Preparing for Anesthesia: Lowering the Blood Pressure of Everyone in the Room While Raising the Patient's

Course overview

This webinar will focus on improving confidence, consistency, and patient safety through thoughtful anesthesia preparation. Suzanne McKenzie, RVT, VTS (Anesthesia/Analgesia), will emphasize the importance of evaluating each patient's history, signalment, physical examination findings, blood work, procedure needs, and individual risk factors before anesthesia and will walk participants through the stages of anesthesia planning, from preanesthetic evaluation and preparation to monitoring, response, and recovery. A central message of the presentation will be that anesthesia should never be approached with a "cookie cutter" protocol; instead, each patient should have an individualized plan that anticipates complications, supports physiologic stability, and helps the veterinary team feel prepared before the procedure begins.