By: Erin Mays, DVM

Description:
Coagulation dysfunction in trauma has been a topic of debate for the past 20 years. Over the past decade, our understanding of the mechanisms behind trauma induced coagulopathy have improved significantly, though some concepts remain unclear.  Specifically: why do some patients develop coagulopathy and others do not?  This question holds true in veterinary trauma medicine as well- for we have yet to consistently identify such a coagulopathy in veterinary trauma studies, though many case reports exist. In this session, we will explore our understanding (as well as lack of understanding) of the mechanisms of coagulopathy in trauma and will delve into the recommended diagnostic treatment approach for cases in which coagulopathy is suspected or confirmed.  We will explore what is on the horizon to improve our understanding of coagulopathy in trauma and how we can harness what we know about the phenomenon to improve outcomes, even when advanced coagulation diagnostics are not available.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the clinical and diagnostic features of coagulopathic trauma patients
2. Understand mechanisms driving coagulation dysfunction in trauma
3. Understand the pertinent literature surrounding trauma and coagulopathy in both human and veterinary medicine
4. Understand how to apply our knowledge of coagulopathy to optimally treat trauma patients, even in resource-limited settings

Speaker Info:
Dr. Mays is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care and has special clinical and research interest in trauma resuscitation, transfusion therapy, and disorders of coagulation. Following graduation from University of Illinois in 2008, she was commissioned as an Officer in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. Following her active duty service, Dr. Mays pursued her passion for critical care medicine at NC State University where she completed specialty internship and residency in emergency and critical care. She works both in private practice and industry and has ongoing clinical research in the area of trauma hemostasis and development of novel transfusion products and strategies. Dr. Mays continues her military service in the Army Reserves.

By: Lee Palmer, DVM, MS, DACVECC, NRP, EMT-T, WEMT, CCRP, TP-C

Description:
Operational K9s (OpK9s) deployed in a tactical or high threat environment remain at high risk for suffering preventable deaths. Despite their invaluable contribution in safeguarding our society’s freedoms, prehospital trauma care for these OpK9s remains lacking. Factors hindering the availability and provision of such care include lack of: a) Veterinary Emergency Medical Service (VEMS) support b) Nationally accepted “standards of care” for Veterinary Prehospital Care, and c) standardized VEMS training courses and certifications. Veterinary professionals are increasingly requested to teach non-veterinary first responder’s canine field care. Attempts to provide or develop standardized veterinary prehospital courses are hampered by the interpretation of current state laws governing practice of veterinary medicine. As such, not only would such acts be considered out of the scope of practice of an EMSP, but also in violation of the state’s Veterinary Practice Act / Legislative Code which subjects the EMSP to legal reprisal.  The National Association of Veterinary EMS (NAVEMS) is a not-for-profit association with the mission to advocate preveterinary care legislation and to serve providers of veterinary prehospital care with the knowledge, information, and inspiration to enable them to be the best in their profession. NAVEMS is the first multidisciplinary association of veterinary professionals, EMS practitioners and K9 Handlers with a united front of delivering focused educational programs and building strong networks to enable a collaboration between Veterinary and EMS professionals to develop a National Standard for Veterinary Prehospital Care.

Course Objectives:

1. Discuss lessons learned needed for States to pursue the development of Preveterinary Care Legislation to legally allow EMS providers the ability to legally render emergency life-saving care to Operational K9s injured in the Line of Duty.
2. Discuss key points EMS agencies need to consider before providing preveterinary care to an injured OpK9 to include development of: a VEMS training program for their EMS providers, a working relationship with a regional veterinary treatment facility for provision of veterinary oversight, training, and Online Veterinary Medical Control support, and more.
3. Discuss the tenets of developing a training program for various audiences (EMS, K9 handlers). This requires veterinary personnel to have a general understanding of each audience’s scope of practice, training knowledge, available resources, and operations

Speaker Info:
Dr. Palmer is a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care and Certified Canine Rehabilitation Practitioner (CCRP) that possesses over 20 years of military, tactical and operational medicine experience. He has served in the military since 1996, currently assigned as the Group Veterinarian for the 20th Special Forces Group, Alabama Army National Guard. Dr. Palmer also serves as the Veterinarian for the 24^th Special Operations Wing and Operational K9 consultant for various federal Law Enforcement agencies. He has and continues to provide training and consultation in the field of K9 Tactical and Prehospital Care nationally and internationally, at various venues and for various military, Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, and Tactical EMS communities. Dr. Palmer is the lead and founder of the K9 Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (K9 TECC) working group, Medical Education Director for PennVet’s Working Dog Practitioner program, Veterinary Medical Director for National Association of Veterinary EMS (NAVEMS), and active working group member for the Defense Committee on Trauma’s (DCoT) Canine Combat Casualty Care Committee. Additionally, he serves as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff and certified Tactical Paramedic for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

