Team-Based Veterinary Care is critical for optimal team functioning and well-being within veterinary teams.

Four veterinary team members in an operating room, with a cat on the operating table.

Any effort to relieve the pressure of bourgeoning caseloads, the workforce shortage, and client expectations for care requires a team-based approach to support efficient and sustainable veterinary medicine.

Within the veterinary profession, we know that team functioning and well-being within veterinary medicine is an area of tremendous importance. However, researchers have only recently begun to study this topic, and therefore there is plenty of opportunity to grow and support this area of veterinary medicine.

RCVM@OVC research is bridging the gap in our knowledge

A page from PetVet Magazine, showing five hands touching in a circle, and a quote from Dr. Jason Coe that says, "Veterinary medicine is a team sport. The more we get together around shared goals, shared knowledge, mutual respect and frequent, timely, accurate communication, the happier the veterinary team will. be. Placing your focus on teamwork benefits everyone!" — ^{Originally published in PetVet Magazine}

Our research group is conducting studies with veterinary teams to learn where the strengths lie within veterinary team functioning and well-being in the workplace, and where there are opportunities for the provision of greater support. Some of the things we’re exploring are the quality of collaboration between veterinary team members, team members’ commitment to their veterinary hospital, their perceptions about the psychosocial climate within their workplace (i.e., how psychologically comfortable the person feels at work), and the emotional burdens that veterinary teams experience.

What we learn from this research will help to inform the veterinary profession about where greater support is needed and how we can help to bolster the areas of need. The findings will also serve to guide future RCVM@OVC research relating to the delivery of team-based veterinary healthcare.

Three veterinary team members with a large dog who is about to undergo a medical scan.

Interested in learning more about Team-Based Veterinary Care?

To read selected publications on Team-Based Veterinary Care by Dr. Coe and other members of the RCVM@OVC team, please visit our Publications page, as well as our Resources page.

“Placing your focus on teamwork benefits everyone!”
Dr. Jason Coe, DVM, PhD