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The emergency and critical care page is a comprehensive resource for Veterinary news, animal health, & pet care insights on emergency care. Read more at dvm360.

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 emergency & critical care page is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and insights on the latest in veterinary emergency & critical care. This page consists of videos, interviews, articles, podcasts, and research on the advancements and developments of therapies for emergency & critical care, and more.

, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Ken Yagi, MS, RVT, VTS (ECC), (SAIM), Veterinary Emergency Group, chief veterinary nursing officer, discuss how open concept hospitals can help make emergency visits less stressful and more informative for veterinary teams, clients, and patients. 

: When we think about the traditional way that the veterinary practices function, it's usually a closed environment where there's like a reception room and exam room that the people go into and wait for somebody to come and talk to them. And when treatments need to be done, their pets are taken to the back where all the action takes place. And so the pet owner sits in the room, wondering, 'what's taking so long? What's going on with my pet, I haven't gotten an update in a little while.' 

And then they hear like a cat screaming in the background and they say, 'Wait, was that my cat?' Or, they start hearing a little bit of commotion and people running around and raising voices or whatever and they wonder like, 'could that be my pet? How come nobody's telling me what's going on? Is my pet okay?' And that's the kind of situation that a closed hospital may create for the pet owners. 

But an open hospital is actually different in that we have a setup where it's an open floor plan. The pet owners come right into the treatment room and they get to be seen by a doctor and a nurse team right away. They don't have to fill out any paperwork. They don't have to sign that they agree to a certain financial cost before they start seeing anyone that can help them. Instead, they get help right away, which is like hugely helpful, and it puts them at peace or at ease. So the open hospital concept, there's lots and lots of benefits to it.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, and Ken Yagi, MS, RVT, VTS (ECC), (SAIM), emphasize the importance of creating a safe space for pets and owners during emergency visits

Making the ER experience a low stress experience

#8: 5 tips to successfully navigate patient triage

Erica Brandt (Mattox), CVT, VTS (ECC), sits down with Dr Christman to chat about the 5 different things that veterinary teams can use to successfully triage patients at their clinic, plus how listening to what clients are saying to the team can help lead to a diagnosis.

We have compiled a countdown of our top Vet Blast Podcast Episodes in 2023, here is number 8

Top Vet Blast Podcast episodes of 2023: #8

Do you ever have patients come into your clinic with what they think is an emergency, but it really could have been handled at an urgent care veterinary practice? Or, are you not sure which cases go to the ER and which can go to urgent care? On this week’s episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, our host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, sits down with Frank Bozelka, DVM, to chat about the differences between the emergency room and urgent care centers.

Throughout the discussion, Bozelka and Christman highlight different cases. The pair also takes a closer look at the path Bozelka took to become an emergency room veterinarian and why he feels it’s a great spot for him to work in.

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

I was kind of thrusted, or propelled, into (emergency medicine). I came out and did my internship with the intention to be a cardiologist. That did not work out and I was turned down for a couple of years for specialty internships, residencies, fellowships, and things like that. And while I was applying for the specialty internships, I just stayed working emergency and the clinic I am at, I get a lot of cardiac emergencies, so it kind of scratches that itch for me just enough where I am happy there. 

I did not think I would like emergency but I am kind of a severe ADHD person with a lot of energy. I am kind of like a lab just barrelling through people thinking I am smaller than I am and ER kind of just fits that. It has enough go go go to where my mind can jump from case to case. So, after I did not get accepted for things, I was actually really comfortable working in the ER. 

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dr Adam Christman and Dr Frank Bozelka discuss the differences between veterinary emergency rooms and urgent cares

Urgent Care vs. Emergency Room

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, sits down with Alexis Hansen, Bs, LVT, RVT, VTS (ECC), to talk about the ins and outs of blood transfusion medicine, plus what makes a good donor. 

