Today I want to write to you about something very important: the fact that my car is loaded to drive my oldest daughter to college in about 4 hours, she’s upstairs saying goodbye to her sister who has to go to school today, and it feels like a small piece of my heart is shriveling… Read More
About Andy Roark DVM MS
Vet Medicine as Dark Comedy
Dr. Steve Deels, a New Zealand emergency veterinarian and career coach, joins Dr. Andy Roark to tackle a familiar gut punch: “you can save a life at 2:00 a.m. and still get a one-star review because the wait was too long.” They dig into dark humor as a healthy coping tool, the unrealistic expectations placed… Read More
Unpopular Opinion: Vet Medicine Gets Better With Time
Everyday there are barrels of virtual ink being spilled on the ills and hardships of veterinary medicine. A lot of this ink is well deserved, and some of it comes directly from me. Veterinary medicine is a difficult, complicated, and rapidly changing profession that can take a toll on those who practice. At the same… Read More
What if the Whole Vet Team Got Production Pay?
Dr. Ivan Zak, DVM, entrepreneur and former CEO of SmartFlow and Galaxy Vets, joins Dr. Andy Roark to dig into one of the spiciest topics in vet med, whether production pay is actually “bad,” and what happens when salary-only pay gets weaponized as burnout prevention. They unpack Ivan’s experience switching Galaxy Vets to straight salary,… Read More
The Best Thing Happened…
What I’m about to tell you is simple but very important. Here goes: We have a new graduate veterinarian at our clinic. She joined our team less than 2 months ago, and she’s doing great. Last week, she saw a dog that had a ruptured eyeball [I’m realizing now that maybe I should have put… Read More
Post-Op Pain and Enrichment: Are We Sedating Instead of Treating?
Tabitha Kucera, a veterinary technician boarded in behavior and founder of Chirrups and Chatter (and creator of Small Paws Education), joins Dr. Andy Roark to tackle a common post-op problem: telling clients to “keep them quiet” without explaining what that actually means. They discuss post-surgical enrichment as a way to support comfort, reduce stress, and… Read More