By: Scott P Shaw, DVM, DACVECC

Description:
Patient Safety Science is well established in human medicine; a strong movement originated in the early 2000’s and now is ubiquitous in human healthcare. In this lecture we will review patient safety science, current patient safety data and statistics and cover why errors happen when delivering medical care. We will explore the many opportunities to apply Patient Safety Science to veterinary medicine in order to keep our patients safer from medical error. We will discuss how errors impact our teams. Errors hurt not only our patients, but us as their caregivers. This is called the second victim phenomenon, and it contributes to the stress and burnout common in our profession. We will discuss the importance of a strong patient safety culture, and how one can be established and fostered in our clinics and hospitals.

Course Objectives:

1. Develop a basic understanding patient safety science
2. Be able to describe why errors happen and their impact on health care profession
3. Be able to perform a Root Cause Analysis to help us dissect and learn from events

Speaker Info:
Dr. Shaw 1998 graduate of the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and completed a rotating internship at the Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Norwalk CT before returning to Tufts to complete a residency in Emergency and Critical Care Medicine.  After completing his residency in 2002, Dr. Shaw joined the faculty at Tufts.  He spent the next 10 years as a faculty member at Tufts.  In 2012, Dr. Shaw left Tufts to help open New England Veterinary Center & Cancer Care in Windsor, CT. In 2014 he became the Regional Medical Director for the VCA Specialty Hospitals in the Northeast.  In 2017 he became the Regional Vice-President of VCA’s Northeast Specialty Hospitals. Dr. Shaw lives in Woodstock, CT with his wife and son.  They breed and show Labrador retrievers and standard dachshunds and have 3 mini donkeys.

By: Julien Guillaumin, Docteur Vétérinaire, Diplomate ACVECC, Diplomate ECVECC

Description:
There is limited literature in septic shock in dogs and cats, although plenty of evidence-based practices from human medicine. With a mortality rate around 15-20% in dogs, it is very important that septic shock is quickly suspected, appropriately diagnosed and treated. Both the veterinary definitions and the human Sepsis 3 definitions aligned for septic shock, which avoids confusion of having 2 sets of definitions for SIRS, sepsis and MODS. Treatment of septic shock includes rapid source identification and control, and a bundle of treatments. This bundle includes early and judicious fluid therapy, rapid administration of broad spectrum antibiotics, sometimes with higher doses or prolonged infusion, and finally rapid administration of vasopressors. Specific triggers and timing of decision-making processes regarding use of those therapies, especially antibiotics and pressors, are important. Finally, ancillary treatment such as monitoring, nutrition and specific organ dysfunction treatments are important to understand the management of this complex syndrome.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the timing of antibiotic and vasopressor administration in septic shock
2. Recall the veterinary and human sepsis 3 definitions of septic shock
3. Apply a specific bundle of treatment to the management of septic shock in dogs and cats

Speaker Info:
Dr Guillaumin is currently an Associate Professor in Emergency and Critical Care at Colorado State University. After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Nantes, France, Dr Guillaumin pursued a small animal rotating internship at the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire d’Alfort, France. After graduation, he worked in both private practice emergency settings and academia, serving as a clinical instructor in Emergency and Critical Care at the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Lyon (now VetAgroSup). Dr Guillaumin continued his advanced training in Emergency and Critical Care by moving to the US in 2005, working as a clinical instructor at Cornell University and then completed his ACVECC residency at the University of California, Davis in 2009.

For 10 years, Dr Guillaumin was a clinician, teacher and researcher as a clinical track Assistant, then Associate Professor at the Ohio State University. He also acted as the Blood Bank Director. In 2015, Dr Guillaumin was recognized as an invited diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. In 2019, Dr Guillaumin took a tenure-track position at Colorado State University. His clinical and research interests include thrombosis and thrombolysis, hemostasis, blood banking, transfusion medicine, sepsis and septic shock.

