Episode 39 – The Joy Prescription Technology, Culture, and Compassion

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In this week’s episode:

• Tech should serve people, not burden them – automations, AI transcription, and client education tools can reduce admin and free vets to focus on patient care.
• Burnout is real, but joy is possible – shifting priorities and redefining success helped Lauren reframe her career and build a healthier balance.
• Culture drives thriving practices – a cohesive, supportive team creates calm within the chaos, directly impacting patient care and client trust.
• Leadership means letting go of perfection – empowering staff, valuing their input, and surrounding yourself with “smarter people” leads to stronger, more resilient teams.

Veterinarian, practice owner, and tech leader Dr. Lauren Jones shares how technology, culture, and leadership can reduce burnout, recentre joy, and create more meaningful client and patient connections in veterinary practice.

Additional Guest Spotlights

• Recommend Resource: This week, Garry Nelson points us to the CMA investigation – a surprisingly insightful “weather vane” for the future of vet practice. From prescription charges to ownership transparency, it’s packed with clues on how regulation and tech will shape the profession ahead.
  
• Next Episode Sneak Peak: Coming up next, Adrian Nelson Pratt shares his journey from clinical burnout to becoming a performance coach – helping vets redefine success, reclaim purpose, and build skill stacks that create clarity and momentum for life beyond the consulting room.
  

Show Notes

• Out every other week on your favourite podcast platform.
• Presented by Jack Peploe: Veterinary IT Expert, Certified Ethical Hacker, CEO of Veterinary IT Services and dog Dad to the adorable Puffin.
• Lauren Jones, VMD, Director of Veterinary Medicine at Shepherd Veterinary Software, is a seasoned veterinarian, practice owner, and industry innovator. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, she excels in transforming veterinary practices, driving growth, and enhancing efficiency. Dr. Jones combines clinical experience with business acumen and her insights fuel innovative software solutions that help practices thrive and deliver exceptional care.
• Find out more about what Lauren is up to here!
• To see what Shephard Veterinary Software is all about, visit here!

Transcription

Jack Peploe:

Coming up on Modern Veterinary Practice,

Lauren Jones:

Finding those tech software solutions that really make you not think about it so that you can just get back to being in the room and bringing that human component into your exam room. So I’m not worried about typing my notes and I’m not worried about forgetting all of these things. I can just bring my computer in there, push a button, and it captures all of my physical exam findings, my conversation, my recommendations, so that I don’t have to take that time. Our appointments are a half hour and I want the most of that going to benefit my patient and my client.

Jack Peploe:

Welcome to the One Veterinary Practice Podcast. I’m your host and veterinary IT expert, Jack Peploe. In this episode, I’ll be welcoming Dr. Lauren Jones, veterinarian practice owner and director of Veterinary Medicine at Shepherd Veterinary Software to the podcast, we’ll be talking about how technology can be used to reduce burnout, recentered joy in the veterinary practice, and create more time for meaningful client and patient connections.

Lauren Jones:

Hello. Thank you for having me here today. I am Lauren Jones. I’m a veterinarian. I’ve been a practice owner for about 10 years now, and I have a little bit of a non-traditional role in Vet Med. I’m no longer practicing  every day. I’m also the director of veterinary medicine for Shepherd Veterinary Software. So that means I wear a lot of different hats. My journey’s kind of been a little unusual, but really I’m super passionate about bringing joy to the veterinary industry or really recentering joy for all veterinary professionals. We all know there’s so much burnout out there. I think the industry is trending in the right direction, but I’m really passionate about bringing different tools to people really through technology, but to combat that and to de-stigmatize it, normalise it. We don’t need all the shame and all of that. So it’s really, I love what I do and I love talking to people about that and try to recenter their joys around veterinary medicine. I always say we can’t all leave, right? I’m not boots on the ground anymore, but I have my cats that still need people to help ’em out at the clinic and all of that. So I really love sharing my vision and what works for me and for my team. I’m still a practice owner. My hospitals outside of Philadelphia. I have an incredible team out there, and I just love trying to every day make our team better and make our profession better, which ultimately leads to better healthcare for our pets. Right?

Jack Peploe:

A hundred percent. Lauren is so awesome to have you on the One Vote We Practice podcast. How are you today? Anyway?

