Surgery

Anesthetic Safety & Pain Management

Surgical and dental procedure fees vary between veterinary practices. Many supportive elements are available for practices to use. Understanding these elements will allow you to make the best medical decisions for your companion. This handout was designed to help our clients understand the difference between veterinary practice estimates. Please use this checklist when discussing fees with other practices.

• Stress and Pain Management
  - Are medications consistently administered to patients before stressful procedures such as catheter placement are performed?
  - Are extended postoperative pain medications administered to maintain patient comfort after their procedure?
  - Butorphanol (TorbugesicR) is a pain reliever of extremely short duration. Make sure the practice employs other more effective long term pain relief medications. Call if you have more detailed questions.
• Preoperative Testing
  - Are preoperative blood tests included in the estimate?
• IV Catheter
  - Is the safety of an intravenous catheter in the estimate?
• IV Fluid Support, Body Temperature
  - Is IV fluid support included to increase patient safety and comfort while anesthetized?
  - What method is used to regulate body temperature?
• Anesthetic Agent Options
  - Does the practice maintain a range of induction and maintenance anesthetic agents to allow for flexibility when planning for the individual needs of our very different patients?
  - Does the practice have a written high-risk induction protocol?
• Written Protocols
  - Does the practice maintain its own written protocols for in-depth pain and anesthetic management of patients in all risk categories?
• Anesthetic Records
  - Are detailed anesthetic records maintained that note patient response to medications, blood pressure and other monitor values during the procedure, as well as recovery notes?
• Dedicated Nurse Anesthetist
  - Is there a dedicated anesthetist for each patient or is the anesthetist performing several different tasks while only occasionally monitoring your pet?
• Anesthetic Monitoring Capabilities
  - Is every anesthetized patient monitored with carbon dioxide, blood pressure, heart monitoring, core body temperature, and oxygen concentration?