ECG, ACID/BASE & LYTES
Image 1: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195561613000648?via=ihub
Image 2: www.vetlexicon.com/canis/cardiology/articles/ventricular-tachycardia/
Image 3: www.vetlexicon.com/canis/cardiology/articles/ventricular-fibrillation/
Many of us have a ‘thing’ about ECGs and blood gases, but understanding and using these tests is easier than you think.
You already have the background knowledge to interpret blood gases and ECGs: we’ll show you how to join the dots and use these tests in clinical practice. Electrolytes and lactate are the cherries on top.
This is a must-do CPD course for all veterinary professionals. See how you can integrate these fundamental tests from critical care, and how you could be using blood gas, electrolytes, lactate and ECGs to improve the scope of your workups. Deliver more accurate treatments for your patients – and faster – with these tools.
These emergency & critical care tests are accessible & useful to veterinary professionals everywhere
Acutely ill patients often present with irregular rhythms, acid/base derangements and electrolyte abnormalities. This course is about getting your head around the diagnostics, and making positive steps for the patient that’s waiting for you.
Practical ECGs
ECGs have this aura of mystery, but they aren’t as complex as you might think. We’ll cover some easy rules and show you how to apply them in two different types of arrhythmia: a heart that’s beating too fast, and a heart that’s beating too slowly. We’ll springboard from there, but it doesn’t get much simpler than that.
It’s time to take notice of the acid/base situation
Blood gases aren’t just for specialist hospitals. They can help you decide when to initiate emergency treatment and determine patient prognosis (think paralysis tick cases). Blood gases aren’t as tricky as those university flashbacks are telling you, and they can make a huge difference to survival rates in any veterinary clinic, including yours.
Electrolytes have far-reaching effects
Sodium, chloride, potassium and calcium are all on the hit list for medical workups, but they are also important for surgical ones, too. See how each of these important electrolytes can affect your patient, and how they can guide your stabilisation and treatment efforts, as well as surgical decision making.
When lactate is your friend
Did you cop a nasty exlap on Friday night? How is the patient’s lactate after surgery? Nowadays, serum lactate is absolutely achievable in-house, and it doesn’t cost the earth. Should you be using it? Almost certainly – but with caveats. We’ll explain how it can help you with diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring when your clients want answers and your nursing team wants action.
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SIX MONTHS OF ACCESS TO ALL MODULES
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FLEXIBLE CPD WHEN YOU WANT
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DOWNLOADABLE NOTES
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CERFITICATE UPON COMPLETION
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MOBILE FRIENDLY INTERFACE
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IN-HOUSE TESTING
ECGs
- Understanding when an ECG will progress your workup (& when it won’t)
- How to get a meaningful trace
- How to identify the big red flags in your ECG readout
- How to make a cageside interpretation that drives treatment decisions
- What to send away if you’re seeking a second opinion
Blood gas
- When to use it & why you should have it (or not)
- Venous versus arterial sampling
- Hear about the relationship between acidosis & acidaemia
- Make sense of alkalosis & alkalaemia
- What an acid/base derangement means for the patient in front of you
Electrolytes
- The clinical significance of sodium & chloride derangements
- How serum potassium levels can be just the tip of the iceberg
- When to order ionised calcium levels
- How to approach hypocalcaemia
- When hypercalcaemia should be the start of a witch hunt
Lactate
- Really understand the relationship between serum lactate & hypoperfusion
- See how lactate helps you diagnose, monitor & treat critically ill patients
- What lactate tells you about patients with hypovolaemic, septic or cardiogenic shock
- How to use lactate as a prognostic indicator in GDVs & GIT FB obstruction cases
- How to use lactate to make informed fluid resuscitation plans
Course Modules
BONUS MODULE – What the ECG is Telling You About Your Patient
This introductory module is free to all veterinary professionals, and will give you a taste of what’s to come in this excellent online course. The focus is on abnormal heart rates: too fast or too slow, and what ECG can tell us about our patients. In this short masterclass, we talk about what the ECG means in terms of heart function, and when we should be running an ECG for the patient in front of us.
Module 1: ECGs & the Approach to Tachyarrhythmias
So you’ve been chanting ‘Is there a P for every QRS?’ … and then what? This is the sticking point for many of us who are intimidated by ECGs, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The first two modules of this course approach ECGs slightly differently. By breaking things down into tachyarrhythmias versus bradyarrhythmias, you’ll get a simple set of guidelines to help you make sense of the trace. We’ll match it to the physiology you already have, so you can apply the ECG readout to the patient in front of you.
