With that in mind, readers will find the guidelines’ visual components to be particularly useful. However, the guidelines are designed to be as actionable as possible. More detailed references are available for pain management 2 and cat-specific anesthetic and analgesic needs, 3 and academic anesthesia textbooks address disease-, breed-, and procedure-specific anesthesia recommendations and outcomes. The guidelines are intended to be comprehensive but neither all-inclusive nor a single source for information and clinical recommendations. The objective of these guidelines is to make the anesthesia period as safe as possible for dogs and cats while providing a practical framework for delivering anesthesia care before, during, and after the anesthetic procedure.
Provision of analgesia and client/staff communication and education are critical throughout the entire process. Postanesthesia care, as communicated by the veterinary staff with the pet owner in the clinic and at home, completes the continuum. Induction and careful intubation followed by intraoperative monitoring and physiologic support in the maintenance phase are the next steps, with continued monitoring and support into the recovery phase. Anesthesia starts with a preanesthetic evaluation and stabilization (if necessary) of the patient, preparation of all of the anesthetic equipment, and selection of appropriate drugs with precise calculation of drug dosages for all phases of anesthesia. In the hospital, the anesthesia continuum includes all of the following four phases of anesthesia: preanesthesia, induction, maintenance, and recovery. At home, the continuum begins with the pet owner administering prophylactic drugs like analgesics and anxiolytics as well as fasting the pet. In addition, “anesthesia” is not limited to the period when the patient is unconscious but is a continuum of care that begins before the patient leaves home and ends when the patient is returned home with appropriate physiologic function and absent or minimal pain levels. 1 The anesthesia team has the crucial role of identifying patient comorbidities and procedure risks and minimizing the detrimental effects of perioperative pain and stress in order to provide safe and efficacious anesthesia for each patient. The statement “there are no safe anesthetic agents, there are no safe anesthetic procedures, there are only safe anesthetists” should be the dictum for the entire anesthetic process in every practice.
To meet this goal, tables, figures, and “tip” boxes with critical information are included in the manuscript and an in-depth online resource center is available at /anesthesia. The objective of these guidelines is to make the anesthesia period as safe as possible for dogs and cats while providing a practical framework for delivering anesthesia care. Anesthesia equipment selection and care is detailed. The role of perioperative analgesia, anxiolytics, and proper handling of fractious/fearful/aggressive patients as components of anesthetic safety are stressed. The critical importance of client communication and staff training have been highlighted.
The framework for safe anesthesia delivered as a continuum of care from home to hospital and back to home is presented in these guidelines. These tools should be used not only during the time the patient is unconscious but also before and after this phase. However, the use of guidelines, checklists, and training can decrease the risk of anesthesia-related adverse events. Risk for complications and even death is inherent to anesthesia. This RACE-approved web conference based on the 2020 AAHA Anesthesia and Monitoring Guidelines for Dogs and Cats covers the continuum of anesthetic care, with a focus on staff training.įor a printable PDF, click here. Now available: Step-by-Step Anesthetic Safety
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