No images? Click here Welcome to the Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists newsletter We are very excited to announce that Dr Adam Mugford has joined Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists. Adam will be leading our Emergency and Critical Care department which will support all of our teams. Adam Mugford - BVetMed MVetMed DACVECC MRCVSPrior to joining us, Adam introduced and grew an ECC service at a multi-disciplinary hospital and was Vice chair of the groups clinical advisory committee, helping support over 400 general practice clinics. His clinical interests include all aspects of Emergency and Critical Care, with particular interests in trauma, sepsis, toxicology, renal disease, respiratory failure (including ventilation), transfusion medicine and CPR. We asked Adam some questions about ECC and the benefits of having the service in an multidisciplinary referral hospital: Q. What is ECC (Emergency Critical Care)? A. "Emergency and Critical Care Specialists or criticalists are relatively new to UK private specialist practice. Our training includes all aspects of urgent care across the wide range of specialties as well as all aspects of intensive care. This additional training in emergency techniques can be life-saving and enables stabilisation prior to transfer to a specific discipline or ongoing critical care." Q. How does ECC work in practice? A. "Most ECC clinicians work with emergency services admitting same day/urgent referrals. A proportion of these cases will then be transferred internally to another service after stabilisation and initial diagnostics. The sickest patients may be kept under ECC care to provide direct critical care support in an ICU setting. “ECC will work closely in support of the other clinicians at AMVS to identify the most appropriate treatment options for a pet with a true team approach. There may be cases for example that need multiple services - such as a trauma case and I might sit in the middle of multiple services to ensure excellent communication with the owner/referring vet and develop the critical care plan for optimum care. The benefit of using this approach is perfect when all disciplines are under one roof, allowing a close working relationship across the teams easily getting input from the many experienced clinicians in allied specialities as needed." Adam described a classic case example: “Stabilising a road traffic accident head trauma feline patient with a ruptured diaphragm, broken jaw and orthopaedic injuries. We would do all the initial therapy, diagnostics, and then involve teams in neurology, soft tissue surgery, dentistry, imaging, anaesthesia and orthopaedics.” Q. What are the benefits of having an ECC service? A “The biggest benefit will be for all the teams out in practice, who are under pressure at this time, to shorten the response time for any urgent requests for
assistance and either accept the case for immediate referral or provide advice if referral is not an option. I’ll just be a phone call away! Sign up to our next CPD webinar Adam will be hosting a CPD webinar on Tuesday 26th October at 7pm looking at the 'Key steps in stabilisation of the emergency patient'. Click here for more information and to book your place. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Kiah Taylor on kiah.taylor@andersonmoores.com. Cardiology | Dentistry | Dermatology | Diagnostic Imaging | Internal Medicine | Neurology & Neurosurgery |Oncology | Orthopaedics | Pain Clinic | Physiotherapy | Soft Tissue Surgery |