Kirby's Rule of 20 in the ER: From Triage through Treatments

Karen Roach, RVT, VTS (ECC)

Karen Roach, RVT, VTS, is originally from the east coast of Canada. She graduated from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College’s Animal Health Technology program in 1994. In 1997, after working for several years in general practice, she accepted a position with the newly opened Metro Animal Emergency Clinic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which was the first after- hours veterinary emergency clinic to open in Atlantic Canada. In 2000, she completed a1-year veterinary technician internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York, NY. It was here that Ms. Roach developed a keen interest in anesthesia, as well as emergency and critical care medicine. After completing the internship, she returned to the Metro Animal Emergency Clinic, and eventually began working toward becoming a veterinary technician specialist in emergency/critical care. She completed this designation in 2013, and in June 2014, left her native Canada and to move to New Jersey. After 4 years at NorthStar Vets in Robbinsville, she decided to make a change, and become a training mentor at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital in September 2018.

Andrea Pace, CVT, VTS (ECC)

Andrea is the Training Mentor for the Emergency Department at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital. Over her career, she has sought out new and challenging ways to learn and teach veterinary skills and knowledge both in and out of the classroom. She enjoys pairing with staff to make advanced medical care less intimidating and she is known for providing small learning moments in the clinic, often in the form of trivia or trivial bets. As a Veterinary Technician Specialist in Emergency and Critical Care, Andrea participates on committees for both AVECCTN and VetCOT. And, owing to her background in Animal Law and Veterinary Bioethics, she is a strong believer in M&M Rounds and Adverse Event Committees as a way to explore systemic problems both in the hospital and in veterinary medicine as a whole.

Overview:

This lecture will use Kirby's Rule of 20 as a framework for managing cases in the ER. The lecture will cover the theory and practice of triage in various settings as well as efficient and thorough primary and secondary assessments. We will then talk about managing emergency patients throughout their stay in the ER; as well as what happens once and if they are admitted to the hospital for surgery or further care.

Learning Objectives:

To understand what Kirby’s Rule of 20 means for patient management
To learn how, as a hospital, to be prepared for efficient triages
To learn how to quickly and thoroughly assess an emergent patient
To learn how to apply Kirby’s Rule of 20 to a patient hospitalized over several days

This course is RACE-approved for 1.0 continuing education credits hours in jurisdictions that accept RACE-approval.

This activity is sponsored by Mount Laurel Animal Hospital.