This one-day workshop will provide you with an understanding of the common systems derangements in emergency and critically ill patients, and how to appropriately manage them. Many people dread the phone call signalling the arrival of a hit-by-car or seizuring animal. After attending this course, you will feel a lot more confident in your approach to these patients, and less like hiding under the desk!

The cadaver practical session will cover the placement of urinary catheters, tracheostomy tubes, oesophagostomy feeding tubes, thoracic drains and bone marrow aspiration. Not only will these procedures be demonstrated, but you will have a chance to practice them yourself, working in groups of no more than two participants per station.

Key Skills:

At the end of this workshop delegates were able to:

  • Confidently triage arriving patients, providing treatment for life-threatening conditions
  • Place, trouble-shoot and utilise feeding tubes. catheters, drains 
  • Sedate or anaesthetise critical patients for procedures and diagnostics

Trudi McAlees

BSc, BVSc, MANZCVS (Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Emergency Medicine and Critical Care), FANZCVS (Emergency Medicine and Critical Care)

Dr Trudi McAlees is a New Zealand veterinarian and Massey graduate. 

Her first job was in a mixed but mainly dairy practice in Otorohanga in the Waikato. After a year or so, she headed off to the UK for the obligatory period of nearly 4 years of locum work and travel. 

After returning in NZ for a bit of small animal work in Auckland and passing her memberships in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Trudi moved to Melbourne to pursue what was going to be a 2 year position in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care at the University of Melbourne teaching hospital. 

She stayed for 10 years during which time she passed her memberships in Emergency and Critical Care, was made head of section and became the first person to achieve Fellowship in Emergency Medicine and Critical Care in 2008. 

In 2010 Trudi returned to private practice first in Melbourne and from 2017, back in NZ. 

Professionally, Trudi is committed to post-graduate education. She is passionate about improving the ability of practitioners to deal with emergencies and hopes to decrease the anxiety that can accompany these cases when they present. Trudi has a particular interest in analgesia, endocrine and multi-trauma cases. 

Outside of work, Trudi enjoys spending time with her family, riding her horse and pottering about with the sheep and chickens.

Practical Skills in Critical Care for Vets