Taking a calculated risk
I REMEMBER many years ago I attended a meeting conducted by a specialist anaesthetist whose main theme was anaesthetic risk.
He lectured long and weary about best practice, appropriate use of the correct drugs, the importance of fully trained monitoring and the various circuits that could be used to deliver anaesthetic gases.
After a while, he paused and asked the 50 or so veterinary surgeons in the room to raise a hand if they had experienced an unexpected anaesthetic death in the previous year. I was heartened to see that only four hands went up.
The specialist then asked if any of us had dealt with a road accident death over the same period. Every hand was raised.
The anaesthetist was June 3 ■ Dundee Canine Club’s Open Show in Camperdown Country Park, Dundee, at 9.30am, together with the Afghan Hound Club of Scotland’s Open Show at 9.30am and the Poodle Club of Scotland’s Open Show at 12.30pm. making a good point. There is risk everywhere. Fundamentally, while your pet is anaesthetised, he cannot be run over.
The secret is in calculating risk and then doing everything you can to minimise it because it cannot be completely removed.
The lecture altered the way I thought about anaesthesia.
To me now, it is a little bit like crossing a road. Is it worth the risk in the first place?
Would I attempt to run across the M8 to pick up a penny? It is only five steps from my car to the corner shop to get milk so my chances are good and I have done it 100 times before and June 4 ■ Scottish Border Terrier Club’s Open Show at 10.30am in Victoria Village Hall, Kirkpatrick Fleming. ■ Scottish Cavalier Club’s Open Show in Haddington Corn Exchange at 10.00am. ■ Labrador Club of Scotland’s Open Show in Tarbrax Village Hell, West Calder, at 10.30am. survived. How fit am I? Can I actually put one foot in front of the other? How busy is the traffic? And so on and so on.
When you consider that a recent survey showed that of 1264 cats, four per cent had been involved in a road accident by the time they were a year old and that 75 per cent of these cats died, you can see why anaesthesia can be considered relatively safe.
Of course, your chances of surviving on the roads are greatly improved if you look before you cross and then keep looking left and right and concentrate on having your wits about you.
You can employ sight, hearing and even smell to further improve the likelihood of success.
Anaesthesia is just the same. So, if you are worried about it, there are basic questions to be asked.
Who will be doing the procedure? Who will assist them and how much training or experience do they have? What happens if they become ill or need the loo?
Who will carry out monitoring during the crucial recovery period? And what additional qualified staff can help in the case of emergency?
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