Search

This study aims to determine whether the use of the word, Quiet increases veterinary emergency service triage traffic or hospital admissions. Days were randomized to be a control or test phrase day. On control days, the phrase, Have a nice day! was announced to the entire hospital staff. On test days, the phrase, Have a quiet day! was announced. No statistical difference in mean number of the patients presenting to the emergency service for triage (test phrase 30.1 ± 10.4 cases vs control phrase 30.3 cases ± 10.5, p = 0.91) or hospital admissions (test phrase 3.5 ± 1.9 cases vs control phrase 4.3 ± 2.4 cases, p = 0.13) was found for 24-h following phrase utterance. No statistical difference in mean number of patients presenting to the emergency service for triage (test phrase 2.7 ± 1.4 cases vs control phrase 2.6 ± 1.9 cases, p = 0.84) or hospital admissions (test phrase 0.3 ± 0.5 cases vs control phrase 0.5 ± 0.8 cases, p = 0.08) was found in the 2-h window immediately following phrase announcement. Despite popular myth, using the word, Quiet does not increase veterinary emergency service triage traffic or hospital admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To assess the rate of bacterial contamination of fluid and ports in intravenous bags in a veterinary emergency room (ER) and intensive care unit (ICU). Design Experimental model. Setting Ninety intravenous fluid bags of lactated balanced-electrolytes solution (1 L) hung in a university hospital. Interventions Bags were hung in 2 different locations in the ER (sink and bins) and one location in the ICU (sink) for 11 days. Bags were punctured 3 times daily with a sterile needle to simulate clinical use. Injection ports were swabbed and 50 mL of fluid were collected in duplicates on days 0, 2, 4, 7, and 10. Aerobic bacterial cultures were performed on the fluid and injection port. Contamination was defined as bacterial growth of a similar phenotype across 2 consecutive times. Increase in the fluid contamination rate from day 0 was tested using an exact binomial test. Port contamination rate between locations was tested using Fisher's exact test. Main Results Combined bacterial growth on injection ports reached a mean (95% confidence interval) of 8.1 (0.005-16.2) cfu/port on day 10. The combined port contamination was 3.3%, 11.1%, 17.8%, and 31.1% on days 0, 2, 4, and 7, respectively. Port contamination was similar between ER and ICU. However, port contamination was higher in the sink versus the bins area (38.3% vs 16.7%, P = 0.032). No fluid bag was contaminated at days 0 and 2. The contamination rate of fluid bag was 1.1% and 4.4% on days 4 and 7, respectively. All bags with contaminated fluid were in the ER (6.7%, 95% exact binomial confidence interval 1.9-16.2%). Conclusions Injection port contamination reached 31.1% on day 7. Contamination was more likely when the bags were hung next to a sink. In our model of bag puncture, fluid contamination occurred between days 2 and 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Compare cardiac index (CI) and oxygen delivery index (DO2I) in conscious, critically ill dogs to control dogs; evaluate the association of CI and DO2I with outcome. Design: Prospective non-randomized clinical study. Setting: Veterinary teaching hospital. Animals: Eighteen client-owned dogs with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and 8 healthy control dogs. Measurements and Main Results: CI of dogs with SIRS was measured using lithium dilution at times 0, 4, 8, 16, and 24 hours. Data collected included physical exam, arterial blood gas (ABG) and hemoximetry. CI of control dogs was measured 3 times with 1 measurement of ABG. Mean CI ± SE in SIRS patients was 3.32 ± 0.95 L/min/m2; lower than controls at 4.18 ± 0.22 L/min/m2 ( P<0.001). Mean DO2I ± SE in SIRS patients was 412.91 ± 156.67 mL O2/min/m2; lower than controls at 785.24 ± 45.99 mL O2/min/m2 ( P<0.001). There was no difference in CI ( P=0.49) or DO2I ( P=0.51) for dogs that survived to discharge versus those that did not. There was no difference in mean CI ( P=0.97) or DO2I ( P=0.50) of survivors versus non-survivors for 28-day survival. Survivors had lower blood glucose ( P=0.03) and serum lactate concentrations ( P=0.04) than non-survivors. Conclusions: CI and DO2I in conscious dogs with SIRS were lower than control dogs, which differs from theories that dogs with SIRS are in a high cardiac output state. CI and DO2I were not significantly different between survivors and non-survivors. Similar to previous studies, lactate and glucose concentrations of survivors were lower than non-survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]