Practical Emergency and Critical Care Veterinary Nursing

Your step-by-step guide to key emergency and critical care procedures and hands-on nursing care. Whether you need to know how to prioritise your response to a patient with multiple injuries, or you need a quick practical guide to fluid therapy, this is the go-to resource.  Colour photographs of real life cases take you through the procedures and after-care, detailing essential skills. This book provides vital information for emergency and critical care situations, whether you’re looking for confidence in handling emergency cases in a first-opinion practice, or a relevant, succinct guide for an emergency clinic.  Be inspired to become more confident in your clinical skills and abilities, and learn how to apply your existing skills to an emergency situation.

A companion website provides additional resources useful in the management of emergency and critical patients. Visit the website to find information charts and video clips of procedures.

Written by a veterinary nurse and a veterinary surgeon who work together in the largest UK emergency clinic, this book is a practical, how-to manual with a nursing focus.

Suitable as a complete reference for nurses studying towards qualifications, or as a practical guide for daily use by veterinary nurses working in veterinary emergency and critical care.

Table of contents

Preface vi

1 Triage and Assessment of the Emergency Patient 1

2 Monitoring the Critical Patient 9

3 Vascular Access 17

4 ‘Shock’ and Intravenous Fluid Therapy 29

5 Blood Gas, Acid–Base Analysis and Electrolyte Abnormalities 41

6 Analgesia and Anaesthesia of the Emergency and Critical Patient 52

7 Practical Laboratory Techniques 63

8 Techniques for Oxygen Supplementation 76

9 Nursing the Dyspnoeic Patient 86

10 Nursing the Cardiac Patient 97

11 Nursing the Acute Abdomen Patient 109

12 Nursing Urinary Tract Emergencies 123

13 Nursing the Poisoned Patient 133

14 Nursing the Trauma Patient 144

15 Nursing the Reproductive Patient 155

16 Small Animal Critical Care and Hospitalised Patient Nutrition 163

17 Nursing the Emergency Ophthalmology Patient 181

18 Cardiopulmonary Arrest and Resuscitation 189

19 Nursing Considerations in the Critical Patient 198

Index 209

Paul Aldridge BVSc Cert SAS MRCVS
Paul is senior surgeon at Petmedics in Manchester; a hospital based practice that hosts the largest out of hours emergency service in the UK, dividing his time between emergency cases and surgical referrals.  He is keenly involved in the provision of CPD on emergency medicine and surgery to both veterinary surgeons and nurses. His clinical interests include all aspect of emergency surgery, but particularly the management of multiple trauma patients.

Louise O’Dwyer MBA BSc (Hons) VTS (ECC) Dip AVN (Medical) Dip AVN (Surgical) RVN
Louise gained her Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing (Surgical) in 2004 followed by her Diploma in Advanced Veterinary Nursing (Medical) in 2007 and Veterinary Technician Specialist (Emergency and Critical Care) in 2011. She has contributed to over 20 journal articles and books and lectures regularly on all aspects of emergency and critical care. She worked as Head Nurse for PetMedics in Manchester the largest emergency clinic in the UK for the past 10 years, and is now Clinical Director. Louise’s interests include all aspects of emergency care but particularly trauma and respiratory patients, as well as infection control and wound management.