So you want to monitor your patient the entire time. Often, if you are going to get that really big anaphylactic type reaction, it's going to happen in generally the first 15 minutes. [It is] kind of doctor dependent, I find more so less doctors pre-medicating with Diphenhydramine or steroids unless it's something that the patient is already receiving for whatever disease process they have going on. But you want to monitor your temperature, heart rate, we do monitor mucous membranes, it can take a little bit longer for those to become pink again, their respiratory rate, their respiratory effort, kind of their mentation. 

Get a refresher on transfusion medicine on this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast.

Who's your type? Transfusion medicine

When it comes to an emergency in the clinic, knowing what to look out for or what steps to complete can be the difference between life and death for some pets. In this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Erica Brandt (Mattox), CVT, VTS (ECC), offers 5 pearls on how to successfully triage your patients, plus why listening to pet parents can help lead to a diagnosis. 

My first tip, besides take a deep breath and remain calm, would be really listen to what happened to that pet and use your common sense and your experience to tell you if this patient was hit by a car. Just because it came in wagging its tail, just because it has some adrenaline, does that mean that the pet is really doing okay? And just really listen to the keywords that you are hearing to tell you what you should be watching for on this pet.  

Erica Brandt (Mattox), CVT, VTS (ECC), joins The Vet Blast Podcast to help prepare you and your team in an emergency

5 tips to successfully navigate patient triage

Christopher G. Byers, DVM, DACVECC, DACVIM (SAIM), CVJ, joins The Vet Blast Podcast to talk about his book 

Feline Emergency & Critical Care Medicine. 

He chats with Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, about the need for such a textbook and the help it provides in the exam room.

Christopher G. Byers, DVM, DACVECC, DACVIM (SAIM), CVJ

: So each chapter in this textbook has 2 parts. So, there is what we call a summary section, which is for the busy clinician on the floor [that] needs to look up a topic and can get right down to the nitty-gritty: relevant [pathophysiology], the tests that are needed, what these patients look like on physical exam with individual problems...and the recommended treatments that are current best practices. And we have all kinds of algorithms and beautiful charts that our graphic designers with Edra publishing are doing. But then the second part of each chapter called the comprehensive section, [which] does the deep dive for those of us that like to swim in [pathophysiology] and want to know more about why specific treatments or specific diagnostic tests are recommended.

Christopher G. Byers, DVM, DACVECC, DACVIM (SAIM), CVJ, discusses his book Feline Emergency & Critical Care Medicine

Feline emergency and critical care medicine

Emergency care expert Emily Dozeman, DVM, DACVECC, says that as a criticalist, it's important to recognize which patients are critically sick versus those that aren't. She adds that among the most common emergency room (ER) cases include cats with urinary issues and pets experiencing vomiting and diarrhea. 

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dozeman provides tips and tricks when working with polytrauma patients, plus offers guidance on how to assess these patients. 

“It is making sure that your patient is stable," Dozeman tells Adam Christman, DVM, MBA. "You [have] to cover up those wounds, [deal] with them even though they could be the most grueling thing to look at. You need to make sure that your patient’s blood pressure is normal, their respiratory efforts—all of those things are going to be your priorities."

She then gets candid about her own experiences of dealing with polytrauma patients and her examination process. 

"When I see these patients and I evaluate them, I start from the head then go to the tail in a very cursory exam while at the same time, my skilled technicians are starting on resuscitation. You know, for me it really those immediate kinds of actions that can be life or death in these patients,” she says.

Additionally, Dozeman discussed tips on handling patients with seizures, her favorite part of specialty care, and more. Listen to the full episode below!

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dr Emily Dozeman offers up invaluable advice for managing polytrauma patients, plus gets candid about her own ER experiences.

 Episode 60: All things ER and critical cases

With high volumes of anxiety, depression, compassion fatigue, and burnout, it’s no question that veterinary technicians jump through hoops daily to ensure their clinic’s success. Taking the brunt of the entire practice protocol from beginning to end, they work tirelessly around the clock to save their patients every day.

For emergency technician Marlaina Hrosch, LVT, RVT, a training manager at Veterinary Emergency Group in White Plains, NY, it’s a tough job but a labor of love.

