CVM/RAR St. Paul campus Post-op for research or teaching animals
undergoing surgical procedures related to their study:
At a glance:
1) Decide who is going to do the post-op care - RAR, PI or PI’s representatives, or a
combination of both
2) Discuss details with the VMC/RAR St. Paul area veterinarian, Dr. Marcia Brower
3) Establish forms & SOPs. (Area vet will maintain a file of previously used forms and
requests blank copies of forms used to be forwarded to her)
4) Complete surgical procedures and SOP’s as planned
5) Coordinate with RAR veterinarian for formal discharge from post-operative care.
More details:
According to the Animal Welfare Act, “adequate pre-procedural and post-procedural care
in accordance with established veterinary medical and nursing procedures ” must be
given to any research or teaching animal who has experienced major survival surgery.
This includes primates, dogs, cats, rabbits as well as cows, horses, sheep, goats and pigs.
Other species may be included as appropriate. Major surgery includes invasion of a
body cavity, the vascular system or the skeletal system. Here at the University of
Minnesota, a policy for post-operative care has been established.
On Minneapolis campus, a full time post–operative unit is operated by RAR for animals
undergoing major surgery. For the Veterinary School, there is not currently enough
major survival surgery being done on research animals to support the establishment of a
full time post-operative unit. Therefore, the care of these animals may be provided by, or
shared with, RAR staff on an arranged basis or may be provided by the investigator with
RAR oversight. Post–procedural care includes monitoring anesthetic recovery,
monitoring post-procedural complications, providing analgesia for any procedures with
potential for pain and distress, administering antibiotics to prevent post-procedural
infections, obtaining the status of the animal twice a day and maintaining records of
everything.
The duration of the stay in post-op and the exact care the animal receives will vary with
the procedure and the individual animal's recovery. Commonly, post-op duration is three
days, but may be longer if the animal is not responding as expected. A formal discharge
from post-op should be completed.
A more specific list of duties performed in the Minneapolis campus post op can be found
at http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/post-op.html . Detailed records must be available to RAR
and investigative staff as well as USDA, IACUC or AAALAC inspection teams for a
period of three years.
Arrangements for RAR oversight and staffing must be made prior to any surgical
procedures with the St. Paul RAR veterinary staff. Good communication will be
important for success.
Expectations for St. Paul post-operative care will include:
-Establishment of an expected period of post-op care for each animal
-Notification of RAR veterinary staff when surgery will be taking place and when
animals will be returning to their cages after surgery
-Only animals fully recovered from anesthetic will be allowed to return to their home
cages. All animals must be monitored by RAR or the PI’s staff until they are extubated
and fully sternal. No animal may be left alone until it is extubated post-surgically.
-During the post-op period, each animal must be given a full examination twice a day.
This would include (but not limited to) the T,P,R and other vitals, appetite, attitude and
anything specific to the study (incisions, implant checks…) This can be done by RAR
staff or the PI’s staff as previously arranged and results recorded.
-Complete records (see below for more information) must be maintained by anyone
working with the animal during the post-op period. These records must be available to
both RAR and PI staff during the time of post-op. Acceptable record templates can be
found in several places including:
- Forms used in the anesthetic, surgical and ICU departments at the veterinary
hospital.
- Suggested templates used in Minneapolis RAR post –op can be found at
http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/poadmit.pdf - The St. Paul RAR veterinarian also
maintains a file of forms which have been used by previous researchers.
-Minimally, RAR veterinary staff must check on the animals’ progress and records at
least once daily. Discharge from post-op care can only be done by the RAR veterinarian
in coordination with the PI and should be documented.
-Adequate care in the form of fluids, analgesics, antibiotics, and emergency care must be
provided as pre-arranged with the investigator and RAR staff.
Record keeping:
The basic function of the record is communication of case information to other people,
possibly in the distant future. With that in mind, the following guidelines should be
followed:
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Cover (Data) Sheet A one page synopsis of the animal’s history. For an example
see: (http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/poadmit.pdf )- Signalment, Description of
Experiment, Medications and Post-Op Requests are filled out. Drug treatments
and major problems (any problem greater than 24 hour duration or that is listed
under euthanasia criteria) should be entered on the cover sheet. A computer case
summary may be kept by RAR as well.
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Daily Examinations- Anyone who is involved in a case should record their
observations, assessment, plan and treatments. Keep record entries brief and to the
point. Enter information using appropriate medical terminology.
Animals with existing records – Existing records can be adequate for recording
surgical events. Existing records may need additional pages added for recording
anesthetic and the surgical event. The problem list should also be updated.
Special post-op records may be developed or regular notations made on the daily
record sheets. Any surgical event will need to be recorded in the Animal Use Log
and any drug withdrawal times documented.
Other records might include anesthesia forms, surgical forms, forms specific to
the project
Paper records should be kept in black or blue ink. Do not white-out entries. If a
mistake is made, cross through and initial it.
Record entries must be marked with time, date and initials
Animal health records are legal documents. They need to be kept on file and
available for examination for a period of 3 years. They will be subject to
examination by the USDA, IACUC or AAALAC during inspections.
RAR oversight and help for post-op in St. Paul can be billed as technician time at the rate
of $32/hour (2005) or a post-op per diem may be billed per animal (this per diem is billed
in addition to the housing per diem cost of the animal). Current post operative per diem
cost may be found at the RAR website (http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/perdiems.html). The
amount of oversight and veterinary care provided will dictate how a particular project is
billed. This should be arranged with the RAR veterinarian prior to any surgery being
conducted.
Please review the RAR website “post-op” information, http://www.ahc.umn.edu/rar/postop.html for more details about expectations for animal care.
Contact Dr. Marcia Brower, St. Paul RAR/VMC area veterinarian at 612-625-1982 or
Kathy Stuebner, Research Coordinator for the University of Minnesota College of
Veterinary Medicine at 612-624-2485 for more information.