Tackling Veterinarian Burnout With AI For Good

The pet sector is on a seemingly constant surge, growing significantly in recent decades, with a boost coming just after the pandemic. This surge is due in part to the positive effect pets have on owners; as a matter of fact, today, we’re not speaking anymore about owners but about pet parents. An interesting study on the human-animal bond highlights that 94% of owners globally consider their pets part of the family, and 67% of owners say that their pets make them happy.

Anyhow, the growth of animal ownership is not followed by an increase in the number of veterinarians. An interesting study by Health for Animals shows that in the EU, only 1.25 veterinarians per 1,000 pets are available.

The lack of veterinarians, the increase of pets, and strong human-animal bonds are producing negative effects on professionals. It’s a fact that veterinarians are affected by burnout. One study found that "male veterinarians are twice as likely and female veterinarians are close to four times as likely than the general population to die by suicide."

Burnout In The Veterinary Sector
Some of the main causes of burnout cases are workload, emotional pressure, staff shortages, and a lack of resources that can help veterinarians improve their work.

I think one of the best illustrations of a veterinarian's workday is depicted by Melanie Bowden in her TEDx talk. Veterinarians are generally paid less than similar professions like physicians or dentists, while the workload can be higher due to the lack of human and digital resources to improve the way they work.

Moreover, the tight human-animal bond—which is a positive thing—can become a negative factor when veterinarians are required to tell pet parents that their animal should be subjected to, for instance, euthanasia.

The increased pressure and the factors above can create a vicious cycle, where the number of people willing to become a veterinarian decreases further, increasing the pressure on current professionals. As a matter of fact, another study highlights that over 50% of veterinarians are reporting moderate to high levels of burnout.

The Rise Of Artificial Intelligence
It seems that 2023 was the year of artificial intelligence. Since then disruptive innovations are arising constantly—with innovation cycles that last, in some cases, just two weeks. AI is a powerful tool and represents a possible tool for tackling this issue. But before digging into the how, I would like to introduce one concept: AI for good.

"AI for good" is a concept that refers to the use of artificial intelligence to address global challenges and promote social good. This initiative encompasses a broad range of applications where AI is leveraged to tackle social issues. I think burnout is definitely an issue where AI technology can help to improve the way veterinarians work, to improve the work-life balance and to further increase the human-animal bond.

Many people are scared about AI; others think they can do any task with AI. The key is to know what’s behind the technology and leverage it to its maximum potential. I think large language models (LLMs) represent a great tool that can be leveraged by professionals to streamline workflows. Transformer Explainer explains how they work very well.

Applying AI In The Veterinary Sector
Knowing how the technology works and how to prompt LLMs are two factors that can help veterinarians harnessing the technology. Decision support by means of AI represents an enabler for improving and streamlining workflows and decreasing workloads.

As I noted in one of my previous articles, there are several possibilities for veterinarians to adopt AI to improve the way they work. Some areas where AI can improve the workload include: AI copilots in diagnosis and disease detection, instrumentation and AI image analysis, voice-to-text and transcription. Take the first one: Copilots may help decreasing the time to diagnose to few minutes and may even provide guidance in how to approach pet parents in difficult situations, such as informing them about euthanasia. Other AI applications that can help are SOAP note takers and AI guided diagnostic tools.

How can vets implement AI? Just surf the web and contact the providers of any of these solutions. There are many, so you may need to navigate to the ones that are more professional or a better fit for your needs, like in any other field. The key point is to be curious and start trying it out, understanding how it works, its limitations and its benefits.

There are, of course, ethical considerations. It's important to ensure that data privacy is well protected, and for sure, the final call should always be given to vets.

It is important to remember that AI is here to help and not to replace vets. AI is here to bring value, to streamline processes and to allow vets to focus on high value added tasks rather than time consuming ones.

Final Reflections
So far, I've noticed the veterinary sector has been poorly supported by digital innovation. While the profession has typically been taught with conventional methods, some universities are now spending a lot of resources to bring AI into studies so that new professionals can familiarize themselves with it. Now, with the rise of AI, another powerful tool is available to veterinarians.

I suggest technology developers put in the effort to show how transformative the technology can be and explain with “veterinarians’ words” how it can help. More can also be done for the owner side, providing pet parents with tools that teach how to approach pets and vets and how to interpret signs in a way that their anxiety is reduced.

Personally I do see a transformation of the profession, where AI is helping in the triage, in the owners’ registration, and in diagnosis support, so that veterinarians can actually come back to their initial dream: focusing on pet well-being.

Source URL : Forbes