In order to assure adequate documentation of the anesthetic recovery of USDA regulated animals, this SOP must be followed by the DCM veterinary staff and any investigators who do not utilize DCM anesthetic services.
During the recovery period, the animal patient must be closely observed for anesthetic and/or surgical complications. Close observation provides the opportunity for early detection and response to potentially life-threatening problems. Animals recovering from anesthesia must be monitored until it is determined that they are stable. Criteria for assessing when it is safe to remove the endotracheal tube include: an easily elicited tracheal cough, an increase in jaw tone and resumption of swallowing activity. The responsible individual must record the time the dog, cat, rabbit ferret, swine, sheep, goat or nonhuman primate is returned to housing on the DCM Post-Operative Chart. This person must also describe the animal patient's condition by recording the quality and/or rate of respirations, mucous membrane color and/or capillary refill time and the presence of various reflexes (e.g., palpebral, corneal, righting reflexes, quality of jaw tone). Pertinent intra-operative complications, post-operative orders or other observations should be recorded on the Post-Op Chart. The individual writing post-operative orders must make sure that antibiotic and/or analgesic agents, dosages, routes, and treatment intervals are included on the chart. Investigators must designate who is responsible for providing post-op medication (DCM or PI's staff). Please be sure that post-op orders are the same as those stated in the UCAR protocol.
The DCM veterinary staff routinely monitors all recovering USDA regulated animals for a minimum of three days. The investigator will be informed of any complications observed.
If you have any questions about post-operative monitoring, please contact the DCM veterinary staff at (585) 275-2651.