If you’ve ever worked with a snorty Frenchie, a struggling Pug, or a Bulldog who just can’t catch their breath, you’ll know first-hand the issues that BOAS can cause.   Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) has become increasingly common with the rise in popularity of brachycephalic breeds. And while those squishy faces might be seen as cute, they come with serious anatomical challenges that impact breathing, exercise tolerance, and overall quality of life. But how can we help these patients, and what do we need to know about caring for them? Well, it starts with understanding ..read more

We know that respiratory patients are often very challenging.   They tend to be really stressed, and teetering on a knife-edge, balancing their increased demand for oxygen with a disease impacting their oxygenation. Careful handling, supportive care and approaching these patients confidently, the right way, are essential to give them the best care and avoid complications. In today’s episode, we’ll be laying the foundations for the rest of the series, taking a brief journey back to A&P and all of the need-to-know information about the respiratory system - because when we understand how ..read more

Today is no normal day on the Medical Nursing Podcast - we’ve got a special guest helping me debunk (or should that be debulk?!) GI neoplasia.   That’s right - today we’re talking all things gastrointestinal tumours - which ones we see, how they affect our patients, how we diagnose them, and what treatment options we have. And, of course, most importantly, how we can support these patients as veterinary nurses and technicians. If you want to learn exactly how to support these patients, then read on, because Inge Breathnach (RVN and oncology VTS, aka OncologyRVN) and I are here to help you ..read more

We’ve all seen those crispy senior cats admitted with severe constipation and dehydration.   And even worse, ones who get so constipated that they just can’t defecate at all, leaving us to have to do it for them. These patients are pretty miserable - often really uncomfortable, nauseous, anorexic and markedly dehydrated - and they need a lot of support from us. So, how can we best give this support? Let’s start by looking at why our patients get constipated and what happens when they do. Is constipation truly constipation? The answer is… not really. Without soapbox Laura coming out agai ..read more

I remember the first time I ever saw a patient with short bowel syndrome.   I was a relatively new medicine nurse working in my first medicine referral role. Our patient, a gorgeous staffy who had a foreign body removed a few days before, came in with a septic abdomen. Cue some rapid stabilisation and a trip to theatre, and he came back to us missing over a third of his small intestine. His GI tract was so unhappy that our surgeon had no choice but to remove his entire ileum and attach his jejunum directly to his colon. He was a challenge like I hadn’t encountered before - needing parente ..read more

Today, we’re rounding up our little gastrointestinal detour to the pancreas with part 2 of our mini-series on pancreatic disease.   In episode 57, we chatted all about pancreatitis, but today, we’re changing things up and talking about what happens when the pancreas can’t help digest and break down food normally—a condition known as exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. So what is exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, and how does it impact our patients? Well, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, or EPI, is exactly what it says on the tin—a failure or insufficiency of the exocrine portion of th ..read more

In the first of a 2-parter on pancreatic disease, today we’re talking all about managing pancreatitis patients.   Pancreatitis is the most common pancreatic disease we see in practice. These patients are often severely unwell and risk developing complications like SIRS and MODS, and need intensive nursing care. In this episode, we’ll look at what pancreatitis is, how it affects our patients, and how we treat it - as well as three things you can do as a vet nurse to give even better care to your own pancreatitis patients. So what is pancreatitis, and what happens when our patient gets it ..read more

Today we’re talking all about protein-losing enteropathy - quite possibly the worst chronic GI disease we see.   Though these patients are often severely unwell, they need a LOT of intensive nursing care and that means there are lots of skills we can use in the process. But what is PLE, and how does it affect our patients? Let’s take a look. Protein-losing enteropathy (PLE) is not a specific disease itself, but is a syndrome seen in patients with severe GI disease. Usually it’s seen in patients that have severe immunosuppressant-responsive enteropathy (as we discussed in episode 55) and ..read more

In this episode, we’re continuing our gastrointestinal series and diving into chronic enteropathies.   These are some of the most common gastrointestinal diseases we see in practice and some of the most misunderstood. Today, though, we’re changing that - looking at the types of chronic enteropathies we see, how they affect our patients, and how we diagnose, treat and nurse them. So, what is a chronic enteropathy? You’ll no doubt have heard the term ‘inflammatory bowel disease’ or IBD before. Previously, that has been used as a ‘catch-all’ term to describe chronic intestinal diseases - b ..read more

Would we be talking about GI disease if we weren’t talking about intestinal foreign bodies?!   From strings to balls to bones to toys and pretty much everything in between, we’ve seen it all - and whilst most of these patients are pretty well on presentation, we know that foreign body patients aren’t always smooth sailing. In this episode, we’ll get stuck into the common complications we see with GI foreign bodies, and I’ll share my top 4 tips for giving them great nursing care What happens when our patients get a gastrointestinal foreign body? Unsurprisingly, our patients end up with ..read more