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Tuition: $165 ($148 early bird special if enrolled by October 3, 2024) * Students currently enrolled in an AVMA accredited or CVMA approved Veterinary Technician Program may be eligible to receive a 50% discount off the regular rate for this course (upon verification of student status). Prices are listed in US dollars.

Course Information:
The high risk of experiencing compassion fatigue and/or burnout within the veterinary field is evident. During this course, we will discuss the specific differences between these two states, as well as how to build resilience to contend with and prevent them. A special emphasis will be placed on recognition, mitigation, and prevention. The outcome we’re reaching for is not only mitigation of compassion fatigue and burnout but reaching beyond, caring for ourselves, and promoting our well-being to create a culture of compassion and understanding, allowing better care for our team members, our patients, and their owners.

• Understand the similarities, differences, and relationship between compassion fatigue and burnout
• Comprehend why and how compassion fatigue is affecting veterinary medicine
• Be more comfortable speaking with team members regarding compassion fatigue
• Cultivate a more thorough understanding of self-care
• Understand compassion satisfaction and its correlation with compassion fatigue
• Recognize common measuring tools to assist with risk assessment
• Obtain the tools necessary to assist in understanding personal thought processes
• Understand why self-compassion can contribute to overall compassion for others

RACE Accreditation: This program has been submitted (but is not yet approved) for 7.5 hours of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval.

VHMA Accreditation: This course has been submitted to VHMA for CVPM credit.

Week 2 (Real Time Session October 31): Recognizing and Discussing
How do compassion fatigue and burnout present themselves within us and others? During this session, we will discuss the signs and symptoms of CF, how they differ from burnout, and why so many individuals within the veterinary field may not recognize them. We will also discuss how to communicate with team members you suspect are experiencing compassion fatigue.

Week 3 (Real Time Session November 7): Measuring and Mitigating
During this session, we will review the tools available to gauge our risk of compassion fatigue and burnout, including the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), the Professional Quality of Life (proQOL) measure, and the Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers. We will also define and discuss compassion satisfaction and how perception and bias can affect our ability to be compassionate.

Week 4 (Real Time Session November 14): Cultivating Resilience
In this session, we will discuss ways to cultivate compassion fatigue and burnout resilience within ourselves. We will discuss self-care, perspective-taking, mindfulness, and thought interrogation.

Week 5 (Real Time Session November 21): Cultivating Self-compassion
In our final session, we will explore fascinating research on self-compassion and its benefits. Can self-compassion create more compassion for others? Can it assist us in accomplishing our professional/personal goals? Self-compassion is more powerful than we realize. Perfectionism will also be discussed.

Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to earn a certificate of completion for the course. To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and Course Completion Certificate.

1. Enrollment qualifications: VIN CE courses are open to VIN member and non-member veterinarians. Veterinarians enrolling in a VSPN CE course must be a VIN member. Veterinary support staff must be a VSPN member to enroll in a VSPN CE or a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
2. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
3. For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext.792 or email VSPNCE. Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.