The Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey is a 15-minute survey that gives veterinary team members a safe space to share honest feedback about their workplace satisfaction and overall well-being.

It’s designed to look at the whole picture — not just work tasks or schedules — because well-being and job satisfaction are multifactorial and deeply connected.

The survey includes questions about:

• • workplace satisfaction and culture

• • stress, energy, and burnout risk

• • psychological safety

• • physical and mental well-being

• • how work and life outside of work interact

This helps surface patterns and root causes, not just symptoms.

Why a holistic approach matters

The survey helps reveal the root issues and where to start, instead of guessing.

For example:

• • If stress is high, it’s important to know whether it’s mostly work-related or coming from outside of work — so support efforts are actually effective.

• • If energy is low across the team, there are often simple, overlooked contributors (hydration, sleep, workload patterns, stress recovery) that can make a big difference once identified.

The goals of the survey

• • Save you time and energy by providing clear insight — so you can be proactive instead of reacting to surprises

• • Give your team a safe, doable way to be heard, helping them feel valued and supported

• • Contribute to better data for the profession, identifying what truly improves well-being, retention, and sustainability in veterinary medicine

A veterinary practice where employees love where they work, because they feel respected, valued, and supported. They feel set up for success and are able to practice veterinary medicine in a way that feels fulfilling and sustainable and in a way that creates a positive experience for everyone (vet team, pet, and owner).

Unicorns aren’t perfect (that’s a mystical beast if there ever was one), but what makes them stand out the most is the way they navigate challenges. Rather than letting challenges drag them down and hold them back, they see them as opportunities to learn and grow to create positive change and lead by example in vet med.

The Unicorn Vet Hospital List is a growing directory of veterinary practices that have been vetted through confidential team feedback and recognized for creating a supportive, sustainable workplace.

It’s designed to make it easier for:

• veterinary professionals to find workplaces where people actually love where they work

• pet owners to support practices that prioritize great care and a healthy team culture

• the profession to see real proof of what’s possible in vet med

Hospitals are evaluated using the Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey, which measures key markers like:

• • workplace satisfaction and morale

• • psychological safety

• • work-life balance and stress

• • feeling respected, supported, and set up for success

• • plus a direct question asking whether team members feel their hospital is a “unicorn”

Hospitals where the majority of the team feel their practice is a "unicorn" will be added.

That’s completely okay.

If your results show areas to improve, that’s not bad news — it’s clarity. You’ll receive a baseline and a clear sense of what to focus on next.

You’ll also have options to:

• • implement small changes using free resources

• • repeat the survey later to track progress

• • explore optional support if you want help interpreting results and choosing your best next step

Practices that are actively working toward becoming unicorns can also be recognized and celebrated.

Here’s what to expect:

1. Sign up to get started.
You’ll receive a short readiness check to make sure this is a supportive next step.

2. Complete a brief questionnaire about your practice.
This helps establish context from your perspective as a leader.

3. Share the team survey.
Once approved, you’ll receive an email with a confidential survey to forward to your team.
Each team member needs about 15 minutes of protected work time.

4. Receive your personalized report.
You’ll get a clear, summarized report with key insights and next steps.

Optional support.
If you’d like help interpreting results or creating a plan, you can schedule a consult.

No cost. Just clarity and insight.

Well-being is complex — and most surveys oversimplify it.

The Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey was designed to look at the full picture of what actually drives workplace satisfaction, burnout, energy, and retention in veterinary medicine.

Here’s what makes it different:

1. It takes a truly holistic view

This survey looks at:

• • physical and mental well-being

• • work-related and non-work stressors

• • nervous system health, energy, and resilience — not just job satisfaction

Because when well-being declines, it’s rarely due to one thing. Everything is connected.

2. It’s built from real-world veterinary experience

The survey was created from:

• • my experience working in 30+ veterinary hospitals (corporate, private, urgent care, relief)

• my own recovery from burnout

• • years of integrative training in trauma and nervous system regulation, mind–body health, and sustainable performance

That combination allows this survey to identify patterns beneath the surface, not just surface complaints.

3. It’s designed to catch problems early

Exhaustion is one of the strongest predictors of burnout — yet it’s often normalized in vet med.

This survey treats low energy as an early warning sign, helping practices:

• • identify physical, mental, and emotional contributors to fatigue

• • intervene before burnout, disengagement, or turnover occur

Many of these factors are missed in traditional workplace surveys.

4. It builds on — and expands — existing research

This work builds on findings from studies like the Merck Veterinary Well-being Study, while adding important layers that are often overlooked.

Key differences:

• • participation happens at the hospital level, not just voluntary individual response

• • all team members are given protected work time to participate

• • results reflect a more accurate snapshot of how teams are actually doing

• • the questions include a more holistic perspective (ie. physical well-being) 

This helps reduce response bias and improves data quality.

