Remote veterinary teams can build connection, but they cannot rely on the informal visibility of a shared clinic. Clear communication routines, regular opportunities to listen, peer support, and thoughtful recognition can help colleagues stay coordinated and feel seen—provided those routines fit the work rather than adding noise. The practices below are examples reported by one multistate in-home end-of-life care provider, not a proven formula for every practice.
Why remote veterinary teams need intentional connection
In a clinic, colleagues may notice a difficult appointment, a late finish, or a teammate having a rough day simply because they share space. Field-based and fully remote colleagues lose much of that casual visibility. Leaders therefore need ways to make work status, support needs, and appreciation visible without expecting staff to be constantly available.
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That challenge varies by role. A veterinarian moving between home visits needs practical coordination and a way to signal when a visit is complete; a client-care team member may need dependable access to a manager; a telehealth team may need ways to bridge clinical and support functions. A single communication routine will not serve every role equally well.
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What one in-home care practice does
In a March 23, 2026, feature for the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), Chelsea McGivney, DVM, MBA, executive director of operations at Caring Pathways, describes practices at the multistate provider of in-home end-of-life care. These are the employer’s reported approaches, not results from a controlled comparison.
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Set communication norms and purposeful channels
Caring Pathways uses Slack as its primary communication platform. The team sets expectations around starting and ending shifts, breaks, personal matters, and finishing early. Channels are organized around areas such as clinical questions, operations, and celebrations.
Those norms can make it easier to distinguish a message that needs a prompt response from one that can wait. They also give colleagues context for a delayed reply or a message that sounds frustrated. McGivney describes teammates checking in when they notice such signals, with “Hey, are you doing okay today?” as one example.
Use status updates for coordination and care
Veterinarians at Caring Pathways update their status in the medical-record and dispatch system as they travel to an appointment, arrive, and finish a visit. Client-care colleagues can use this information to coordinate work. It also gives teammates a cue to check in after an emotionally difficult appointment.
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- Monitor and assess a wide range of patients and detect normal and abnormal sounds and rhythms
- Useful in non-critical care environments such as a medical office, general ward, OB/GYN, ambulatory clinic or urgent care
- More than twice as loud* as the next leading stethoscope. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Allows you to more reliably and consistently hear heart sounds at lower frequencies (below 120Hz*) like Korotkoff sounds, Mitral Stenosis and S3 and S4 Gallops when compared to other leading stethoscopes. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Weighs less** than other stethoscopes. ** Based on published weights of globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class.
The useful principle is not a particular platform or set of status labels: it is making relevant transitions visible in a way that supports the workflow and leaves room for human follow-up. A status system should clarify availability, not create an expectation that clinicians respond while driving or during a visit.
Make listening and peer connection routine
The feature describes monthly conversations between client-care staff and leaders about workload, challenges, growth, and wellbeing. Veterinarians are arranged in smaller cohorts with rotating veterinary leaders, creating opportunities for more frequent contact, peer support, and mentorship.
Predictable listening time helps staff raise concerns before a crisis, but it should not be treated as a substitute for responding to urgent needs between meetings. Cohorts also need enough structure to make participation useful while respecting clinical schedules.
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- CLEAR HEART AND LUNG SOUND Transmission | Chrome-plated zinc alloy chest piece provides consistent acoustic response for reliable cardiac and pulmonary auscultation.
- INCLUDES ATTACHABLE NAME TAG | Comes with a clip-on identification tag that attaches directly to the tubing, helping prevent mix-ups in shared clinical or educational environments.
- SOFT EAR TIPS with Noise Isolation | Secure, soft ear tips help block ambient noise and maintain comfort for focused listening in busy veterinary environments.
Recognize people through everyday interactions
McGivney describes using unexpected in-person encounters—a parking-lot conversation, shared coffee, or brief office visit—as chances to reconnect. Caring Pathways also uses shared values—compassion, excellence, respect, transparency, and efficiency—as common language across a dispersed team.
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What the evidence supports—and what it does not
Research supports taking relationships and workplace conditions seriously, but it does not establish that any one communication tool or ritual will work everywhere.
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Relational coordination is associated with workplace outcomes
A 2025 survey study by Blokland, Janke, and Coe included 578 employees from 114 corporate-owned veterinary hospitals, out of 4,676 employees invited across 136 hospitals. Stronger perceived relational coordination was associated with more favorable workplace psychological-climate and job-satisfaction ratings and lower intention-to-leave ratings. The adjusted associations included odds ratios of 5.78 for favorable psychological-climate ratings, 5.12 for favorable job-satisfaction ratings, and 0.30 for higher intention-to-leave ratings.