Lauren Jones:

I’m doing wonderful. Yeah, no complaints. I’m out in Phoenix, and so we’re finally starting to get some heat, so it’s kind of exciting.

Jack Peploe:

I’m not going to talk about what we’re currently seeing because there isn’t much sunshine, but hey, typical Britain. Anyway, you’ve sort of touched on it. You’ve had quite a powerful multifaceted career as you discussed, from clinical practice to ownership and now leading innovation in the tech space, which is really cool. But what I love is that your driving passion seems to come back to something very human, helping vets combat burnout and rediscovering joy in their work. Now, today I thought that I want to go beyond the usual tech equals efficiency, the narrative. Let’s talk about what really matters, how we create space in veterinary practice for connection, for meaning, and for a bit of breathing room. Does that sound okay?

Lauren Jones:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jack Peploe:

Awesome. Okay, so obviously burnout’s a word we hear constantly. You’ve already referenced it, but joy is one we often forget to talk about from your own journey, when did you realise that joy was missing and what sparked your mission to bring it back?

Lauren Jones:

Oh, that’s a great question. So I used to own two hospitals. I was the primary doctor at one of them working 80 plus hour weeks on call all the time. We were primarily, we had a special interest in canine reproduction, so we’re doing C-sections in the middle of the night, just lots of stuff, which I love doing, and that’s what I knew. I wanted to go into general practice I wanted to own. I knew I wanted these kind of more challenging things. I didn’t want the easy road, but then I fell in love. I got married, I had kids, and I started seeing myself leaving on Christmas day to go have cut a C-section. So it was very bittersweet for me because I love doing that. I love getting to the practice and bringing more life, and that did bring me joy. But somewhere along the way with all of the things that we talk about, they are very buzzword.

I don’t really like all those words, but it was burnout and the compassion fatigue and just not seeing my family, and that really creates a toll. So it was COVID, I call it. I joke and call it say it was like a COVID crisis that my husband and I stared at each other for months on end, and I actually sold that hospital about a week before the world shut down. Oh, wow. So it was wild timing, but now we kind of looked at each other and we had all this time on our hands. I still had my other hospital, but because that’s not where I practiced a lot, I would go in and worked, but it wasn’t the same. And we looked at each other and just said, is this what we want to do the rest of our lives? And he was looking for a job at the time, and he got a job out in Phoenix.

So it’s 2000 miles apart where my hospital is and where I live. So I think that was the turning point for me where we said, I don’t think this is not the path I want to go down. Could I have just really hunkered down and gone back to 80 hour weeks on call all the time I could. But we said, I think there’s a better way here. And so I sat my team down. I’m really big on getting my staff. I don’t like to just say, Hey, this is what I’m doing, period. I really want to get their buy-in. I want to hear their thoughts. I want to make sure we’re all on the same page as much as we always as we can be. So I sat them down and said, Hey, this is what I’m up against. I think we can do it.

I love, I love change, I love challenge. And I said, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll come back. I might hate Phoenix. 120 degrees in the summer is not everyone’s saying cup of tea. So I think that was the big turning point to me because I knew, I think I really struggled so many of us in the industry and said, I don’t want to not be in vet med. I don’t want to get rid of my hospital. I don’t want to sell to the big corporations. I could have a hundred times over. They still call all the time and to try to, but I said, I want to do something better for me, for my team, and I think I can do this differently. And the biggest thing I think that got my team to buy into is if it doesn’t work, I’ll come back. We’ll figure something else out. We’ll try something different. So that was, sorry, a very long answer to that, but that was really the turning point. My COVID crisis, I call it.

Jack Peploe:

No, that’s cool. That’s very cool. So shifting across to technology, because I know it’s something which you are very passionate about now, obviously technology can sometimes feel like just another thing to manage. What do you think separates tech that creates friction from tech that genuinely helps practices feel more in control and connected? Connected?

Lauren Jones:

Oh, that’s so great. I think there’s a lot of ways to answer that, but part of it is just that I want my tech to work for me and kind of work in the background. And a lot of it we are not even thinking about. So my hospital we used, I’ve been a shepherd user for eight years, so I go way back with the company and just really focusing on automations and making things custom and setting up in my admin so that my doctors don’t have to recreate the wheel every time. So I think it’s really having tech and figuring out, and that doesn’t mean every software doesn’t fit every practice mold, but finding those tech software solutions that really make you not think about it so that you can just get back to being in the room and bringing that human component into your exam room.

