Veterinarian makes case for sabbaticals

A veterinarian with over 30 years in clinical practice took a 12-week mental health leave this year, a move she says transformed from a period of burnout into a professional sabbatical. Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, who runs a small animal practice in Miami, Fla., says the extended break allowed her to develop an entirely new professional identity alongside her clinical work.

Khuly states she had never taken more than eight consecutive days off in her entire career, aside from an unpaid maternity leave decades ago. She describes reaching a point where continuing as before was no longer possible. "Pushing through wasn't working," she writes, leading her to stop for three months despite the guilt of leaving colleagues and clients.

From burnout to a farm plan

Instead of a period of inactivity, Khuly immersed herself in studying regenerative agriculture. Her days were filled with learning about cattle production, dairy goat medicine, soil ecology, and pasture restoration on a farm she recently purchased in Virginia. She wrote a business plan, visited producers, called lenders, and sought out mentors. "I wasn’t escaping veterinary medicine," she notes. I was expanding my role in it.

This experience led her to question why sabbaticals are uncommon in veterinary medicine, contrasting it with academia, clergy, and technology sectors where extended breaks are more accepted. She argues the profession often celebrates uninterrupted endurance, where exhaustion is seen as evidence of commitment.

The role of burnout and distance

The column points to a professional irony. Our profession has become increasingly concerned with burnout while remaining surprisingly uncomfortable discussing one of the most effective ways to interrupt it: prolonged time away from the work itself, Khuly writes. She cites recent studies showing burnout among U.S. Veterinarians remains common, with average scores in the moderate range in AVMA surveys, and serious psychological distress more common among vets than the general employed adult population.

She suggests the field may be asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking, 'How do we become more resilient?' Maybe we should be asking, 'How often do we allow ourselves enough distance to rediscover our curiosity?' Khuly distinguishes resilience from distance, arguing distance creates perspective and creativity, while resilience is just managing to repeat tasks without recovery time.

Sabbatical versus vacation

Khuly draws a clear line between a sabbatical and a standard vacation. Vacations are designed for rest and relaxation, she states. Sabbaticals are designed for true recovery-space for renewed creativity and real transformation.

Financially, she frames a sabbatical as an investment rather than just an expense. The potential returns, she argues, include new knowledge, a second career, leadership skills, or avoiding the greater cost of leaving the profession entirely due to a lack of reinvention space.

Now back in clinical practice, Khuly says she unofficially still feels on sabbatical. Every conversation with a farmer or decision for her future farm reminds her that learning continues. A sabbatical isn’t an escape from your profession, she concludes. Done well, it’s a return to it-with fresh eyes, renewed curiosity, and the confidence to imagine a future that looks different from your past. She hopes fewer colleagues will need to suffer burnout to gain such perspective.