Anaesthetic Monitoring

It is vitally important that our patients are closely monitored when they are under a general anaesthetic. Every anaesthetic, from sedation to general anaesthetic, comes with an element of risk and that is why we have a team of fantastic Veterinary Nurses monitoring our patients so closely throughout. To aid our Nurses we also have lots of monitoring equipment to make readings as accurate as possible.

Our Nurses use a monitoring chart to record the vital signs every 5 minutes with the help of the following equipment:

• Stethoscope - To measure heart rate and rhythm.
• Pulse Oximeter - This measures the pulse rate and oxygen levels in the blood.
• Capnograph - This measures the carbon dioxide level in expired breath, correlating the blood carbon dioxide level.
• Thermometer - Animals lose heat quickly when under anaesthetic so our nurses monitor this and work hard to keep temperature within normal limits. We have facilities such as heat pads, bair huggers and blankets to help with this.
• ECG - For those patients that have known heart conditions we often hook them up to the ECG monitor to keep a close eye on the electrical activity of the heart.
• Doppler - to monitor our patients blood pressure throughout their anaesthetic.

Our Veterinary Nurses are fully trained in this area. If any abnormalities or concerns are identified by the monitoring nurses the supervising Veterinary Surgeon provides immediate guidance and action.