Many of our clients are understandably anxious about anesthesia and its effects on their pets during surgery. In order to minimize the risks associated with these procedures, it is important to watch carefully for indicators of anesthetic depth. There are many ways which we can monitor the depth of anesthesia including, respiratory rate, eye position, jaw tone, heart rate and other physiologic parameters. Our ability to monitor our patients during anesthesia has improved recently due to our acquisition of the Vetspecs PM4. This is a monitor which combines the ability to determine electrocardiogram, core body temperature, heart rate, airway direct respiratory rate and oxygen saturation. Monitoring these values can give us more information regarding a patients status and alert us to the need for intervention should problems arise. The PM4 also automatically stores information on a flash drive which can be used to view trends and retrieve vital information from a pets anesthetic episode.
Of course this new unit will not replace the human element for truly monitoring our patients, but it should give us additional information to help us more safely attend to their needs.

posted by Dr. Billeter @ 3:03 PM |