Courtney Waxman has spent over 15 years working in emergency and critical care medicine. Her areas of special interest include CPR, critical care nursing, and critical thinking. She obtained her Veterinary Technician Specialty (VTS) in Emergency and Critical Care (ECC) in 2017. She works for Purdue University’s Veterinary Nursing Distance Learning Program. In 2021, Courtney was awarded the Veterinary Technician Continuing Educator of the Year by Western Veterinary Conference.
| 9:50 AM-10:50 AM |
Triage: When Being the Worst Makes You FirstThis lecture will review the history and definition of triage as well as how triage can be implemented in a general practice. We will discuss the importance of telephone triage, with a goal of fact-finding and knowing what kind of information to collect. We will discuss how triaging a pet should focus on assessing the major body systems (cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological) and how evaluation of these systems give insight into potential disease processes. Lastly, we’ll review how triage can be useful and implemented in general practice, including review of different triage systems. |
| 11:00 AM-12:00 PM |
ICU To-Do: Patient Care ChecklistsThis lecture is intended to review how checklists and patient care bundles can be implemented in the veterinary ECC/ICU setting. Discussion will start with review of literature published in human medicine regarding checklist use. We will next discuss common checklists used in human medicine checklists in veterinary medicine (e.g. Kirby’s Rule of 20, RECOVE CPR, surgical safety checklist, patient handoff). We will also describe patient care bundles and their indication for use in the ER/ICU (e.g. RECOVER CPR, surviving sepsis campaign). Lastly, we’ll review how veterinary technicians can introduce and implement checklists as part of patient care bundles into practice. |
| 1:30 PM-2:30 PM |
Don’t Fail to Prepare: CPR PreparednessThis lecture is designed to review current theory and practice of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) based on the RECOVER 2012 guidelines in the small animal hospital. This lecture will focus on veterinary technician interventions and skills used to prepare the hospital for a cardiopulmonary arrest event, basic life support procedures and protocols to follow, advanced life support procedures and protocols to follow, the team approach to CPR, and care of the post-cardiopulmonary arrest patient. |
| 2:40 PM-3:40 PM |
Back to Basics: Basic Life SupportThis lecture is designed to review current theory and practice of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) based on the RECOVER 2012 guidelines in the small animal hospital. This lecture will focus on veterinary technician interventions and skills used during basic life support (BLS) procedures, including providing chest compressions, establishing an airway, providing manual ventilation, and the importance of the BLS cycle and rescuers. |
| 4:00 PM-5:15 PM |
Emergency Room Procedures for the Veterinary TechnicianThis lecture will review practices performed in the emergency and critical care setting that should be performed by veterinary technicians. Procedures to be discussed include nasal feeding tube placement, urinary catheterization, multi-lumen catheter placement, and arterial blood sampling. For each procedure, the indications, contraindications, supplies, procedural steps, and nursing care will be reviewed. |
