Before the Burnout: How to Spot Early Warning Signs in Your Vet Team

Burnout rarely arrives overnight. It creeps in – quietly, slowly – until you suddenly realise you (or your team) are running on fumes. The good news? Spotting the early signs gives you a proper chance to act before things spiral.

If You’re a Vet: Noticing Burnout in Yourself

Constant Exhaustion – Feeling tired is normal after a long shift, but if you’re drained before the day even begins, it’s a sign to pause and think.

Short Fuse – If small frustrations feel overwhelming, your emotional reserves may be running dangerously low.

Losing Enthusiasm – If the cases you once enjoyed now feel like burdens, something deeper might be going on that needs addressing.

Withdrawing – Avoiding team chats, skipping breaks, or dreading social contact at work are subtle red flags worth paying attention to.

What to Do: Take micro-breaks seriously, speak to a trusted colleague, and flag it early to your manager or mentor. Burnout thrives in silence – don’t give it the chance to take hold.

If You’re a Clinic Leader: Spotting Burnout in Your Team

Increased Mistakes – Even experienced vets can slip up when fatigued or mentally overloaded, and this is often the first visible sign.

Withdrawal from the Team – A normally chatty colleague suddenly keeps to themselves or stops joining informal conversations.

Irritability or Low Patience – Short tempers are often a sign of deeper strain, not poor attitude or personality issues.

Decline in Work Quality – Reports, notes, or case follow-ups becoming inconsistent when they were previously reliable.

What to Do: Don’t wait for formal reviews – check in informally and often. Offer flexibility where possible, make breaks genuinely non-negotiable, and model healthy work-life boundaries yourself.

Shared Strategies: Prevention Over Cure

Whether you’re a vet or a clinic leader:

Encourage Honest Conversations – Burnout thrives in workplaces where staff feel unsafe admitting they’re struggling.

Monitor Workload Trends – It’s much easier to redistribute cases early than manage a full-blown crisis later.

Promote Real Rest – Time off should be properly respected and genuinely uninterrupted.

Normalise Support – From EAP services to peer check-ins, make help a standard part of workplace culture, not a last resort.

The Bottom Line

You don’t have to wait for a breaking point to make a change. By spotting the whispers of burnout early – and acting on them properly – you protect not just wellbeing, but the quality of care your clients and patients receive. At NSV, we see the impact of both burnout and prevention in the practices we work with. Let’s catch the warning signs before they become crises.