Module 2: ECGs & the Approach to Bradyarrhythmias
Enjoy a moment of clarity when you map the ECG trace against the physical action of the heart. In this session, we’ll use the clinical approach to bradycardia to help you get your head around matching the lines to the beats. Your interpretation of an ECG could be the difference between a life threatening situation, and a life saving one.
Module 3: Sodium & Chloride
What can decreased sodium tell you about your patient? There’s diarrhoea, vomiting, diabetes mellitus and others. And then there’s increased sodium with diarrhoea, vomiting, diabetes mellitus, and others. That seems unfair. Then consider chloride. Increased levels can be found with diarrhoea and vomiting. Decreased levels can also suggest both diarrhoea and vomiting. It all sounds complicated on the surface, but the key to interpretation is context. In this module, we’ll explore how to investigate electrolyte derangements in sodium and chloride, citing real clinical cases.
Module 4: Potassium & Calcium
Ah, potassium. It’s not all blocked cats and kidney disease, you know. The issue here is that serum potassium levels change along with acidosis and alkalosis, and that puts it into the Very Important category. There’s also calcium. Remember HARDIONS-G? It’s still a thing. Module 4 focuses on anticipating what your patient’s potassium or calcium derangement means, and what action you should take to protect them from what’s already happening… or what’s about to happen next.
Module 5: Acid/Base & Lactate
Why? Because acid/base matters! Yes, there’s some technical data in this section, but work with us on this, because it’ll help you with the next part. The bottom line is: the pH of blood is very tightly controlled under healthy circumstances. When the balance is upset, you might need to intervene and it could be urgent. How do you know when to make your move? The blood gas results will tell you.
Here’s an example. If your patient has a significant respiratory acidosis, it can herald ventilatory failure or an issue with the CNS control of ventilation. You might need to ventilate.
Respiratory alkalosis is the flip side. Sure, it could just be your anxious patient panting at 120 breaths a minute, but it could also be a sign of pulmonary embolism. Or it could be respiratory alkalosis on top of a metabolic alkalosis, as you might see in sepsis. We’ll show you how to tease these out and decide what to do next for the patient.
A VETPRAC COURSE YIELDS TANGIBLE BENEFITS
INVEST
Six modules of flexible online learning & $497 investment in your professional development
LEARN
Integrate ECG diagnostics into your practice and see how your patients benefit
RETURN
Recognise & address critical situations sooner, & feel confident with diagnostic interpretation
Your Educator
Dr Katie Nash
CHOOSE YOUR PAYMENT OPTION
ONE-TIME INVESTMENT
$497 AUD
PAYMENT PLAN
x 4 monthly instalments of $134
Your Questions Answered
What is “On Demand”?
How and when do I access learning materials?
We use a one-stop learning platform for our web-based courses. It’s intuitive, simple and easy to navigate, and we’ll email login details to you as soon as your purchase is confirmed. You can access notes, recordings and resources any time of day or night via your personalised course library. You don’t have to watch a whole video in one sitting, and you’re in complete control.
How long is course access open?
24/7 access is available for 6 months via your course library, starting on your purchase date. For example, if you sign up on July 1st, your access will be open until January 1st the following year. We’ve chosen 6 months because veterinary medicine moves fast and our goal is to provide up to date learning materials to the VetPrac community. The education team will assess, review and update the course at the end of the subscription period. This way, we know we’re offering only current and relevant information.
What kind of learning materials are included?
Each course is different but they all include video presentations recorded live during our most popular online courses and webinars. Our educators may provide a variety of other resources, so you can expect images, diagrams, course notes, slide presentations, journal articles, links to further reading, and more.
Is there learning support available?
Of course! We’ll stay in touch with a monthly email to check in with you, and share important information with you. We’ll also remind you when your access is about to finish. If you need a hand (or if you just want to chat) our online learning team is available via email [email protected] or on 0491 943 260.
Are there assessments to complete?
Yes, but they’re not mandatory. At the end of the course there will be multiple-choice questions available through the learning platform. You’ll need to pass these to receive your CPD certificate.
Will I get CPD points and a CPD certificate?
Each registration is worth a specified number of CPD points. Once you complete the quiz questions at the end of the course, a certificate will be generated and emailed to you. The certificate will be issued in the name of the person listed on the registration form.
What happens when time runs out?
At the end of 6 months, your subscription will end. You’ll still be able to log in to your course library, but the On Demand course you’ve completed will disappear from the list of courses available to you. You will receive an email when you are nearing the end of your access period, so you can download any resources you need for future use.