Unbreak my heart – managing cardiac emergencies

ECG’s can be daunting, it is an area of veterinary nursing that is not taught in great detail and one that is sometimes avoided because it is poorly understood. This webinar will go back to basics; where better to start than at the beginning? 

Cardiac emergencies require urgent attention, and delay of treatment to these patients may cause fatalities. Understanding how the condition will affect the patient is key to understanding treatment efficacy and the importance of the nurse’s role within the management of these patients. This webinar will take an in-depth look at emergency management and treatment of common cardiac emergencies that present to the ER. Specific topics will include congestive heart failure, arrhythmia's, and pericardial effusion. During this one-hour session, top tips and deeper understanding of pathophysiology, clinical symptoms, treatment and nursing considerations will be addressed. A comprehensive focus on ECG interpretation and introduction to ultrasound techniques through case studies will help the nurse with case management.

Feline heartworm disease, caused by Dirofilaria immitis worms, is a good example of where a cat is definitely not a small dog. Infection in dogs tends to be better tolerated, the adult worms are more likely to reach patency and diagnosis and treatment are (relatively) easier than in cats. The reasons for these differences, what can be done to ensure cats avoid this infection and measures to take when cats have the infection will be explored in this webinar. The webinar will also provide an update on heartworm infection in the US, where resistance to heartworm preventives is evolving while researchers seek to understand the factors that led to the genesis of resistance and new solutions, whilst heartworm infection continues to spread. The implications that climate change may have on the epidemiology of heartworm disease will be explored.