Animals can be ill and need veterinary care for many reasons. The conditions can be more or less emergent, some can even be life-threatening. When an animal is in a life-threatening condition you can save the animals life just by having the right equipment near-by and ready to be used. This literature-study help you, as an active working Veterinary nurse, with which these conditions are that can show up in your emergency ward and what you should have near-by to give animals with acute life-threatening conditions the care they need. The author also looked at work tasks at the emergency ward and found out that in Sweden it is not defined who can and/or should execute them. Interviews were also done with nine of the largest small-animal hospitals in Sweden to compare the studies found with the Swedish emergency wards.

Background: Vaccination is an important part in cats? welfare. It both helps to prevent the individual cat from catching a disease or lessen the symptoms of it, and protects the entire cat population from an epidemic. It is the cat owner who makes the decision to vaccinate or not. Understanding the cat owners? perspective regarding vaccination may improve communication between the owner and the Veterinary nurse, which may lead to a higher vaccination rate among cats.

Blood sampling is one of the most important diagnostic tools in veterinary medicine, and this is also true for avian medicine. A properly collected and handled venous sample can be used for serology, biochemistry and electrolyte analysis, as well as for blood smears, packed cell volume and cell differentiation. Caring for sick birds is a challenge for all veterinary staff. Many birds are easily stressed individuals, and to a very ill bird a big increase in stress level can even be fatal. Avian patients who are presented in a veterinary clinic are often in a poor condition, and blood sampling is an invasive procedure that can cause stress to the patient.

Overweight and obesity is currently a major health problem in our dogs all around the world and it is becoming more common each year. There are few studies on the proportion of overweight dogs in Sweden, but it was estimated to be 33% in 2005. Studies in other countries report that between 25-40% of all dogs are overweight. The aim of this study was to survey the animal care for an overweight dog. It was also important to develop a scientifically based advice.

Background: In small animal healthcare fluid therapy is an important area. To get an adequate treatment there are several factors that may play important roles in this matter. One of these factors is the correct use of the administration technique. Aim: The aim was to investigate how correct the amount of prescribed fluid was given when different people set up a fluid administration set. Method: An experimental study was performed to compare two different infusion techniques.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to observe and describe the work environment of Veterinary nurses, focused on fysical ergonomics, in a Small Animal hospital. Method: An observational study was made in the stationary ward in an animal hospital. The observation was based on a checklist from the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Six Veterinary nurses was observed over three hours when they nursed the patients. The checklist contained paragraphs concerning work postures, manuell work, knowledge, competence and the design of the workplace. Result: The results was divided into three categories; red, yellow and green.

There are several different kinds of bacteria that has developed resistance against the antibiotic agents used in todays medicine. Most of them has evolved from the human health care but several of them has gone over to also cause problems in the animal health care. They often occur as nosocomial infections and the greatest risk of exposure to them is during health care. Since infections with a resistant bacterium can be difficult to treat, it is desirable to prevent this spread, especially since an animal treated in a hospital often is more susceptible to infection, due to their primary condition. In Sweden the current resistance situation is good and is yearly monitored by the Swedish Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring (SVARM) programme.

It is important to know what is normal in the wound healing process in order to determine what happens when a wound does not heal as expected. If the amount of bacteria in the wound gets too large the body will not be able to defend itself and it becomes an infection. Colonization and infection are common elements in wound management and it is often the Veterinary nurse role to deal with wounds in a proper manner. Antibiotics are drugs that either kill or inhibit the multiplication of bacteria or fungi, and have been in veterinary medicine for approximately 60 years. Very few new antibiotics are introduced and increased resistance is a major problem that requires everyone to take responsibility to reduce the use of it.

Background: The education for becoming a registered nurse in Sweden includes compulsory time for clinical practice. The clinical education means an essential part in the students? personal development. According to regulation for nurses, a registered nurse has the responsibility to supervise nurse students during their clinical placement.Aim:. The aim of the examination was to describe nurse students´ experiences of supervision during clinical education.Method: The study was an empirical examination based on interviews with seven nurse students.Results: The result showed that nurse students wanted to be seen and treated as colleagues, but not used as labour.

The extent by which pet owners follow health care instructions falls within the confines of ?compliance?. The success of any given treatment is in part due to the way in which the owner complies with the instructions received from the advising veterinary professional. Studies abroad have found that the preventative dental care sphere suffers from a low compliance rate. Together with the fact that veterinary staff commonly issue advice on preventative dental care, this provided the impetus for undertaking the current research.

Every year many dogs in Sweden are bitten by the adder, a venomous snake (Vipera berus). Despite the fact that adder bites are so common in dogs there have been few investigations made that study the effects of treatment with glucocorticoids, a drug that is commonly used. We have carried out a literature study concerning adder bites in dogs and a prospective study where case history, clinical signs and treatment have been recorded in dogs that were presented at two veterinary hospitals after a confirmed or suspected adder bite. Fifty three dogs were included in the study out of which 22 were treated with glucocorticoids. In our study, the group of dogs treated with glucocorticoids was compared with the group of dogs that did not receive glucocorticoid treatment by the owner or on arrival at the clinic.

FLUTD - Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease ? is a complex disease and a common sight in the veterinary setting. Although FLUTD excluding urethral obstruction may be discomforting for the cat and its owner due to symptoms such as periuria, stranguria, hematuria, dysuria and pollakiuria, obstruction presents an acute and potentially lethal form of the disease as a result of uremia and disturbances in fluids, electrolytes and acid-base balances. A study of literature has been performed to investigate the causes of FLUTD with urethral obstruction and the actions available to the owner to avert them. Potential causes of obstructive and non-obstructive FLUTD have been found to include infections, uroliths, urethral plugs, neoplasia, anatomic abnormalities, trauma, neurogenic or iatrogenic causes. Most commonly a cause cannot be identified and the terms idiopathic FLUTD or feline idiopathic cystitis are used. As the mortality rate due to urethral obstruction likely is somewhere around 5.8-8.9% and FLUTD including and excluding urethral obstruction constitute great inconveniences, precautionary measures are warranted.

The number of HIV- positive is increasing all over the world and it's very likely to meet these patients as a nurse. The interaction between the nurse and the patient is characterized by experience and knowledge and at the same time the nurse is expected to act professionally. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the nurse's complex of problems regarding the treatment of the HIV- positive patient by exploring the attitudes against HIV among nurses and how the nurse can maintain the integrity of the HIV- positive patient. Antonovsky's salutoqenic model, sense of coherence, has been used as theoretical frame. From 14 articles five topics have been found that influence the nurse's attitudes against HIV-positive patients.

The field of veterinary nursing should be based upon research and proven experience. Few studies have been performed within the area of distal limb bandages. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine and describe how to place a distal fore limb bandage based on proven experience. Data material was collected through four interviews with professional Veterinary nurses, and then analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. In the analysis data material was transcribed and then divided into meaningful units that responded to the aim. The meaningful units were then condensed.

BACKGROUND: The isolation facility is an important ward in veterinary hospitals. This is where infectious patients are treated in order to reduce the risk for cross-contamination between the infectious patients and other patients and humans in the hospital. But it can only function in a safe manner as long as adequate precautions for infection control are adhered to. This has shown to be a problem in many isolation facilities in veterinary hospitals in Sweden. AIM: The aim of this paper was to examine which factors that can affect the quality of the infection control in the isolation facility. The aim is also to stress the importance of adequate infection control practices. METHOD: Two interviews were conducted with staff from two veterinary hospitals.