting to survive the schedule. Clients are not waiting weeks for appointments. Instead of turning patients away, you can see their pets, which is better for your team, your clients, and your practice’s financial health. A veterinary professional at 2525 Sunset Veterinarians performing a physical assessment on a canine patient. Photo courtesy Roo The veterinary relief and hiring platform, Roo, reports nearly half of the hospitals in its database use relief monthly, weekly, or even daily to add appointments when their clients want them most.5 Another powerful shift occurs when we start seeing relief veterinarians as more than just temporary help. Relief can actually be one of the best recruiting tools available to you. Today, relief veterinarians are not simply passing through. They often prefer to build ongoing relationships with practices they enjoy working with, develop rapport with teams, and become familiar faces for clients. This makes them exceptional candidates for full-time hires. Unlike traditional recruiting, where you are relying heavily on interviews and resumes, relief shifts give you a chance to really see how someone practices medicine, communicates with clients, and gets along with your team. In many cases, retention problems start with a mismatch during the hiring process, but when you hire a relief veterinarian you already love working with, you are not doing any guesswork. You are building a relationship first and deciding together whether a long-term role makes sense. Photo courtesy Roo Embracing AI as a support system One of the biggest areas where change is reshaping veterinary medicine, and businesses everywhere, is artificial intelligence (AI). Whenever AI comes up, people worry technology will replace their jobs. In veterinary medicine, I would argue the opposite is happening: AI is making our teams better. In my own practice, we use AI tools every day, which have become valuable in supporting both our doctors and clients. One example is AI transcription technology, which records conversations between veterinarians and clients during appointments and automatically generates medical notes. This has dramatically reduced the administrative burden on my team. Instead of doctors staying late to finish records, discharge instructions are ready immediately. This reduces veterinarians’ risk of burnout, improving retention at your practice. This also means clients leave appointments with clear guidance in hand while their experience is still fresh in their minds. These tools also translate medical language into conversational terms that resonate with clients. When the client understands what they need to do, their compliance increases, and pets get healthier faster. And that’s the reason why we do this in the first place. Charlotte Weir (rightmost), with her 2525 Sunset Veterinarians team following the treatment of a feline patient. Photo courtesy Roo Managing the fragility of change Over a long career overseeing dozens of practices, I have learned every veterinary hospital is a carefully balanced ecosystem. The workflows, personalities, routines, and expectations within a clinic all interact in ways that make that practice function. Introducing change, whether a new relief professional or an AI tool, can feel risky, but by approaching change strategically and communicating clearly and early with your team, it can be something everyone gets excited about. If you are bringing in a relief veterinarian, brief them beforehand about how your practice operates, explain your expectations, and treat them with the same hospitality you would offer any new team member. You can also set client expectations to make relief appointments a good experience. Your clients may struggle with change, too, and this is not their usual doctor. Instead of telling a client they will be seeing a “temporary fill-in,” explain they will be cared for by a new, skilled member of your veterinary team. The language you use really matters because the way we frame change influences how people experience it. The same applies to technology. When introducing AI tools, give your team time to experiment. Let them see how technology supports their work rather than replaces it. When I first introduced AI transcription into my practice, we made sure to test it first, running it in the background while still taking our own notes. We wanted to make sure the technology was producing accurate results before relying on it fully. Now, we have AI fully integrated into our workflows with positive reviews from our staff and clients. Confidence builds gradually, and thoughtful implementation makes the transition smoother for everyone. Turning change into opportunity The practices that will flourish in the coming years will not be the ones that resist change; it will be the ones that learn how to harness it. Personally, I’m excited to see how practices embrace all these new opportunities because that is what change really is: an opportunity to improve the way we work. When we use relief strategically, we create flexibility for our teams and expand access to care. And we may even meet our newest team member in the process. When we use AI thoughtfully, we reduce our administrative burden and provide better care for our clients. When leaders take an active role in managing change, something powerful happens—uncertainty turns into opportunity. Charlotte Weir has built her career in veterinary change management with experience spanning operations, business development, and practice leadership. She previously led operations and integrations at Petwell Partners and currently serves as vice president for Partnerships at Roo Veterinary Inc., where she helps veterinary hospitals use relief staffing strategically to support growth, continuity, and client access. Weir is also the founder and co-owner of 2525 Sunset Veterinarians, a veterinary clinic in Houston, Texas, that provides concierge-style veterinary care for dogs, cats, and select exotics. References Mars Veterinary Health. “Tackling the Veterinary Professional Shortage.” August 2023. https://marsveterinary.com/tackling-the-veterinary-professional-shortage/. Rose, Rebecca. “Does Your Practice Have a Turnover Problem?” Trends Magazine, April 29, 2021. https://www.aaha.org/trends-magazine/publications/does-your-practice-have-a-turnover-problem/. Neill, C. L. Clinton, Charlotte R. Hansen, and Matthew Salois. “The Economic Cost of Burnout in Veterinary Medicine.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9 (2022): 814104. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.814104. American Veterinary Medical Association. 2026 AVMA Economic State of the Profession. Schaumburg, IL: American Veterinary Medical Association, 2026. https://ebusiness.avma.org/ProductCatalog/product.aspx?ID=2329. Agosta M. Hospital Voice of Customer Survey, Winter 2026. Unpublished internal market research survey. MASI Consulting, LLC; 2026.
