Anaesthesia 

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This course aims to refresh and enhance your foundational knowledge and skills in anaesthesia, which is a vital component of companion animal care. By completing this module, you will gain confidence in assessing anaesthetic candidates, managing anaesthetic procedures independently, troubleshooting, and providing post-anaesthetic care. Client education around this topic will also become more straightforward, fostering improved client relationships. You will acquire the necessary tools to deliver high-quality care while staying up-to-date with best practices in veterinary anaesthesia, allowing you to effectively meet your patients’ needs and enjoy your procedural caseload.

Why do this module?

  • Ensuring animal safety.
  • Understanding anaesthetic agents.
  • Managing anaesthetic complications.
  • Improving pre- and post-anaesthesia care.
  • Mastering monitoring techniques.
  • Reducing the risk of human error.
  • Building client trust.
  • Increasing career confidence.
  • Staying current with best practices.
  • Ethical and legal responsibility.

Topics

  • Basic concepts
  • Sedation and general anaesthesia
  • Anaesthetic equipment
  • The anaesthetic procedure - overview
  • Anaesthetic monitoring and complications
  • Pain assessment and postoperative analgesia

Learning objectives

  • Define the triad of general anaesthesia.
  • Define balanced anaesthesia.
  • Describe functions of anaesthesia machine and breathing system.
  • Be familiar with common problems associated with endotracheal intubation.
  • Be familiar with the ASA scoring system.
  • Be familiar with the main group of drugs, their effects, side effects and contra-indications.
  • Discuss factors affecting choice of anaesthetic breathing system.
  • Discuss different starvation protocols and their implications.
  • Discuss and recognise characteristics of patient assessment that have implications on drug protocol to be utilised.
  • List the aims of premedication.
  • Discuss factors affecting selection of premedication protocol.
  • Discuss general pharmacology, effects, and side effects of different opioids.

Contributors

  • Joana Chagas BVSc DiplACVAA