On Sunday, June 26 th, 2005 Gwynedd Veterinary Hospital and Emergency Service hosted a continuing education seminar. The topic of the seminar was “Emergency and Critical Care for the Veterinary Technician.”

The presenter was Mr. Harold Davis, Registered Veterinary Technician. Mr. Davis is a co-founder of the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Technicians, and the Supervisor of the Small Animal Emergency Nursing Service at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of the University of California at the Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He serves as the Coordinator and Instructor of the Hospital Practice courses for Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students at UC Davis.

The lecture was organized by Karen Kowal, CVT, and attended by close to 60 Veterinary Assistants and Technicians from Veterinary Hospitals in the surrounding area. The purpose of the seminar was to educate and enhance the skill set of Veterinary Technicians, and present both traditional and cutting edge approaches to Veterinary Nursing.

Some of the topics covered included “The Nursing Process: A New Approach to Veterinary Nursing?” “Triage: The Initial Assessment of the Emergent Patient” “Initial management of the Emergent or Critically Ill Patient: A Conceptual Approach” as well as presentations on “Critically Ill Patient Nursing Care and Monitoring” and “Action Stat: Management of the Emergency Patient.”