So I’m not worried about typing my notes and I’m not worried about forgetting all of these things. I can just bring my computer in there, push a button, and it captures all of my physical exam findings, my conversation, my recommendations so that I don’t have to take that time. Our appointments are a half hour and I want the most of that going to benefit my patient and my client. So not towards my notes. So just kind of let my software, so we have transcribe AI within our software that just is a fly on the wall, captures all of it. So it’s things like that that I’m not worried about sitting down and doing my notes at the end of the day because they were already done for me during the course of the exam so I could really focus on that patient care. So I think it’s automations for me, client education is huge and I think that that really can, it makes me happier.

I think we get better patient care, we have better, our clients are going to be more engaged, ask better questions. So I use my technology to send them a questionnaire before they even enter my office so I know what they want to talk about, what concerns they have, and I’ll send them client education articles before that. Here’s something on ape on why your dog’s so itchy. And then they come more educated to me and they’re more likely to follow my treatment plan, my recommendations. They’re more likely to give the whole course of antibiotics. We know that most clients never do that. So I think those are the big key points for me on when software works in the background flawlessly, that’s when I find it’s the most beneficial.

Jack Peploe:

No, a hundred percent. And I think that’s a really good idea around the form and capturing things in advance and further educating the client. I mean, especially with the rise of ai, I mean obviously there’s lots of benefit within practice, but there’s also the Dr. Google version two, I suppose, which we’re going to face. So if we can better arm our clients, then it’s a win-win situation for both. So I really love that.

Lauren Jones:

I love that. And I say that all the time. Our clients are going to go to Dr. Google anyway, so why not provide them with what we know and we trust and we can guide them to the right resources. And so I use discharge instructions and client education in every probably too much. My clients are probably like, all right, Lauren, alright, already I get it, but I’d rather over communicate.

Jack Peploe:

No, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. So moving to sort of vets now, vets are often the end users of tech, but rarely the creators. There are some exceptions obviously, but how do we get more veterinary professionals into the driver’s seat when it comes to shaping the tools they rely on?

Lauren Jones:

That’s also a great question. I think that it’s tough because so many, I’m unusual in that I have the time. I’m three time zones away from my clinic. And so when they close down at five o’clock their time, it’s two o’clock my time and I found myself bored and I was like, I’ve got all this extra time in my day. And that’s why I came on with Shepherd in the first place in an employee role. So I think time is the big factor, and obviously not every vet is as lucky as I was to find that unusual circumstance. But I think it doesn’t have to be me fully invested in my job and with a tech company.

I think Facebook is a great user groups, whether in Facebook or just outside contacting the companies that you align with. I’m really big in culture. And so I love, like I mentioned it with my hospital, I want my staff buy-in culture and fit is really important to us. And that’s the same way it is at Shepherd. And that’s one of the reasons I love it as a product, but also working there is that they care so much about having joy in our own employees, not just the whole profession, but also our employees. And it starts with us. We really hold our mission and our values close. And so I think if we want more vets in these spaces, I think we have to find those companies that speak to us. There’s so many out there, I won’t name them because it’s not my bag, but there are so many companies out there that aren’t aligned with who we are as veterinarians or humans.

And so it’s staying away from those and finding those companies that really speak to your culture and your values and then reaching out to them and saying, Hey, I want to make this product. I want to help. I want to, here are my solutions. Shepherd is incredibly user-driven and I wish we saw that in all other technologies where we have a locate right in the software, we’re very transparent and say, Hey, here’s coming as far as our feature requests. And then our users vote on them and tell us why they, yes, this is important to me. Or if they say, Hey, here’s a brand new idea that I would love to see in the software. We’re really user-centric and we want our software to be created by what they want solving the solutions that they need. And I think that is a really great way to run a company. And so trying to recreate that in other aspects and say, Hey, whether it’s user groups, Facebook groups, just reaching out to them, are you open to feedback? I think those are some small ways that vets can be more in line and involved in shaping technology and what’s going to help them.

