Veterinary Anesthesia Training

10/14/2024

Happy veterinary technician week to all credentialed veterinary technicians!

I’ve held the title of licensed veterinary technician for over 20 years now and have gotten to work alongside many incredible, inspiring CrVTs in my career. Through the years I’ve worked and consulted with many clinics and many incredible, inspirational CrVTs.

Our work demands more of us on an emotional level then many other careers. We work with animals and situations others have a hard time even hearing about, let alone caring for. The empathy required for this role and the compassion we all share unities us in a unique, incredible way. I am continuously in awe and impressed by the CrVT's who have engaged with me over the years in growing their skills and always keeping a growth mindset to give the best care to our patients we can!

Though anesthesia and pain management will always be my first love, as I continue to grow in my own career, I’m focusing more on how to educate veterinary staff ways we can better take care of ourselves through integrative wellness practices. I understand first hand how mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting this career is AND I’ve more recently learned and discovered ways to help balance ourselves using scientifically proven ways to regulate the nervous system. So that, when we need to, we can shift the healing focus to ourselves on a regular basis and to offer the same compassion and healing that we so willingly offer our patients.

Happy veterinary technician week from Mindful vet training!

How are you growing and evolving in your CrVT career? Where did you begin and where are you now?
What's one thing you can do now that you never thought you'd be able to do at the beginning of your career?

10/01/2024

🧿 Back with another TL;DR! Needed a bit more time to explain this one.....

Do you have a few minutes to learn the how, what, and why behind preoxygenation in small animal patients?

What's your preoxygenation process?

Let me know what you think in the comments below 🩺

08/28/2024

How many of you use Cerenia as a part of your perioperative protocol? 🙋‍♀️

How many of you dread giving it SQ because of how animals react? 🤦‍♀️

Check out this video for 3 easy ways to reduce the pain and stress of SQ Cerenia!

Know of any more techniques? Share them in the comments below!

08/16/2024

For mental health week, I changed up my TL;DR to Too Stressed; Didn't Rest. Here's one of them that explains emotional freedom tapping which is a wonderful, easy technique to help regulate your nervous system in the moment when you're feeling stress or overwhelm.

What techniques are helpful to you in the moment?

08/06/2024

Thanks, VetCandy, for the story!

Discover how Michelle Albino, a licensed veterinary technician and VTS (Anesthesia & Analgesia) expert, is revolutionizing animal care. From her beginnings in NYC to founding Mindful Training and Consultation, Michelle is closing the gap between CrVTs and veterinarians, integrating wellness prac

07/03/2024

It's the week of new guidelines in vet med: The 2024 AAHA fluid guidelines are here!

There’s also an algorithm for hypotension, not unlike the process I created for teams! What do you all think? Are these the steps you take when a patient is hypotensive under anesthesia? Will these guidelines shift the way you administer perioperative fluid therapy?

Animal hospitals around the world earn AAHA accreditation to strengthen their business, advance their team, and provide the best possible care to companion animals.

06/28/2024

🙏🏻 Recover guidelines are out!

I’ve got two interactive trainings on interpreting the recover guidelines for general practice and shelter medicine. Check out my website and send me a message to schedule training! 🩺

Exciting news! We are pleased to announce that the 2024 RECOVER Guidelines have been published! The guidelines are available in an open-access issue of Wiley’s Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14764431/2024/34/S1 and on the RECOVER Initiative website: https://recoverinitiative.org/2024-guidelines/ and introduce essential changes that reflect the latest in veterinary science and practice. Dive into the new guidelines to stay at the forefront of lifesaving veterinary CPR practices!

06/17/2024

Where are my southwestern CrVTs?!

I’m moving to New Mexico next month and will be speaking at the NM Humane Conference August 12th on the topic of “Fear, anxiety, and stress: A Holistic Approach”.

Hope to see some of you there and meet the community!

06/17/2024

In addition to anesthesia and pain management, I'm extremely dedicated to the advancement and inclusion of wellness training and resources in veterinary medicine, specifically for doctors, credentialed veterinary technicians, and veterinary support staff. Our nervous systems need healing and we need training and support from people who know what it's like to work in clinics as your full time job to fully understand the scope of the challenges.

If you registered for ACVIM, check out these two trainings I provided for the virtual forum on euthanasia decisions and communication! Even though these are recording presentations, I made the trainings interactive to keep you engaged throughout. Let me know what you think 🤩

https://2024acvimforum.eventscribe.net/login.asp?intended=https%3A%2F%2F2024acvimforum%2Eeventscribe%2Enet%2Fajaxcalls%2FPresentationInfo%2Easp%3FPresentationID%3D1355067

05/16/2024

Ah…. The sacrococcygeal block. Is there any better way to target pain on the first order neuron chain in the ER for procedures caudal to the perineum?? I think not.

