Congress is only just around the
corner. I’ve been scrolling through the
programme penciling in all of the sessions that I’d like to attend. Although having said that I think that David
Mountford will already have put paid to any plans that I might have with the
meeting schedule that he will have already created. However, there’s always the Encore Room to
catch up with lectures afterwards.
Dave Rendle (Congress Chair) along with the
Congress Guardians has chosen such a varied array of topics and speakers that
it’s hard to choose. It’s great to see
all of the familiar faces but also refreshing to see individuals presenting at
BEVA Congress for the first time – not to mention their apprehension, which
strikes a chord. It reminds me of the
first time that I presented at Congress back in 1998. I was presenting during the final session on
the Saturday afternoon in Birmingham and had been working back at the practice
throughout that Congress and was on duty up until lunchtime on the
Saturday. I remember getting a slightly
panicky telephone call from Stuart Thorne, a then student steward who’d seen
practice with me that summer, at about 1pm enquiring of my whereabouts because
the “Speaker Preparation Room” boys were getting a little twitchy. I was still in the bakery in Tewkesbury - I
suppose that I have always been a bit lastminute.com.
The main reason for my reference to this is
the fact that the session Chair back in 1998 was John Hird, who is also chairing
a session at this year’s Congress. For
those of you who don’t know him, John qualified in 1970 and became the first
holder of a Diploma in Veterinary Anaesthesia four years later. He then practiced in Halifax (Hird &
Partners) up until the mid 90’s when he retired from the partnership and joined
the VDS. During his tenure at VDS he was
author of their notoriously entertaining Newsletter. Following his recent retirement from VDS he
is now back at the practice as a consultant providing his anaesthesia expertise. He also acts as a consultant for Abbott
Animal Health. In fact it was via this
connection that I met up with John last week.
We’ve had a fairly torrid time in our anaesthesia
department recently having experienced more complications than we’d like to
have and definitely more than we’re used to.
This trend has focused our minds and has lead to a review of our protocols. I know that Hird and partners have been using
sevoflurane since the early 2000’s when it was first introduced there by Ian McCormick
when he was there. I’ve used it on a handful of occasions and have been
impressed with it and thought that we should trial using more of it. However, none of the other anaesthetists at
TCEH have used it so I thought I’d arrange some in-house training – enter John
Hird courtesy of Abbot Animal Health. My
experience is that the recoveries aren’t any quicker but are generally
smoother…. but there’s always the one that bucks the trend! Another feature of sevoflurane is that it is eye-wateringly expensive, which will need to be
justified to my partners. However, when
considering the cost / benefit ratio – what price can you put on an unexpected
fatality?
We
had a full day at TCEH with John and four very enthusiastic anaesthetists. It was uplifting having everybody huddled
around the head end chatting away, whilst a surgical procedure was being
undertaken somewhere else on the patient, almost as an after-thought! John’s enthusiasm was infectious and it was
really inspiring to see him back in a clinical setting full of energy and
passion about his subject. At the end of
the day I probably had more questions than answers but it’s comforting and
re-assuring to hear of other people’s experiences good and bad, some similar
and some dissimilar. It makes you
realise that it really isn’t an exact science. There
are no safe anaesthetics just safe anaesthetists.
John
modeling some laser-safety glasses with his entourage
Another striking feature of our anaesthetic
regimen is that, along with most other practices / hospitals / clinics, we task
the responsibility of anaesthesia (one of the most important jobs in the
theatre – but clearly not as important as the surgeon, lest I forget) to
probably the most junior member of the veterinary team. We train them up and then after 18 months to
2 years they move on and the process starts over again. Also, as with driving, anaesthesia needs
flare and empathy, almost a sixth sense; you can teach somebody to drive but it
doesn’t necessarily make them a good driver – I should know! Is that right for the patient? Is it fair to burden a recent graduate with
that level of responsibility?
I’m eagerly anticipating what light Eddie Clutton
can shed on this subject in his Plenary lecture at Congress next week – “Anaesthesia in Horses: illness, pain,
broken legs and death”. I
suspect that he will probably also ask more questions than he provides
answers. The anaesthesia sessions on
Saturday morning will be another chance to hear about any lessons that we’ve
learnt over the years. There is also a
chance for those of you who are relatively new (and old) recruits to attend the
later morning session, “Anaesthesia for Dummies” chaired by John Hird – you are
all most welcome into the fold; surgeons need not apply – maybe that was the
reference to Dummies.
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