These are survey associations, not proof that coordination caused the outcomes. The study also does not test remote-team routines such as Slack channels, status updates, or scheduled check-ins.
A structured wellbeing intervention has trial evidence
A 2022 randomized controlled trial assigned veterinary hospital employees to acceptance and commitment training or a control group. The intervention group (n=72) took part in three small-group sessions delivered by video teleconference; the control group included 71 participants. Compared with controls, participants who received the training showed reductions in burden transfer, stress, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout after training, with improvements maintained at one-month follow-up.
Best Value
- Monitor and assess a wide range of patients and detect normal and abnormal sounds and rhythms
- Useful in non-critical care environments such as a medical office, general ward, OB/GYN, ambulatory clinic or urgent care
- More than twice as loud* as the next leading stethoscope. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Allows you to more reliably and consistently hear heart sounds at lower frequencies (below 120Hz*) like Korotkoff sounds, Mitral Stenosis and S3 and S4 Gallops when compared to other leading stethoscopes. *Based on tests against globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class using recorded heart sounds with diaphragm.
- Weighs less** than other stethoscopes. ** Based on published weights of globally-available comparable stethoscopes in an equivalent class.
This finding applies to that structured intervention, not to ordinary messaging or all remote-work practices. The authors noted that further study was needed to examine formats that could be disseminated more broadly.
Wellbeing concerns call for supportive working conditions
The 2022 Merck Animal Health Veterinarian Wellbeing Study III and companion Veterinary Support Staff Study included 2,495 veterinarians and 448 support staff. The veterinarian findings were weighted to AVMA membership. The summary reported lower wellbeing and mental-health scores and higher burnout among support staff than veterinarians in those US study samples; these results should not be read as current prevalence estimates for every country or workplace.
The summary identifies healthy coping and work-life balance, safe environments for seeking help, reduced stigma, mental-health coverage or employee assistance, communication, teamwork, trust, and enough time to provide quality care as relevant considerations. The Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria likewise advises veterinary leaders to support physically and emotionally safe workplaces, professional connection, conversation, considered feedback, and a sustainable balance between job demands and resources. This is professional guidance, not a trial of a single prescribed program.
Remote models differ
A British Veterinary Association case study describes The Vet Connection, a 90-person fully remote telehealth triage service. It highlights internal communication and the divide between veterinary and support teams as challenges in building a connected workforce. This is an illustrative case, not a comparison showing which approach performs best, and telehealth operations differ from mobile in-home care.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose routines that fit your team
There is no established universal remote-team formula. Use these questions to shape a small set of routines around the actual work, then review whether they help.
- Does it create useful visibility? Share the status information colleagues need for coordination without requiring constant updates or unnecessary messages.
- Is there two-way listening? Pair operational updates with a dependable opportunity to raise workload, wellbeing, and development concerns.
- Does it fit each role? Field clinicians, clinic-based staff, client-care teams, and telehealth teams may need different channels and timing.
- Can you tell whether it is helping? Check staff feedback and workload over time, and pay attention to whether people can seek support safely. The sources do not establish one metric or schedule as best.
Start with the smallest routine that addresses a real gap—for example, a clear shift handoff or a predictable check-in—rather than adding meetings and status requirements by default. Adjust it when staff feedback or workload shows it is not serving its purpose.
Quick Recap
Sources
- Chelsea McGivney, “Connection by design: Supporting veterinary teams in a remote world,” AAHA, March 23, 2026.
- Blokland K, Janke N, Coe JB. “Veterinary team relational coordination is associated with healthier perception of workplace psychological climate, increased job satisfaction, and reduced intention to leave.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2025;263(6):746–754.
- “An acceptance and commitment training program reduces burden transfer, stress, and burnout among veterinary healthcare teams.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2022.
- Volk JO et al. “Executive summary of the Merck Animal Health Veterinarian Wellbeing Study III and Veterinary Support Staff Study.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2022.
- Veterinary Practitioners Registration Board of Victoria, “Guideline 08 – Veterinary practitioner and veterinary team wellbeing.”
- British Veterinary Association, “Great Workplaces case study: The Vet Connection.”
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