Jack Peploe:

No, a hundred percent. So looking at measuring how and whether practices, I’m going to use the term thriving obviously. We often measure things like that and success generally in metrics, things like revenue, number of new clients, case volume. But when you walk into a thriving practice, what feeling tells you they’re doing something right,

Lauren Jones:

You’re hitting on my favourites and what I’m really, I love talking about burnout and fighting that and what good culture looks like. I think it’s not a one size fits all, right? And every practice is going to be a little different. And I think sometimes it’s hard to see, and that’s something that I actually want to work on this year is bringing more wellness and staff kind of check-ins somehow through our services. Because we always say we’re not just a veterinary software company, we’re a services company. And I like to kind of look at it in a holistic view of the practice and it’s about the practice health. You’re right. Have white papers that say if you switch over to our PIMS that you’re going to have an 18% higher a CT, but it’s not all about revenue. And we’ve all worked in different companies that could be killing it and there couldn’t be bringing in so much profit, but they’re miserable. So I think sometimes I think it’s hard to really put a finger on, but for me it’s almost like a sense of calm. I think the hospital is a chaotic place, but when you have a team that meshes together and genuinely likes each other who show up to their job and they’re happy to show up, they’re not dragging their feet, they’re not cranky coming right in, they’re excited to be there. They’re excited to see their coworkers. I think there’s a calmness amongst that chaos that is palpable and you can feel it.

And we’ve also had toxic employees that we realised pretty quickly. And that feeling when you walk in, I think this happened to us somewhat recently, so I’m a little just kind of all of those memories that pit in your stomach that you just are like, oh my gosh, there’s something that feels off. So I think, and that’s really, that’s so subjective, but I think we see better patient care. I’ve noticed that we had a lot more missed charges or forgot to do things. Oh, we charged them for this vaccine, but they left. When we’re in a place where we’re not, we don’t have a good culture fit or whether something’s happened, that doesn’t necessarily mean a person. That could also be, we had a really tough case, a favourite patient that we lost or whatever it is. There’s so many reasons that we can bring down staff morale.

And then when we’re not, and I see more mistakes being made, we don’t maybe have each other’s backs as much if we’re mad because you did whatever, I’m mad at you, so maybe I see that you forgot to charge for this. I might not tell you. So I think it’s not as cohesive of a team, and I think that we just kind of can rally each other. We have better patient care, we work better as a team. We want to have that collaborative approach, not just siloed. And these are my cases and those are yours. No, we try to, I love seeing my doctors almost every time we have like we go, Hey, you want to play a game? We all go in the x-ray room together and we talk about it. So just seeing those things, seeing each other, seeing my teammates and my coworkers really take the time to go out of their way to help each other, to help patients and clients that tells me that they’re happy in what they’re doing. They’re not clocking in and clocking out. It’s not just they don’t have blinders on. They’re there for more than themselves. And I think that really speaks to the culture of our practice.

Jack Peploe:

No, I love that. I love that. So as a former practice centre yourself, how did your perception of leadership and responsibility evolve? Where were the moments where letting go of perfection actually led to better outcomes?

Lauren Jones:

I still own to this day. So it’s still something I’m working on. I like to think of myself as a work in progress. I’m not the same person I was when I bought the hospitals that I had no idea what I was doing. And I do think I chased perfection for a while until, what’s the common saying? Don’t let perfection get in the way of greatness or whatever. I can never get that one. But I think it’s when I realised that that chasing perfection is never going to happen. And really, you’ve talked to enough vets in the vet space where we like to overthink things. We we’re type A, we like control, we like how we want it done. And I think really once I’ve worked on myself first and said, that doesn’t have to be the case. I can delegate. I can empower my staff to make their own decisions.

I think one of the most powerful things that I have learned to say as a leader is, well, what do you think? And that’s not passing the buck, but it’s not just about my opinion. I want to hear what my staff thinks and align and have them learn from me as well. But I learned from them just as much as they learn from me and giving up that power. And my husband said something early on, he’s not a vet. He most of, he comes from corporate finance, but he would always say, when we were first starting, when I owned my first practice, I want you to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. And at first I was like, I’m smart.

