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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.

Shannon Bass, DVM, president of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association,and host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA,  to discuss the NCVMA's role in helping those impacted by disasters.

The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360: Are you prepared for a disaster?

On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomed Shannon Bass, DVM, president of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association to discuss preparedness and ways to help if you are in or near an area that was impacted by some type of disaster. Throughout the episode, Bass shared with Christman why professionals should not just self-deploy, where to access grants, and how much NCVMA has been able to give back to its veterinary community. 

The communities like to get involved too. So not just, I'm assuming, not just the veterinary professionals too, but pet owners and alike, they really want to get involved. So it sounds like it's a collaborative approach to disaster preparedness.

It really is, and we saw so many examples of a shelter might say, I need cat litter. And so pretty quickly, what we saw within a few days, they'd get cat litter, but then someone would find that social media post a week later and start to propagate it again. And then the shelter would get the second and third and fourth wave of cat litter that they didn't meet at that time, and they had no place to store it at that time.

So it was really tricky when you saw kind of this glut of supplies. And then on the non veterinary side, when I was there, a few times, you would drive by churches that had just tables of soaking wet clothes in their parking lot, because so many random clothes had been donated with no real destination that they were just going to get thrown in the trash.

It's unbelievable. And I know the AVMA has some resources through their website as well, right?

They have some great resources. And the AVMF, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, they donated to the NCVMA. They were great partners. They have wonderful grants as well. And so any AVMA member, and I do think they even have a set of grants for non members. And so the AVMA is has been a really great partner for us. We were able to establish 2 different grants that were new just for this disaster, one [was] veterinary community grants, and those were $300 grants that were available to any veterinary staff member. All they had to do was prove to us that they were employed at a veterinary hospital on the day of the storm. They didn't have to have receipts. It didn't have to be for any specific expense. It was a community grant for those individuals, and that has felt really good. It's not a ton of money, but it's something to to help folks in that area

NCVMA president Shannon Bass, DVM, shares how veterinary teams can help and be more prepared for a natural disaster

Are you prepared for a disaster?

In the morning of January 7, 2025, a series of wildlife fires started in the Los Angeles area of California. Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions, the fires engulfed homes and land across thousands of acres. The fires have caused families across the area to flee their homes, and some injured, including pets and other animals.

Tips to help prepare clients and the veterinary team for a disaster situation

To help those impacted by the fires, Antonio Pedraza, DVM, MVM, cert SAS, MRCVS, and his team at the Sevilla Veterinary Hospital in Santa Monica, California, opened its doors 24/7 to provide free veterinary care to pets harmed in the devastating fires. On this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360, Pedraza joins host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, to share what this experience as like and when he began to take the action needed to help these families and pets. 

That's incredible. And not only that, too, Doctor, I mean, you've opened up your clinic seven days a week you're seeing patients and providing care and helping out. Share with the listeners what what you and your team have been doing.

Antonio Pedraza, DVM, MVM, cert SAS, MRCVS

: The day of the fire that was on Wednesday, we basically, we were glued to the TV, basically just we didn't know what to do. And there was one moment that we decide to move forward. And as you know, veterinarians always we like to to do a little bit step on and step in, basically, and get better and help our patients and people, and what we decide to do is we decide to close our normal veterinary services and focus on providing care to the animals in needs. 

All the members of my hospital, we were able to show up to work even though they were very close to the to the fire, but they really wanted to do something different, right? And we offer a wide range of medical attention from of free treatment, including exam, diagnostics, X-rays, any kind of blood work, medication, to ensure that every pet received attention that they needed. And as you know, there was a lot of local rescues that were said to be full with this place animal and this animal, they need to be treated, and also they were separated from their family or injured from the these [disasters], you know, what we decide to do is to provide any kind of medical care and surgical care free, with no cost to the to the patient. 

Stelloh T, Lenthang M, Cohen R, Helsel P. California wildfires: What we know about LA-area fires, what caused them, who is affected and more. NBC News. January 18, 2025. Accessed January 29, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-wildfires-what-we-know-palisades-eaton-los-angeles-rcna188239

Antonio Pedraza, DVM, MVM, cert SAS, MRCVS, shares more on the work he is doing to help pets impacted by the wildfires in California on this week's episode of The Vet Blast Podcast

Providing care for animals during the California wildfires

, 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.

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.

Emergency & Critical Care

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