Young and Young at Heart: Pediatric and Geriatric Anesthesia
1.0 CE Credit Hour / Veterinarians & Veterinary Technicians Track: Anesthesiology
Overivew:
While pediatric and geriatric patients are at opposite ends of the timeline, many anesthetic considerations for these patient groups are quite similar. Pediatric patients have immature organ systems while geriatric patients have organ systems that are beginning to fail. Good understanding of the pharmacodynamics of sedative, analgesic, and induction agents will increase safety and stability of anesthetic patients of both young and old.
Learning Objectives
- Understand rationale behind specific sedative and analgesic choices—which to use and which to avoid.
- Understand specific anatomy and physiology relevant to various pediatric and geriatric neurologic cases.
- Utilize appropriate monitors for various pediatric and geriatric cases; understand which monitors are most important for each type of case.
Katrina Lafferty, BFA, RLAT, CVT, VTS
Katrina Lafferty graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, IL with her BFA in Theatre. She soon realized she had missed the mark in career choices and returned to school to graduate with her degree in Veterinary Technology. She went on to earn her Veterinary Technician Specialty in Anesthesia and Analgesia and her registered lab animal technician certification.
Kate has worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2005. She was a senior anesthesia nurse in the Anesthesia and Pain Management Department at the school of veterinary medicine until 2016. She moved to a position of head veterinary nurse in the anesthesia and surgery department at the University of Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. After nearly 5 years working with primarily rhesus macaques and marmosets, in 2021 she returned to the anesthesia department at the school of veterinary medicine.
Kate loves all aspects of teaching and is extremely involved in the education of the veterinary community. She has written numerous articles and book chapters and has presented extensively at national and international continuing education conferences.
Kate has anesthetized everything from a 2 day old calf, to a 4 week old kitten, to a 60 year old tortoise, not to mention a veritable menagerie of other species. Her passion is all things related to the anesthetic and analgesic care of exotic animals.
This program is approved for 1.0 hour(s) of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE®-approval.
