A sound understanding of heart disease and the mechanisms of heart failure are crucial for veterinary nurses because they are relatively common presentations in small animal practice. Nurses will probably be familiar with the patient presenting in acute life-threatening heart failure, or making up medications for chronic heart failure patients, or maybe the cat suddenly off its back legs in acute pain. This lecture will discuss the most common presentations of heart disease and heart failure diagnosed in dogs and cats and will provide practical suggestions for nurses on the aims of treatment, clinical signs to monitor, and information to discuss with owners.
The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine recently published consensus statements on myxomatous mitral valve disease and feline cardiomyopathies, which classified these diseases into categories. Although aimed at veterinary surgeons, these statements provide nurses with background knowledge to help support their patients and will be discussed in this lecture.
- Categorise heart disease and progression to heart failure
- Discuss the presentation and nursing requirements of patients with acute heart failure
- Discuss the presentation and nursing requirements of patients with chronic heart failure
- Apply optimal nursing strategies to patients in respiratory compromise
Nursing
Presented by Charlotte Pace, BVNA President - BVNA
Presented at BVA Live 2023
BVNA Nursing Theatre
Friday, 12 May, 09:00 - 09:50
Please note this session is not RACE-approved but you can still earn a CPD certificate