The myth of compassion fatigue in veterinary medicine.

Knowing why you’re struggling is important, so it’s not helpful to label every negative experience in the veterinary profession as compassion fatigue. When I took an honest look at how I was feeling, I wasn’t running out of compassion. My fatigue stemmed from making ethical decisions within the boundaries of clients’ (often) illogical values or unreasonable budgets. Dani McVety, DVM explians further ;his thoughts on compassion fatigue to Alice Villalobos, DVM, and how he thinks it’s an overused term in the veterinary industry. He told her that he felt more drained in emergency work than in hospice care, and that’s when Dr. Villalobos said something that will stick with me forever: “I believe what we really struggle with in our profession is not so much compassion fatigue as ethical fatigue.” continue