Rotation 6

ATE1652L Rotation 6

(Nursing/Anesthesia Section)

Surgical Nursing & Anesthetic Monitoring

A circulating assistant (non-sterile) should be available to place needed supplies and equipment onto the Mayo stand. All personnel should have cap and mask on prior to placing sterile items onto the Mayo stand. Materials should be opened facing away from the body and allowed to fall onto the stand so that the assistant's arms are not directly over the top of the Mayo stand.

The surgical assistant should arrange the instruments and supplies on the Mayo stand prior to the start of surgery. The assistant may also be responsible for operating the surgical suction and passing and holding instruments for the surgeon. A circulating (non-sterile) assistant should be present to provide any additional items that may be needed by the surgeon.

During any anesthetic procedure, the technician should maintain a written record of the patient's status during the procedure. Vital signs should be monitored and recorded at least every five minutes. For longer procedures, the technician-anesthetist should 'sigh' (i.e. fully inflate the lungs) the patient every fifteen minutes.

This is an example showing the back page of a completed anesthesia flow chart. Note that the left hand scale was used to indicate the expected ranges of heart and respiratory rate for this feline patient. Vital signs were monitored and recorded every five minutes. The surgery start time and time of extubation were both noted on the form.

This patient was anesthetized for a total of 70 minutes. During the procedure, the veterinary technician used the lower portion of the form as a visual indication of the patient trends (i.e. heart rate increase/decrease) and adjustments were made to the % of anesthetic gas being delivered to the patient.