Dr Guillaumin is a former Chair of the ACVECC residency training committee and currently serves as a Chair of the Joint Committee which oversees the work of the 3 major ACVECC Committees as well as a member of the ECVECC Education Committee. Dr Guillaumin has trained over 150 interns and ECC residents and has over 200 invited lectures and scholarly publications.

By: Lisa Hacker, LMSW

Description:
As the human-animal bond strengthens over time and staffing shortages have altered every practice, veterinary professionals are faced with a growing number of clients with high emotional reactivity when their companion animal is experiencing an emergency. This course will shed some light on why this occurs and focus on techniques to help clients return to a more rational state.

Course Objectives:

1. Define & understand the term “emotionally charged”
2. Recognize the early signs of agitation in vet med clients
3. Describe the concept and importance of de-escalation
4. Acquire a collection of skills & techniques to use in practice

Speaker Info:
Lisa is an Advanced Practice Social Worker (APSW) in the State of Wisconsin, as well as a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) in the State of Arizona. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2009. Lisa’s post-graduate experience had been in pediatric, medical social work before transitioning full-time into Veterinary Social Work in 2018. Lisa’s first program was developed at Lakeshore Veterinary Specialists in Milwaukee, WI which was featured in the June 2020 edition of the JAVMA. Currently, Lisa is the Social Work Program Manager for employee-owned, 1st Pet Veterinary Centers in the metro Phoenix area, where she also manages a training program for MSW students for multiple area universities. Lisa achieved her Grief Support Specialist Certification at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2021 and is a contributor to the forthcoming volume The Comprehensive Guide to Interdisciplinary Veterinary Social Work. Lisa continues her work providing relevant education for the veterinary community as well as facilitating nationwide support groups for DVM’s through the Veterinary Hope Foundation.

By: Dr. Isaac Sabat

Description:
This presentation will provide an overview of best practices in designing selection systems based on the organizational psychology literature. Specifically, I will review research demonstrating the evidence of implicit bias inherent within typical hiring approaches. I will then discuss the business case for reducing these biases and improving diversity within organizations. Lastly, I will discuss effective recruitment and selection strategies for improving employee diversity and success.

Course Objectives:

1. Learn how to design valid selection systems
2. Learn how to evaluate bias and inequity within these systems
3. Learn evidence-based strategies for increasing diversity in organizations
4. CR

Speaker Info:
Isaac Sabat’s program of research broadly focuses on understanding and improving the working lives of stigmatized employees. He is particularly interested in examining strategies in which these employees can engage, such as disclosing or acknowledging their identities, to effectively remediate the workplace obstacles that they face. He has conducted various interrelated projects that examine how the effectiveness of expressing one’s identity is impacted by the extent to which stigmas are previously known, visible, or discovered by others over time. This is a novel area, given that disclosures have previously been conceptualized as a dichotomous, all-or-nothing phenomenon. This work has been published in Journal of Business and Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Harvard Business Review.

By: Gregory R. Lisciandro, DVM, DABVP, DACVECC

Description:
We will discuss the use of Global FAST point-of-care ultrasound for raising the suspicion and for the detection of traditionally difficult conditions focusing on pulmonary and cardiac conditions.  Global FAST is the combination of AFAST, TFAST and Vet BLUE as a single ultrasound examination that uniquely screens the abdomen and thorax including heart (TFAST fundamental echocardiography) and lung (Vet BLUE). By integrating findings, cardiac and lung conditions otherwise suspected or missed based on physical exam, laboratory testing, and radiography are “seen” (more evidence-based) using the Global FAST approach.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the views of Global FAST
2. Understand AFAST and its abdominal fluid scoring system
3. Understand TFAST fundamental echocardiography
4. Understand Vet BLUE, its regional, pattern-based approach, B-line scoring system, and visual lung language for signs of consolidation
5. Understand how to integrate information by Global FAST for detecting traditionally difficult conditions

Speaker Info:
Dr. Gregory Lisciandro, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, Dipl. ACVECC, attended Cornell, completed an internship at The Animal Medical Center, New York City, and emergency and critical care residency at the Emergency Pet Center, San Antonio, Texas.  He has practiced veterinary medicine as a general practitioner, emergency veterinarian, and then as a specialist in emergency and critical care.  He developed AFAST^® and TFAST^® in 2005, and Vet BLUE^® and Global FAST^® in 2010.  Global FAST^® ultrasound is a unique ultrasound examination used to rapidly screen both the abdominal and thoracic cavities including heart and lung.  He has authored over 20 peer-reviewed Global FAST^®-related clinical studies.  He is chapter author and editor of Point-of-care Ultrasound Techniques now in its 2nd edition and has served as an ACVECC At-large Regent, member of the Scientific Committee, the Student Certification Committee, and VetCOT.  He has lectured and directed Global FAST^® ultrasound scanning workshops around the world and continues to lead in publishing clinically relevant, point-of-care ultrasound research.

