The practical session will focus on the nursing care of high dependency patients: monitoring, record keeping, urinary catheter placement and care, and how to manage the various tubes that these animals have. There will also be an opportunity to practice blood and cytology smear preparation. The technique of providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation will be reviewed and tips and tricks given.

Key Skills:

At the end of this workshop delegates should be able to:

  • Confidently triage arriving patients, assessing for life-threatening conditions 
  • Use, care for and trouble shoot catheters, feeding tubes and drains
  • Monitor critical patients under anaesthesia, understanding the impications of status changes.

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 Vet Nurses