VeterinaryAnesthesia: drug protocol and dose calculation
The day before the live anesthesia you get the Anesthesia Record of the dog assigned to you, with its body weight and estimated age, and a list of drugs with their concentrations and dose ranges. In 45 minutes you plan an anesthesia of more than 3 hours for a routine spay, calculate the dose and the volume of every drug and write why you chose each one. It is part 1 of the Anesthesia section of the ECFVG Clinical Proficiency Examination.
Free to startScenarios
- A dog scheduled for a routine ovariohysterectomy, planned as ASA status 1, with its weight and estimated age on the Anesthesia Record.
- The drugs come from the list in the Manual: acepromazine, alfaxalone, atipamezole, atropine, buprenorphine, butorphanol, carprofen, diazepam, dexmedetomidine, glycopyrrolate, hydromorphone, isoflurane, ketamine, maropitant citrate, meloxicam, methadone, midazolam, morphine, propofol, sevoflurane.
The steps
- Read the Anesthesia Record of your dog: body weight and estimated age.
- Assuming ASA status 1, choose the premedication drugs.
- Choose the induction drug.
- Choose the maintenance anesthetic.
- Plan the pain management for a procedure of more than 3 hours.
- Calculate the final dose and the final volume of every drug you chose from the concentration provided. Critical point
- Write each drug on the Anesthesia Record with its concentration, dose, volume and route, plus the IV fluid and its rate.
- Write your reasons for choosing each drug for this dog.
- Say which drugs, if any, you want mixed before they are given; you can also tell the examiner on the anesthesia day.
- Put your name or ID on every page and hand everything in before the 45 minutes end.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Calculating a potentially harmful overdose and not correcting it before trying to give the drug is a fatal flaw: the examiners never let it be given, and the Anesthesia section fails.
To pass
- Anesthesia is pass or fail: failing 1 MAJOR skill or any 4 MINOR skills fails the section, and a fatal flaw fails it on the spot.
- On this sheet the drug choice with its written reasons is a MINOR skill and the volume calculation is a MAJOR skill.
- The section coordinator or the examiner grades the choices, the calculations and the comments; the drugs are then prepared exactly as you calculated them for the live anesthesia the next day.
Official source
Manual of Administration for the Clinical Proficiency Examination
The AVMA publishes the CPE Manual of Administration free: every station, its assessment sheet and the score needed to pass.
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