What are you saying, husband? But it took a long time for me to go. That is one of the most brilliant things because I think we really, by surrounding ourselves with people who are smarter than us, or it might be in different ways, you really just create a better team and learning from them. And again, having that ability to say, Hey, if this doesn’t work, let’s change it. And not being so stuck on, well, this is the way it’s always been done. I actually banned that phrase from my hospital because I hate it so much. It’s just like, well, why do we do this? Not because it’s just how we always done it. Let’s try to think of, is this the best way that it should be done? So yeah, I think it’s embracing that chaos. It’s embracing everyone else, and it’s not there’s a new sheriff in town, it’s my way or the highway type stuff. It’s really that collaborative approach I think, and being able to let go, being able to say, there’s time management stuff in there too, and teaching my team that, Hey, it’s okay if you don’t get to all of the emails today. Let’s focus on what we have to first and go from there. Sorry, I feel like I’m giving you 20 minute answers for each question you’re hitting, all the things that I’m so just like, yes, let’s talk about this.

Jack Peploe:

That’s awesome. Well, I’ll tell you what, the one thing I’ve learned with this podcast is time is my greatest enemy because we’ve hit our time. But it’s been such a rich conversation. I really do think our listeners will really appreciate your sort of blend of clinical insight and compassion, how you sort of frame technology not as the silver bullet, but something that should serve the people using it. For those people who’d like to connect with you, follow your work or dive deeper into these topics, where’s the best place they can find you?

Lauren Jones:

So I’m on most of the platforms. I think LinkedIn is probably easiest way to get me. Lauren Jones shepherd.vet is our website. You can also find me through there. I’ve got a link tree that has all of my contents and I do some blog writing and things like that. So webinars as well are on there. But that’s probably the easiest way to get ahold of me. And if you’re anyone interested in the software, certainly can schedule a demo through the website as well. Shepherd Dove

Jack Peploe:

Amazing. I actually love the Lindry idea. I’m very familiar with the platform, but I love how you used it. I think that’s cool. But anyway,

Lauren Jones:

Oh, thank you,

Jack Peploe:

Lauren. Thank you so much for joining me and for sharing your mission to help veterinary professionals. We discover the joy that bought them there in the first base, but it’s been an absolute pleasure. So thank you very much for coming on.

Lauren Jones:

Thank you so much for having me. It’s been wonderful. It’s so much fun.

Jack Peploe:

Every week we ask professionals and experts to suggest a best business resource for our listeners. This week’s recommendation is from Garry Nelson,

Garry Nelson:

My recommended resource for a weather vein of what is going to shape the veterinary industry for the future and where possibly technology is there to help is the CMA investigation Sounds really dry, I know, but within there there’s some really interesting things. There’s three main things that the CMA are looking at within the investigation apart from other stuff, but the three main things is prescription charges and how they’re dispensed. Transparency of costs. So understanding what the whole scenario is going to be. And I mentioned earlier in the podcast that understanding policies, details up front is important, so that could be one area. And also the transparency of ownership. So the difference between an independent vet and a group vet that is under the microscope. So have a look at that. There’s a lot of interesting information of responses back into that. And one of the challenges I’ve given my techie folks in Sweden is to read it and to come up with some ideas of what our platform can do to support all of the players within that in terms of using tech to make sure that they don’t full foul any new regulations. And we do the best by the policy holder and the insurer

Jack Peploe:

And a vet groups. Next week we welcome Adrian Nelson Pratt, a veterinarian turned accredited performance coach and business consultant. Adrian shares his journey from clinical burnout to building a career that helps veterinary professionals rediscover purpose, balance, and momentum. We explore why so many vets feel stuck, how identity shapes career choices, and how to redefine success beyond the consulting room. Adrian also dives into the power of coaching, the importance of building a skill stack and practical steps to create clarity and direction in both work and life.

Adrian Nelson-Pratt:

If you are graduating and you’re a child of the nineties, there’s a 50% chance you’re going to make it to 101, which is either scary or terrifying, of course, all or liberating. If you realise that if your veterinary identity started when you were in 1990 and you graduated in 2020 something and your identity is 25 years old, you could have two more fully formed 20 year careers and still retiring your seventies.

Jack Peploe:

That’s it for this episode. All links and recommendations we talked about are in the show notes. Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast if you found it useful. In the meantime, thanks for listening and see you next time.