5. It integrates a nervous-system perspective

Veterinary medicine is a high-stress environment — and stress responses often show up as:

• • irritability

• • withdrawal

• • people-pleasing

• • decreased motivation

• • conflict or “drama”

This survey helps identify when these behaviors are signs of overload, not laziness or poor attitude — making it easier to respond with support instead of escalation.

Summary

This survey exists to:

• • identify root causes instead of symptoms

• • surface patterns before crises happen

• • support leaders in making smart, compassionate decisions

• • help shift veterinary medicine toward a more sustainable norm

This is just a glimpse of the perspective behind the survey and the research it supports. If you’re curious to learn more, feel free to reach out at amelia@lifeboost.today.

Your report is designed to give you clear, actionable insight — not a long list of problems.

Here are a few examples of what leaders commonly discover:

✔ Hiring & retention clarity

If you’re hiring or want to stand out as a workplace of choice, you may receive data-backed language you can confidently use, such as:

• • “15/15 employees agree this is a unicorn hospital”

• • “100% of our team reports being satisfied or very satisfied with their work–life balance”

This helps replace vague claims with credible, third-party insight.

✔ Early burnout signals (before it’s obvious)

Many practices discover that energy levels are lower than expected — often before burnout or turnover has surfaced.

Low energy affects:

• • focus and efficiency

• • client interactions

• • medical errors

• • morale and productivity

The survey helps identify mental and physical contributors to fatigue, so you can focus on changes that actually restore energy — instead of guessing.

✔ Stress patterns that guide smarter support

You may find that stress levels are high, but not all of that stress is coming from work.

That insight matters — because it tells you where support will be most effective:

• • workplace changes

• • nervous-system education

• • anti-anxiety tools

• • simple, realistic resources your team can actually use

You’ll never be told “do everything.” The focus is what will help most, first.

✔ Root causes behind conflict or negativity

If your team is experiencing tension, “drama,” or disengagement, the survey often reveals underlying stressors — like sleep deprivation, overload, or chronic stress — that reduce resilience and emotional regulation.

Seeing these patterns helps shift the conversation from:

“What’s wrong with this person?”
to
“What does the team need to function better?”

That shift alone can dramatically improve culture and leadership confidence.

The bottom line

This survey doesn’t just tell you what is happening — it helps you understand why, so you can respond with clarity, compassion, and strategy instead of frustration.

That’s okay.

While broader participation gives you clearer insight, no one is ever required to take the survey.

The survey is designed to feel safe and respectful:

• • All responses are confidential

• • All questions are optional

• • Every question includes a “prefer not to answer” option

If an employee chooses not to participate, it’s often helpful to simply stay curious and open — not to push. In some cases, that choice itself provides useful information about how safe feedback currently feels and where trust can continue to be built over time.

To be eligible for the Unicorn Vet Hospital List, the majority of your team needs to participate so results accurately reflect the team experience. However, even without full participation, the insights you receive will be valuable for understanding strengths, blind spots, and next steps.

This process isn’t about forcing feedback — it’s about creating a culture where people feel safe to share when they’re ready.

Yes. Your hospital’s results are handled with care and confidentiality.

Here’s what that means for you as a leader:

• • Individual employee responses are never shared with you

• • You receive a clear, summarized report showing patterns and themes — not individual answers

• • This protects psychological safety for your team and gives you more honest, useful insight

• • Written comments are only shared if the employee explicitly consents, and identifying details are removed

All data is stored securely and reviewed only by me.
If aggregated results are ever used for broader research or education, they are fully anonymized so no individual or hospital can be identified.

This approach allows you to listen to your team in a way that feels safe for them — and constructive for you.

Your hospital’s data is used in two ways:

1. To support your practice

• You receive a confidential, summarized report to help you understand how your team is doing

• The goal is clarity — so you can make informed, proactive decisions without guesswork

2. To support broader progress in veterinary medicine (optional and anonymized)

• De-identified, aggregated trends may contribute to education, research, or industry conversations about well-being, retention, and sustainability

• No individual responses or identifying hospital details are ever shared

• Your hospital is never identified without your explicit consent

Your hospital’s data is used in three ways:

1. To support your practice

• • You receive a confidential, summarized report to help you understand how your team is doing

• • The goal is clarity — so you can make informed, proactive decisions without guesswork

2. If your results meet criteria for recognition as a Unicorn Vet Hospital, you’ll be invited — never obligated — to be included on the Unicorn Vet Hospital List.

3. To support broader progress in veterinary medicine (optional and anonymized)

• • De-identified, aggregated trends may contribute to education, research, or industry conversations about well-being, retention, and sustainability

• • No individual responses or identifying hospital details are ever shared

• • Your hospital is never identified without your explicit consent

This survey is designed to uplift practices, not expose them — and you remain in control of how your information is shared.

Many practices do — and the intention is good.

The challenge isn’t effort. It’s blind spots.

Here’s what makes the Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey different:

1. Psychological safety changes the data

Even well-intentioned internal surveys often limit honesty.

