Anaesthesia for the broken heart
Tracks
Advanced Clinical Stream - Eureka 1
| Wednesday, March 19, 2025 |
| 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM |
| Eureka 1 |
Overview
Marcia Fletcher
Speaker
Marcia Fletcher
The Pink Stethoscope
Anaesthesia for the broken heart
Abstract
Whether it is a congenital cardiac defect or an acquired cardiovascular disease, anesthetizing a patient with a “heart condition” can stress even the hardiest of veterinarians, little own the nurses/technicians charged with their care. This lecture will prepare the anaesthetist for their next cardiac patient by initially reviewing the heart's anatomy and physiology, before diving into the pathophysiology of multiple forms of cardiovascular disease, and uncovering how each disease process will likely impact our patient. The different anaesthetic considerations for patients in various forms of heart failure will be discussed along with sedation, induction and maintenance anaesthetic agents’ choices and the pros and cons to their use. To put our new found knowledge together, the lecture concludes with a cardiac case presentation.
Biography
Marcia is a registered veterinary nurse specialist and an international speaker. Having 20 years’ experience in veterinary anaesthesia, she started her career working for the Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in New Zealand and was the senior anaesthesia nurse there for over 16 years. In 2011 she became New Zealand’s first Veterinary Technician Specialist in Anaesthesia and Analgesia. She has been awarded New Zealand’s “Vet Nurse of the Year”, and several teaching awards including “Teacher of the Year”. Marcia is also a RECOVER certified instructor of both basic and advanced CPR. In 2020 Marcia left the university teaching life and created The Pink Stethoscope, her platform to elevate veterinary anaesthesia within the entire veterinary community. Through The Pink Stethoscope she independently provides postgraduate veterinary anaesthesia education, training, webinars and consultations both nationally and internationally. Marcia loves all aspects of veterinary anaesthesia teaching. Her passion has always been instilling anaesthesia knowledge to the greater veterinary profession - to make a somewhat challenging subject less stressful, and ultimately to empower veterinary professionals to continue their anaesthesia learning journey. Away from work Marcia is a busy kiwi mum, enjoying her home life with her husband, daughter, son, and very special “fur-daughter” Minnie the tuxedo cat.
