If you do well in this course, you will be able to:

• Be familiar with the various pre-anesthetic drugs and calculate dosages and administer them
• Aseptically insert and maintain an IV catheter
• Calculate and administer IV fluids and medications
• Be familiar with agents and techniques for local anesthesia
• Be familiar with agents and techniques for regional anesthesia
• Be familiar with injectable and inhalation agents and techniques for general anesthesia. This includes induction and inhalation as well as being familiar with the equipment.
• Monitor the anesthetized patient. This includes record keeping, reflex testing, and use of available equipment (i.e. esophageal stethoscopes, ECG, apnea monitors, etc.)
• Recognize and take steps to prevent anesthetic emergencies
• Be familiar with CPCR for the arrested patient
• Understand anesthetic agonists and their use
• Use and maintain a respirator
• Monitor and care for a patient during anesthetic recovery
• Understand the care and preventative maintenance of the anesthetic equipment
• Understand waste anesthetic disposal and the potential for human toxicity

Under the guidance of a veterinarian, you will learn to assess the preoperative patient, as well as induce, maintain and recover the patient from anesthesia. Recognizing abnormal responses to pre-anesthetics and anesthetics will be emphasized. Anesthetic emergencies, their treatment and prevention will also be stressed. Record keeping, anesthetic machine maintenance and management of waste anesthetic gas will also be emphasized.