By: Ginger Templeton, DVM, MS, CPC

Description: The veterinary profession is inherently stressful. Conflict and high emotions are both a cause and consequence of this workplace stress. Emotional intelligence is an important tool that can be taught and developed in order to improve conflict response, stress management, communication and leadership. Leaders who have high levels of emotional intelligent often have greater psychological safety on their teams which, in turn, are often more effective and productive.

In this course, we will explore the subdomains of emotional intelligence and how to apply these domains in stressful or conflict-laden situations. Cases will be used to illustrate the real-time application of emotional intelligence in the workplace. Participants will be encouraged to consider their own strengths and weaknesses in emotional intelligence and ways to improve their leadership through this framework.

Course Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

1. Define emotional intelligence (EI), and explain the relationship between EI and effective leadership
2.  List and describe the four domains and 12 subdomains of emotional intelligence (EI)
3. Identify personal strengths and weaknesses in emotional intelligence
4. Apply emotional intelligence as a framework for handling conflict and stress

Speaker Info:
Dr. Ginger Templeton is the CEO of Vet-to-Vet Coaching, which provides leadership development and wellbeing coaching to veterinarians and their teams. She also serves as Director of Learning and Development for Mentor Vet and is on the Board of Directors of MOVES (Mobile Veterinary Specialists). Her coaching style incorporates emotional intelligence to help veterinary professionals discover innovative solutions with confidence and compassion. After earning her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she spent fifteen years in the trenches of small animal general practice, including five as a mobile practice owner. In 2021, she completed the Veterinary Human Support Certification through the Department of Social Work at the University of Tennessee and executive coach certification through the post-graduate training program at The College of Executive Coaching. Dr. Templeton believes the key to culture change and greater wellbeing in veterinary medicine is through a combination of individual responsibility and organizational initiatives and thus finds value in working both one-on-one with leaders as well as teaching groups of veterinarians and team members.

By: Katherine Smith, DVM, DACVECC

Description: This lecture will introduce “Guidelines for the Prevention of Pain, Agitation, Delirium, Immobility, and Sleep Disruption in Adult Patients in ICU” from our human medicine counterparts and use this as a basis for our discussion on how we can improve the ICU experience for the veterinary patient.  It will focus mainly on anxiety/agitation and sleep deprivation, with a goal of understanding the science of their deleterious effects and real solutions on how to mitigate their occurrence.  This lecture is designed for all levels.

Course Objectives:

1. PADIS guidelines in human medicine – what are they and how can we use them when thinking about veterinary ICU patients
2. Anxiety and agitation – recognition, physiological side effects, and what can we do to address it
3. Sleep – physiology of sleep and sleep deprivation, how sleep disruption may affect outcomes, strategies to maximize better sleep in our patients.
4. Immobility and other forms of suffering that we can better address in our patients.

Speaker Info: Dr. Katherine Smith received her DVM from Louisiana State University (2009), a small animal rotating internship at the University of Georgia (2010), and an ECC residency at Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists (2013), receiving her board certification in emergency and critical care in 2014. She was in private practice in specialty hospitals until 2020 when she transitioned to doing only locum work, allowing her to practice across the nation spanning from Hawaii to Massachusetts. She loves teaching, infectious diseases, and feline medicine (to be honest, she loves anything to do with cats in general). Dr Smith also has a special interest in improving our patients’ ICU experience by more thoroughly addressing anxiety and sleep needs.

By: Bobbi Conner, DVM, DACVECC

Description:Fluid therapy is one of the most commonly prescribed treatments for sick veterinary patients. Its ubiquity does not, however, mean that we know all we need to know about the benefits and dangers of fluid therapy. In recent years, some new research has put a spotlight on trends in fluid therapy in medicine and as a result, some long-held recommendations have been questioned. In this discussion, we will review current recommendations for fluid therapy. Whenever possible, veterinary-specific literature will be cited and discussed; when necessary, recommendations that have been extrapolated from human medicine research and guidelines will be clearly presented. We will focus on practical application of the available research, identify and highlight the remaining gaps in our collective knowledge, and we’ll attack some of the most persistent controversies and myths involving fluid therapy. The session will be interactive and case-based.