Here’s LVT Jenny D adding an SC block to this poor pup with a pr*****ed re**um that were helping to correct. Just because we practice practical medicine and contextualized care doesn’t mean we hold back on multimodal pain mgmt! We add local blocks insofar whenever applicable 🩺🤙🏻

Check out an SOP here to read more:
https://www.aaha.org/aaha-guidelines/2020-aaha-anesthesia-and-monitoring-guidelines-for-dogs-and-cats/local-anesthetic-techniques/for-perineal-procedures/

04/24/2024

If I had a dollar for every time I got asked "Is it ok to give anticholinergics in an anesthetized patient who was premeded with Dexmedetomidine".....

For those of you out there who reverse with Atipamezole intra-op to offset bradycardia - have a listen!

Let me know what y'all think in the comments ⬇️

04/23/2024

Check out this article from ATD on keeping neurodiverse learners in mind when building out or facilitating a training.

For those of you CrVT trainers out there - do you take this into consideration? How so?

So many of us in vet med are extremely empathetic and highly sensitive. Personally, I am highly affected by sights and sounds and can be prone to sensory overload, and so have to make considerations for myself if I’ll be training in a clinic for an entire day such as nervous system regulation practices before and after.

What helps you learn and perform best?

Workers with autism, dyslexia, or other neurological differences will benefit from training designed with them in mind.

04/19/2024

So excited to be here in Aurora, CO for the CACVT conference!

I’ll be giving a workshop tomorrow on the 8 steps to impactful presentations, and speaking for 3 hours Sunday morning on managing hypotension, physiology of FAS, and sedative pharmacology.

Hope to see you there!

04/11/2024

Hot off the presses - the 2024 Guidelines for NSAID administration in cats!

There's a ton of great information in here - have a look :)

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03/27/2024

Ever find yourself wondering when it's appropriate to use Etomidate over other injectable anesthetics?

You're not alone! I get asked this question quite often and so it's my first topic in a new series titled TL;DR where I break down a concept in 60 seconds.

In general you should choose Etomidate when abrupt changes in cardiac output cannot be tolerated by the patient. But how do we know that if we don't have an echo or maybe even radiograph? Check out my tips in the video :)

When do YOU choose Etomidate? Let me know in the comments👇

03/20/2024

Beyond proud to work for the ASPCA animal hospital in NYC. Check out this article hot off the presses, describing our training opportunities and focus on access to care in veterinary medicine.

The ASPCA currently offers 17 training programs for veterinary professionals and students.

03/07/2024

Lets’s talk about signage!

What cognitive aids do you keep available at your crash stations?

Since our assistants always want to know how they can help during a code, I’ve added a list of those duties to our crash area, as well as an algorithm for interpreting arrhythmias, and examples🩺

How else do you change your environment to set your team up for CPR success??

03/02/2024

How to use your capnograph during CPR - in less than 4 minutes!

Here's a quick snippet from my 3-part series deep dive featuring the new CPR algorithm on why having a capnograph on a patient during CPR is SO helpful. The concept of ventilation/perfusion mismatch can be a tough one to understand when you're new to anesthesia and emergency - hopefully this helps explain the concept a little 🩻

For the full series, visit ASPCA Learn to sign up for a free account and search for "RECOVER CPR guidelines".

What else do you want to see microlearnings on in the topic of anesthesia and pain management??

Let me know in the comments ⬇️

02/26/2024

Where are you at in your veterinary career? Is it hard for you to admit when you don't know something? Can you find the value in saying, "I don't know?"

02/13/2024

Virtual CE Opportunity with yours truly!

Virtual opportunity coming up to hear me babble on about anesthesia on the topic of fluid administration and ECG interpretation (and how you can make it stick for your staff because lets be real).

When: March 13th, 7p-9p EST
How to register: Sign into your NYSVMS login and register here:

https://members.nysvms.org/events/hvvms-webinar-intraoperative-fluid-therapy-developing-a-hypotension-algorithm/register

01/22/2024

Who's attending ACVIM in June?

I'll be giving two lectures on the virtual wellness track on humane euthanasia. One on the family quality of life, which was published as an article in JAVMA earlier this year, and the second on how to optimize communication for end of life decisions.

Anything specific you'd like to see in these presentations? Let me know!