“What if your patients are animals?”
09 May 2025
Amy Martin and Rob Campbell write about showcasing Schwartz Rounds for veterinary professionals.
Topics
Schwartz Rounds have deep roots in the human healthcare setting, but they have been running in the veterinary profession in the UK for well over 10 years.
Veterinary teams are responsible for taking care of each other, their clients and of course their animal patients. A spike in pet ownership after Covid, a cost of living crisis, and a review into the veterinary care industry by the Competition and Markets Authority have all recently added to the emotional toll felt by veterinary professionals in clinical practice. There is often no time to reflect and acknowledge the difficulties or celebrate the relationships we have with colleagues, patients and pet owners.
We have been championing Schwartz Rounds in our respective veterinary centres for a combined total of 15 years, and continue to appreciate the benefit that a reflective forum can have for attendees. Be they clinical, non-clinical, student or management figures, all of them share the emotional burden of working with pets and people. Over the past three years, we have taken our commitment to Schwartz Rounds up a gear and published the first research into veterinary teams attending Schwartz Rounds.
Earlier this year we were invited to share our research at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) Congress in Manchester. This was a major milestone and launchpad for veterinary Schwartz Rounds; a concept that is new to most in our profession. We were granted 90 minutes to showcase Schwartz Rounds to the veterinary masses, and opted to start the session with a brief overview of the model, its history and impact in the NHS. From there, we then pitched a slimmed-down summary of our research to the audience, to ensure they understood the growing evidence that shows Schwartz Rounds don’t just work in human healthcare, but that they also positively impact those working in the veterinary profession. Over 40 people from a variety of veterinary backgrounds attended our session.
Amy deconstructed her quantitative review of Schwartz Rounds at Holly House Vets, and Rob explained the qualitative study he carried out as part of his Master’s research investigating the impact of attending Schwartz Rounds by those veterinary professionals working in clinical practice.
Live Round
Attendees were then welcomed into a live Schwartz Round, the first Round ever to take place at a veterinary conference. With the expert mentorship of the Point of Care Foundation’s Laura Golding – who we were so thrilled could join us at the conference and be part of the occasion – we then invited our three veterinary storytellers to share their experience of ‘A Patient I’ll Never Forget’.
We picked this theme specifically to pay respect to the fact that our animal patients, their owners and our relationship with them have lasting emotional impacts on our personal and professional lives – beautifully modelling the concept of Schwartz Rounds to our conference attendees.
We were blown away by how the audience resonated with each story from our panel, with deep emotional connection and rich reflection taking place throughout the session. Attendees also took to the reflective forum with ease, not looking to problem-solve or question our storytellers’ cases. This was amazing to witness, as placing a Schwartz Round in a clinically dominant conference setting could have seemed jarring.
Our reflections
Reflecting after the conference, we have great admiration for our three storytellers, each of whom delivered their story with conviction and calm amongst a formidable conference set up (getting mic’d up for a Schwartz Round was a first for us!) We are both so proud of our veterinary colleagues for embracing the model, and so confidently removing their professional masks to openly discuss emotions they feel in the work they carry out.
We are also grateful to the Point of Care Foundation for their guidance and mentorship for our workshop at BSAVA Congress. Laura and the team have provided steadfast support, supporting the inclusion of veterinary teams in the Schwartz Community. The attendance of Laura, as a friend and mentor, provided a sense of calm and reassurance at the daunting prospect of showcasing something that we feel so passionately about.
We both now look forward to supporting veterinary colleagues up and down the country in starting their Schwartz journeys and talking about the emotional impact of the work we do for our animal patients, their care givers and our veterinary colleagues.