Emergencies in a general practice veterinary hospital. While general practice veterinary hospitals may not have emergencies often, it is important to be prepared for the off chance that one does come running through your doors. There are many situations that qualify as emergencies, regardless of whether the patient is a dog or a cat, knowing what qualifies as an emergency for either species, knowing how to handle yourself and a potentially distraught owner, and how to assist your doctor are all vital to your role as a veterinary assistant. As always, remember that these are general guidelines outlined below and should be adapted for the specific policies your hospital has in place for these situations. Be certain of what your role would be in an emergency situation and when it is appropriate to be of assistance versus when to Step back and let technicians and doctors take over. Examples of an emergency situation include severe bleeding or bleeding that doesn't stop within five minutes, choking, difficulty breathing or non stop coughing and gagging, bleeding from the nose, mouth, rectum coughing a blood or blood in urine, inability to urinate or pass feces, or obvious pain associated with urinating or passing stool.

Injuries to a pets eyes. You suspect your pet has eaten something poisonous such as antifreeze, xylitol chocolate, rodent poison, etc. seizures and or staggering, fractured bones, severe lameness or inability to move the legs, obvious signs of pain or extreme anxiety, heat stress or heatstroke. Severe vomiting or diarrhea, more than two episodes in a 24 hour period or even Neither of these combined with an obvious illness or any of the other problems listed here, a refusal to drink for 24 hours or more, and of course unconsciousness, triage seeing a potential emergency. When triage a potential emergency, you will need to check each of the following areas to determine whether the patient needs immediate medical attention. The eyes if they are unfocused, tracking, which means darting back and forth rapidly glazed over closed or otherwise not bright and alert, the mouth or the gums bright flushed pink and moist.

Unhealthy signs include a capillary refill time of more than two seconds attackee feeling when touched, or a pale color? Is the tongue bright and flush pink, or is it a dark purple or swollen. If a pet presents with these unhealthy signs, they must be rushed to oxygen and a dog After immediately the heart, can you feel a steady pulse on a major artery? Is it too slow or too fast? And the lungs? Is the pet gasping for breath or breathing shallowly?

Is it panting too fast. Abnormal breathing patterns are extremely important. If any negative signs are present in your patient, bring the patient immediately to the veterinarian for emergency medical care what to do with yourself during an emergency. There are several potential places for you as a veterinary nurse to be during an emergency. If you have enough experience or are properly instructed, you can assist the technicians and doctors in stabilizing the patient. It is important to be vocal during this time, repeating back instructions and moving efficiently to do as instructed.

If you are not actively needed or mandated a task. It is It's critical that you step back and out of the way of the doctors and technicians who are working with the patient. Do not ask questions, do not bother them. Be quiet and get out of the way until you are instructed to be of use. Watch the situation closely. However, in case you can help in small ways, such as going to grab blankets, towels or gauze.

But once these small tasks are completed, continue to observe from a respectful distance. In all emergency scenarios, it is important to always have someone take care of the owners. They cannot be left alone in the lobby and must be taken into an exam room and away from prying eyes. Make sure they are as comfortable as they can be. Offer them water and tissues. Make sure to radiate a calm, collected presence and let them know that a technician or doctor will be in to see them shortly.

It is important To make sure the owners stay updated on what is happening, but make sure it is okay to tell them information before releasing it to them. For example, it would be helpful to assure the owners at the doctor's with their pet and that they are working to stabilize it. But it would not be helpful to tell a hysterical owner that the dog's guts are falling out and that the doctor is having difficulty stuffing them back in observe who is in charge of what part of the emergency situation so that you can fill in any gaps is someone taking a complete history of the scenario is someone consoling the owners and in charge of keeping them updated every few minutes is someone actively assisting the doctor to stabilize the patient? Is someone making sure the receptionist are aware of the situation and can handle disbursement of scheduled appointments and other clients being nosy.

You can follow into any one of those roles, or somewhere in between. But the most important aspects to remember are to one, stay calm and composed, and to stay out of the way. If you're not actively doing something to help CPR for dogs, first position your dog for treatment. Lay your dog on a stable flat surface with their right side down. straighten their head and neck as best you can to create a direct passage for their airway. Pull the tongue forward so that it rests against the back of their teeth and shut their mouth.

Position yourself behind their back. Then find the heart and prep for compressions. place both of your palms one over the other on top of the widest part of the ribcage near the heart, but not directly over it. For smaller dogs when 30 pounds or less, copier hands Around the dog's rib cage, placing your fingers on one side of the chest and your thumb on the other. Then begin compressions, keeping both elbows straight. Push down on the rib cage in firm, quick compressions.

Only compress one fourth to one third of the chest with repeat compressions at a quick rate of 15 per 10 seconds. For smaller dogs, use your thumb and fingers to squeeze the chest to about a one fourth, or one third of its width. Repeat this at a slightly quicker pace than for larger dogs, aiming for 17 compressions in 10 seconds, then you will begin artificial respiration. If performing CPR alone, give your dog artificial respiration. After each set of 15 compressions, begin by sealing the dog's lips. Place your hands To over the dog's muzzle and ensure the mouth is completely closed.

Next, place your mouth over the dog's nostrils and blow gently watching for the chest to lift and expand. If the chest does not rise, blow harder into the nostrils and check that the mouth is properly sealed. For smaller dogs Place your mouth over their entire muzzle. Remove your mouth from the nose and muzzle between breasts to allow for air return. administer one breath for every 15 compressions. If there are two people available to perform CPR, have one person do the compressions while the other gives artificial respiration after every five compressions, if you are only performing artificial respiration, follow the same procedure as above for sealing your dog's mouth and administer one breath every two To three seconds at a steady pace of 20 to 30 breaths per minute.

Then you'll administer an abdominal squeeze. Place your left hand under your dog's abdomen and your right hand on top. Push down to squeeze the abdomen and assist in the circulation of blood back to the heart. Give one abdominal squeeze after each set of 15 compressions and one breath. You will continue to repeat this. You continue CPR or artificial respiration until the dog starts to breathe on its own and has regained a steady pulse.

If the dog is not breathing after 20 minutes, it's time to consider discontinuing treatment as it is not likely you will have success after this point. CPR for cats. First you'll check for breathing. If there is none. Open the mouth and Remove any obstructions is The airway. Pull the tongue to the front of the mouth.

Then close the mouth and gently hold it shot. Make sure the neck is straight and breathe short puffs of air into the nose. One breath every six seconds, which is 10 breaths a minute. Watch for chest movement. The chest should both rise when you give a breath and relax after the breath. If the cat's heart stops, use both artificial respiration and CPR.

Here are the steps for CPR. You'll check for a heartbeat impulse. If there is none. Lay your cat on his right side on a flat surface. Place your thumb and fingers from one hand on either side of his chest behind his elbows and give a quick squeeze to compress the chest to about one third to one half of its normal thickness. compress the chest about Hundred to 120 times per minute.

Give two breaths for every 30 compressions