Best practices for placing a catheter

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During this weeks episode of The Vet Blast Podcast, host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes back guest Michael Natale, LVT, to talk about his best practices for placing a catheter in your patients after a social post he shared on his social media account went viral on the topic. Within the episode, Natale shares his personal "dos and don'ts" to hopefully make this process easier for veterinary teams and patients.

Below is a partial transcript.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: So we have the restraint, and then talk to us about clipping.

Michael Natale, LVT: See, you have to be very, very careful when you're clipping. I see a lot of people being really rough with the clippers on the skin, and we get a lot of razor burn that way, right? We don't want to mess up the skin any more than it already is, especially if there are older patients. So you want to be very gentle with that. You want to make sure that those clippers are also clean, because I've seen people leave some blood on there and that is not okay.

Christman: Let's talk about that. That is a great tip, by the way, because we're so busy, Mike, and I have seen this happen and what the heck, it just takes a few seconds to clean off those clippers. Talk about transferring bacteria or trying to create a sterile field! And having clippers like that, it's certainly not helping the situation right?

Natale: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, I know at the end of my clipping I always cleaned them out with a brush, some gauze pads, and disinfectant.