Anaesthesia and analgesia online

Key areas:

• Fundamentals of anaesthesia
• Pre-anaesthetic assessment, sedatives and premeds
• Anaesthesia of the healthy patient – anaesthetic protocols, patient support and monitoring
• Advanced analgesia in practice
• Challenging anaesthetics and controversies – small furries, pre-anaesthetic diagnostics, things that go wrong
• Support of the critical patient under anaesthesia – more advanced monitoring, blood pressure monitoring, fluid therapy, blood transfusions, ventilators
• Anaesthesia for the critical patient – critical cases, neurological cases, neonates, geriatrics

Schedule:

Weeks 1-2 Fundamentals of anaesthesia and anaesthesia of the healthy patient.

Week 1: Introduction to course & Fundamentals of anaesthesia Introduction to the Blackboard system. Discussion of the main limitations to providing good anaesthesia to patients in delegates own practices. Online lectures: Pre-anaesthetic assessment; Sedatives and Premeds.

Week 2: Anaesthesia of the healthy patient: Choosing anaesthetic protocols and support of the patient under anaesthesia Mainly discussion based. During this week there will also be an introduction to critical reading of a scientific paper. Online lectures: Anaesthetic protocol; Patient Support & Monitoring.

Weeks 3-6: Improving anaesthetic practice and anaesthesia for challenging/critical patients.

Week 3: Advanced Analgesia in practice: More advanced analgesia, using local blocks, infusions, chronic pain management.

Week 4: Introducing challenging anaesthetics: General principles for anaesthesia of the patient with pre-existing conditions, and specific examples of some of the more commonly seen patients. Review of the scientific paper posted in week 2.

Week 5: Support of the critical patient under anaesthesia: More advanced monitoring, BP monitoring, fluid therapy, blood transfusions, ventilators.

Week 6: The challenging anaesthetic: Discussion based. Devising an anaesthetic plan for a complicated patient, and introducing controversial aspects of patient management. Discussion of anaesthesia for exotic and small mammal species. Troubleshooting when things go wrong.

Webinars

There will be four live webinars during the online course. These are available to view and interact 'live'  at the time, but they will also be available to view after the event as a recorded webinar within the course. The webinars are scheduled to take place from 9am to 10am, with registration and introduction from 8.30am, on the following dates;

• Tuesday 21st February
• Wednesday 22nd February
• Tuesday 28th February
• Wednesday 29th February

An optional practical day for the online participants is available on Friday 30th March, with a cost of £299 to attend. This will Include practice of local blocks using cadavers (epidurals, dental blocks, brachial plexus blocks etc), and practice with anaesthetic machines and monitoring equipment.

Optional Practical Day Programme

(timings subject to change)

Friday 30th March 2012

08.30 - 09.00 Registration and refreshments
09.00 - 09.30 Welcome and introduction
09.30 - 12.00 Local anaesthesia using cadaver dogs including tea/coffee break
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 - 14.00 Anaesthetic equipment and monitors
14.00 - 15.30 Case based discussions
15.30 - 16.00 Tea/Coffee break
16.00 - 17.00 Q&A session

About e-CPD

e-CPD courses at the RVC allow veterinarians from around the world to participate in interactive and in depth online learning. The courses are moderated by expert clinical staff. Depending on the course topic, they consist of a mixture of case presentations and assessment, radiographs, downloadable reference sources (notes, text book references and relevant journal articles), quizzes, weblinks and online asynchronous discussions. There is no need to log on at any particular time of the day or night so the courses can be completed in your own time. However, you do need to be able to spend at least six hours each week on the course and log on several times throughout each week to get maximum benefit. There are tasks to complete each week and usually deadlines to meet midweek and at the end of the week.

The courses are internet based so no special software or computer skills are required – you don’t have to be a computer geek to enjoy and participate fully! The unique feature of the RVC e-CPD courses is that they are much more than just an online information delivery mechanism. Interactive activities occur throughout the course, tutor input is extensive and integral to the participants’ learning, and veterinarians can share their clinical experiences with, and learn from, a diverse group of colleagues. For further information go to Online CPD.