Andy Chiang, DVM

Aug 04, 2025

How Can Veterinarians Utilize the Relief System to Improve Wellbeing?!

Path to Relief

Have you always had to plan your life around your work schedule? What happens when an unplanned event comes up? What about when your practice loses a veterinarian?

Veterinarians are no strangers to those scenarios. My colleagues and I face those situations frequently. We work around it by switching shifts. When that doesn’t work, one of us would take one for the team and fill in for an additional shift. In the current state of veterinary medicine, where veterinarian demand and work-related stress continue to rise, an act of kindness to fill in can potentiate the likelihood of burnout in the long run. There are times when neither options are available, and that’s when we turn to relief doctors.

I had the opportunity to learn more about the relief world in early 2017. Out of curiosity, I agreed to pick up a shift and absolutely enjoyed it. Since then, I pick up shifts whenever my schedule allows, and eventually transitioned to full time relief.

Little did I know at the time that my experience in the relief market would eventually converge with a long term passion – advocating for wellness in the veterinary profession. I would come to realize that an efficient relief system can play a major role in improving veterinarians’ well-being.

I enjoy working as a relief doctor for various reasons –

- As an associate, relief shifts offer great supplemental income

- When working solely relief, it offers tremendous flexibility and control over work schedul

- Relief allows me to meet new people and form new connection

- Different perspectives and ways of practicing medicin

- Working with different teams helps build leadership skill

- I learned to adapt in unfamiliar situation

- The best part is that at the end of each shift, I always feel appreciated by team members!

Challenges

I wondered then, why is it that not more veterinarians pursue relief work? It can’t possibly be due to a poor supply of relief jobs, because I constantly hear about the desperate needs to fill opened positions. Although an adequate supply and demand exist in the relief market, both sides have difficulties to overcome in order to connect with each other.

Challenges veterinarians face in the relief space –

- Networking requires significant amount of time and energy

- Limited resources/ guide for beginner relief veterinarians

- Slow, antiquated methods to expand service

- Lack of efficient platform to search for open relief positions

Challenges practices face in the relief space –

- Limited access to relief veterinarian pool

- Difficult to find new relief veterinarians

- Tedious scheduling process

- Lack of efficient platform to search for available relief veterinarians

In today’s society, there is a technological platform for nearly everything. Restaurants have food delivery systems for late night cravings. Transportations are made easier with different apps. Even something as complex as personal relationships can be streamlined with various dating websites and apps. It then dawned on me, that despite the incredible advancements in social media platforms within the last decade, an efficient system to connect veterinarians has yet to be created.

Relief Platform for Wellness

With increasing uicide and burnout, utilization of the relief market is more important than ever before. Poor mental wellness is vet med is often related to job dissatisfaction and work-related stress. Many veterinarians stay at a job that they are unhappy with due to financial uncertainties once they leave. A well-integrated relief platform can alleviate that by

- Providing an avenue to find work and generate income while one searches for a better, permanent fit

- Allowing veterinarians to witness the workflow of a practice firsthand rather than relying on “job descriptions”

- Increasing the chance for both the veterinarians and practices to find the right fit to their needs

- Offering flexibility that improves work-life balance

- Giving veterinarians control over their schedules

From the practice’s perspective, a comprehensive relief platform can

- Save owners/ managers significant amount of time

- Alleviate stress when unplanned relief help is needed

- Allow associates to easily schedule much deserved vacations

Helping an Efficient Relief Platform Come to Life

In my effort to improve wellbeing in the veterinary profession, I findthat a direct, hospital-to-veterinarian, accessible, and easy to use relief platform a reality. I truly believe that such a platform has considerable potential to revolutionize the whole veterinary industry.

During that process, I found a platform that shares similar ideals in Relief Rover, founded by Dr. Cindy Trice. After sharing my ideas with her, I found that our passion for the relief space closely aligns with one another. Inspired by Dr. Trice, I began to gear my energy towards helping Relief Rover improve and thrive. For that to happen, we, veterinarians and managers alike, need to believe and participate in this vision:

As veterinarians, we have become so great at planning our lives around work that it’s difficult to imagine a world that’s the other way around. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be like this anymore. Professions outside of veterinary medicine have already taken advantage of technological advancement to improve work-life balance. People are finding ways to work remotely and regain control over their schedules. As a profession, I wholeheartedly believe that we can achieve the same.

Conclusion

Relief in veterinary medicine is commonplace today, but it is still vastly underutilized. Associate veterinarians are still asked to fill in for a shift because the process of finding a relief veterinarian is exhausting and at times unsuccessful. A vicious cycle continues as overworked veterinarians take a much needed vacation, then his or her fellow colleagues are asked to step up to the plate if relief support is not immediately present. A relief platform like Relief Rover will not single handedly cure burnout or the mental health issue facing the veterinary profession, but it will play a vital role as it allows veterinarians to have more control over their lives in and out of the hospital. At last, we may have a real shot at that elusive “work-life-balance”.