BSAVA Cognitive Aids for Anaesthesia in Small Animal Practice

The BSAVA Cognitive Aids for Anaesthesia in Small Animal Practice is a quick reference resource for veterinary teams in theatre. It includes checklists that should be completed as part of any anaesthetic procedure as well as troubleshooting guides and crisis checklists. Areas covered include:

• Equipment and drugs lists
• Pre-anaesthetic assessment lists and forms
• Intraoperative safety checklists
• Crisis checklists (e.g. hyperthermia, hypotension, haemorrhage)
• Troubleshooting guides for capnography waveforms, pulse waveforms and pulse oximetry

Matt McMillan qualified as a vet in 2003 and spent 3 years in general practice before undertaking an internship at the Royal Veterinary College. He spent a year working as an emergency vet before starting a residency in anaesthesia at the University of Cambridge, where he stayed for a further 8 years, including 5 years running the clinical anaesthesia service. Matt became a diplomate of the European College of Anaesthesia and Analgesia in 2012 and gained RCVS recognised specialist status shortly after. Matt has a special interest in safety and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences on the subject. He has authored several research papers on safety, co-authored the book Errors in Veterinary Anaesthesia and was the chairperson of the working group of the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists that developed the Anaesthetic Safety Checklist. Matt currently works as a consultant anaesthetist at The Ralph Veterinary Referral Centre.