“I love not knowing what’s going to walk in the door. I love that rush that you get when that critical patient comes in,” she tells Dr. Christman in the latest episode of The Vet Blast Podcast.

“You see a lot of not so happy things— but when those cases come in that are supercritical— bite wounds— something along those lines and you get to take care of them and see them go home a couple of days later—there’s nothing better than that to me,” she says.

Hrosch also offers some insight into what it means to be a veterinary technician. In the emergency setting, she says technicians are generally responsible for triaging new cases, helping to stabilize critical cases, and taking care of the in-patients. Hrosch is also responsible for training all the technicians within her company throughout the US.

Another key technician role: client communication, especially in emergency clinics, says Hrosch, adding that building repour and trust with clients makes it easier to ask those tough questions.

“You can learn a lot from [your] veterinary technicians,” says Hrosch, “So, don’t overlook the value in veterinary technicians. There are different levels of knowledge…. but for the most part, we can be incredibly helpful.”

Listen below to learn more about this veterinary technician’s journey through emergent care, along with her advice for new graduates.

On this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dr. Christman, speaks with Marlaina Hrosch, LVT, RVT, who explains the ins and outs of the emergency technician role.

Episode 22: What it takes to be an emergency care veterinary technician

Practicing for 15 years and counting, Kristin Welch, DVM, DACVECC

critical care specialist at the Charleston Veterinary Referral Center in South Carolina, talks about how to avoid five common mistakes veterinarians make in the emergency room.

Poor communication with both clients and staff, ranked at the top of her list, can have potential serious detrimental effects on emergent patients, Dr. Welch says. One way to avoid this is to make sure a complete medical history is obtained. To avoid verbal transmission errors, she also recommends using closed-loop communication with team members, in which the team member repeats the request before acting on it to ensure it was heard correctly.

“So if you ask somebody for 15 mg of prednisone and they hear 50 mg of prednisone, that obviously could be a life or death situation,” Dr. Welch says.

Additionally, she breaks down the concept of shock fluids, why steroids are not for everyone, why you should be cautious when using NSAIDs, and why you should avoid shotgun therapy.

Listen in to learn more about these common ER mistakes and how to prevent them. 

In this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, Dr. Kristin Welch talks about some common mistakes veterinarians make in the emergency setting.

Episode 8: Five mistakes to avoid in the veterinary ER 

Nationwide analyzed data to see which breeds are more susceptible to injuries because of behavioral traits

How puppy behaviors can be linked with health issues

Deb Zoran, DVM, PhD MS, director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team, describes some of what wildfire response volunteers saw during their recent deployment, in an interview with dvm360®.

Reaching patients affected by wildfire

NAVC Gives awarded the team these funds for its Smokehouse Creek fire response 

Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Response Team receives $10,000

Kristin Welch, DVM, DACVECC, criticalist and founder of DVM STAT Consulting, explains first steps of care for stratifying the severity of injuries in a patient with trauma.

Handling emergency triage in veterinary medicine

Lacey Rosenberg, DVM, DACT, shares her tips for a successful neonatal resuscitation

Best practices for neonatal resuscitation

In an interview with Lacey Rosenberg, DVM, DACT, an associate veterinarian for Veterinary Specialties at the Lake in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, she explained her start in veterinary theriogenology and interest in animal reproduction. She also described the technique for a neonatal resuscitation and some of the tools she uses during the Fetch dvm360 conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 So growing up, I had like pretty much every pet and my mom had this hyper fixation on breeding animals. So, we had purebred collies and we had a litter of collies. And then we like had a cat that got out and got pregnant, we have a litter of kittens...So kind of just growing up, [I was] always exposed to animals, always exposed to breeding, and really just found the science of reproduction fascinating.

Neonatal resuscitation, when we kind of think about it, from our perspective, it's after a C-section. So usually you've got a whole litter of puppies or kittens that were trying to wake up from some level of anesthesia at once. So the most important thing is really having your resuscitation area ready and having all of your tools.

Emergency & Critical Care

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