By the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

1. list the benefits and risks of intravenous fluid therapy in any patient.
2. list the indications for fluid therapy and as well as the indications for discontinuation of fluid therapy.
3. choose the most appropriate fluid type for their patient’s needs.
4. describe the earliest signs of potential fluid overload in a small animal patient.
5. identify at least two resources to aid in complex fluid therapy administration cases.

Speaker Info: Dr. Conner obtained her DVM from Michigan State University in 2007, after which she completed a rotating internship at University of Illinois in 2008, followed by her residency in Emergency & Critical Care at NC State in 2011, when she became a diplomate of ACVECC. She worked at the vet school at University of Pretoria in South Africa for a short while in 2011-2012, then joined the faculty at University of Florida from 2012-2020. Since the summer of 2020, she has been developing the emergency & critical care program at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. She is passionate about teaching and learning and is currently pursuing a Master’s in Educational Psychology. Most of her current research involves identifying best practices in education and communication.

By: John Thomason, DVM, MS, DACVIM (SAIM)

Description: Transfusions are a common, integral and life-saving therapeutic option in dogs with IMHA. Also, recent therapeutic advancements are potentially providing effective options for dogs with IMHA.  Based on current research, this section will discuss the selection of appropriate blood products and other considerations for transfusions. This session will also discuss advancements in medical therapies that could aid in the treatment of IMHA.

By the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

1. To better understand which transfusion products are available for the treatment of IMHA, and when to use these products.
2. To better understand the advancements in medical therapies and when they should be included in the treatment of canine IMHA.
3. To better understand how to handle cases of canine IMHA that do not initially respond to standard immunosuppressive and supportive therapies.

Speaker Info: John Thomason is an associate professor of small animal internal medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University (MSU).  He received his DVM from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and earned his M.S. in Veterinary Medicine from Mississippi State University.  He completed his residency in small animal internal medicine at Mississippi State University prior to joining the faculty. Dr. Thomason’s research interests are in the field of hematology, hemostasis, and immune mediated disorders.

By: Samuel Stewart DVM, DACVECC

Description: Increasing frequencies of multidrug-resistant infections have been noted in human and veterinary ICU patient populations, emphasizing the importance of appropriate and effective treatment protocols for these patients. Critically ill patients possess a vast array of pathophysiologic changes that can complicate antimicrobial dosing, such as increases in the volume of distribution and increased drug clearance. Dosing regimens must adhere to pharmacodynamic principles while also taking into consideration the pharmacokinetics for each patient. Previous studies have shown clinical cure superiority and better efficacy with continuous infusions of antimicrobials as they possess a higher likelihood of attaining pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic targets. This lecture will review the logic behind the use of antimicrobial continuous infusions in critically ill patients and how they can be utilized in clinically.

By the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

1. Better understand the increasing incidence of multi-drug resistant infections in clinical practice and the practices that can contribute to the incidence of these infections.
2. Learn about the pathophysiologic sequelae of critical illness that can effect the ability to adequately treat with antimicrobials.
3. Review the justification of antimicrobial continuous infusions and how this approach can improve the ability to achieve therapeutic levels of antimicrobials in critically ill patients.

Speaker Info: Dr. Sam Stewart is originally from the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York in the US. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biology at Binghamton University in New York. He then attended veterinary school at the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, finishing his degree in 2013. Dr. Stewart went on to complete a small animal rotating surgical and medical internship at Garden State Veterinary Specialists (Tinton Falls, NJ) in 2014 and an Emergency and Critical Care residency at the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital (Ethos Veterinary Health – Woburn, MA) in 2017. He was also accepted as a Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care in 2017. Following his residency, he joined Ethos Science Consultancy (a contract research and consulting organization) through which he started a Science Commercialization Fellowship. He completed the fellowship in 2022 and became the Director of Science Consultancy. Dr. Stewart also designs and conducts his own de novo clinical studies through Ethos Discovery, a non-profit incubator of scientific innovation. His areas of interest include improved means to diagnose and treat sepsis as well as novel modes of pain management in dogs and cats, such as the use of cannabidiol. He is always looking for new and exciting research opportunities to help further the knowledge and capabilities of veterinary medicine.