When feedback is collected by a third party:

• employees feel safer being candid

• people-pleasing and fear of consequences decrease

• patterns become clearer instead of diluted

This doesn’t replace communication — it makes future conversations more productive, because you’re starting with clearer insight instead of guesswork.

2. It’s designed to detect early warning signs

Most surveys focus on what people already know they’re unhappy about.

This survey is designed to surface patterns before they become obvious problems, including:

• declining energy (often an early burnout signal)

• rising stress that hasn’t yet been labeled as “burnout”

• subtle breakdowns in psychological safety

• physical and nervous-system stress that affects behavior, performance, and morale

Often, leaders see these signs in hindsight. This helps you catch them earlier.

3. The questions are intentionally holistic

Workplace satisfaction doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

This survey looks at:

• work factors and non-work stressors

• physical, mental, and emotional well-being

• how these layers interact to affect performance, resilience, and retention

That context helps you avoid misinterpreting results — and prevents wasted time fixing the wrong thing.

4. Interpretation matters as much as the data

Data without context can feel overwhelming or misleading.

Because this survey is:

• • pattern-based

• • grounded in real veterinary settings

• • informed by nervous-system and mind–body science

…it’s easier to translate results into clear, actionable next steps instead of more questions.

Summary

You can run your own survey.

This one exists to:

• • reduce blind spots

• • surface issues earlier

• • make feedback safer

• • and help you focus on what will actually move the needle

All without overwhelm or blame.

It’s normal to worry that asking for feedback might create expectations you can’t meet right away.

That’s why this process emphasizes transparency, safety, and prioritization — not immediate perfection.

The survey doesn’t create problems; it brings awareness so small, strategic changes can prevent bigger ones later.

If you want help navigating this conversation, I’m here to support you.

I created this survey because I saw a persistent gap in veterinary medicine:

Most leaders care deeply about their teams — but they don’t always have clear, safe insight into what’s actually helping or quietly draining their people.

At the same time, our profession talks a lot about burnout without enough visible proof of what truly supports well-being, retention, efficiency, and high-quality care in real-world practice settings.

The Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey was designed to help close that gap.

It gives practice leaders:

• • honest, psychologically safe feedback

• • early insight into patterns and root causes (often before they escalate into burnout or turnover)

• • and clear information they can actually use — without overwhelm or blame

Zooming out, this survey is also part of a larger vision.

When we can see examples of practices where people feel respected, supported, and able to do great medicine sustainably, it becomes easier for others to believe that change is possible — and to follow similar paths.

This isn’t about ranking, perfection, or comparison.

It’s about:

• • lifting up what’s working

• • making effective approaches easier to find and learn from

• • and increasing demand for workplaces where well-being, efficiency, and care quality reinforce each other

By collecting thoughtful, holistic data at the practice level, we can move beyond guesswork and isolated solutions — and toward a clearer, more united picture of what helps veterinary teams and hospitals truly thrive.

Veterinary Education & Credentials

• • Wheaton College — BA, Biology & Pre-Med (2009)

• • University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine — VMD (2014)
  • VBMA — Business Certificate
  • Veterinary Medical Acupuncture (Curacore)
  

• • Fear Free Certified

• • Senior Dog Certified Level 1 & 2

Integrative & Coaching Training

• • Institute of Integrative Nutrition — Health Coach

• • Certified Integrative Change Worker & Life Coach

• • Certified Integrative Hypnotist

• • Level 2 Reiki Practitioner 

• • AVMA Workplace Well-Being Certificate

• • QPR Training

• • Ongoing CE in nervous system regulation, trauma-informed care, fuctional health, and sustainable performance

Hi, I’m Dr. Amelia Knight Pinkston — a veterinarian, integrative health and life coach, consultant, and speaker with a deep interest in how well-being, patient care, client experience, and sustainable profitability all intersect in veterinary medicine.

I earned my VMD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and have worked in 30+ veterinary practices across general practice, urgent care, and locum roles — spanning private and corporate settings. That breadth gave me a firsthand view of how leadership decisions, workflows, and culture directly impact not only team well-being, but also productivity, retention, and the quality of care delivered.

Alongside my clinical work, I pursued formal business training and coaching (including VBMA) and extensive education in nervous system health, mind–body medicine, and sustainable performance — particularly after recovering from burnout myself. This combination allows me to look beyond surface-level symptoms and ask different questions:
Where are there opportunities to make the healthy choice the convenient option?
What unconscious programming may be contributing to conflict or decreased productivity?
What currently feels inefficient, heavy, or unnecessarily draining?
How could supporting people more effectively also help the practice run better?

I created the Unicorn Vet Hospital Survey to give practice leaders clear, psychologically safe insight into how their team is really doing — not to criticize, but to identify patterns, early warning signs, and practical opportunities to strengthen culture, efficiency, and long-term success.

This process isn’t about comparison or perfection. It’s about understanding your practice at its starting point, with compassion and clarity — so meaningful, sustainable improvements become easier to see and easier to lead.