Most vets believe it’s inevitable—on average, they leave Emergency and Critical Care (ECC) after just 3-5 years. The obvious culprit? Shift work, right?
But what if that’s just scratching the surface?
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Matt Booth, ER Practice Development Lead at Ethos Veterinary Health, to break down surprising findings from his survey of 3,500 emergency veterinarians. Together, we explore the Five Buckets of Retention—the REAL factors that determine whether your career in emergency medicine thrives or fizzles out. Spoiler: It’s not all about night shifts and burnout.
We dig into leadership challenges, the keys to professional growth, and how these insights apply beyond ECC to every role in veterinary medicine.
You’ll also catch highlights from my previous chat with Dr. Matt at IVECCS 2023, where we shared actionable strategies for improving recruitment and building sustainable veterinary careers.
Whether you’re an ER vet looking for longevity or a practice leader aiming to attract and retain top talent, this episode is your guide to rethinking retention and career sustainability in veterinary medicine.
Topics and Timestamps:
00:40 Meet Dr. Matt Booth and the Five Buckets03:47 Recruitment Insights from 202307:36 Survey Findings and Retention Strategies12:07 The Five Buckets of Retention27:07 The Burden of Being a Giver28:23 Creative Solutions for Employee Retention29:04 Leadership and Gender Representation39:59 The Role of paid time off in Retention43:40 Creating a Positive Work Environment46:37 Professional Educational Growth
Join me at JAVECCS Tokyo on 15 and 16 March, and at IVECCS 2025 in San Diego on 4-8 Septembet.
Join our community of Vet Vault Nerds to lift your clinical game and get your groove back with our up-to-date, easy-to-consume clinical episodes, library of show notes and access to our veterinary practice AI Toolbox at vvn.supercast.com.
Get help with your tricky cases in our Specialist Support Space.
Visit thevetvault.com for show notes and resources related to this episode.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here for Hubert's favourite clinical and non-clinical learnings from the week.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.