What is a Criticalist?

A critical care specialist, or criticalist, is a veterinarian who has undergone an additional four years of post-veterinary-degree training in internship and residency programs and passes a very intense and complex examination given by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. These veterinarians undergo rigorous preparation to provide the best possible care required to nurse the very sickest pets back to health.

How does critical care differ from emergency medicine? Emergency hospitals see a very large variety of sick animals. Just like human emergency rooms, some patients are stable and can be treated on an outpatient basis, while some patients are so sick that they are immediately admitted to the hospital and rushed to surgery or to the critical care unit (CCU), which also can be called the intensive care unit, or ICU.

Veterinary emergency rooms and urgent care facilities assess each pet on presentation with a triage examination. They assess the patient's breathing rate, heart rate, pulse quality, gum color and mental acuity while surveying for any life-threatening wounds or conditions. Pets that are determined to be critically ill based on the triage exam will be transferred immediately to a critical care facility.

Dogs and cats can also arrive in the CCU from other hospital wards if they suddenly become sicker than they had been upon admission. Patients having recently had invasive or difficult surgeries also commonly spend time in the CCU while they recover. Twenty-four-hour care is provided to critically ill dogs and cats in the CCU by the criticalist, other clinicians and CCU nursing staff. With the help of state-of-the-art monitoring equipment and frequent assessment, the criticalist is able to determine which treatments the patient needs on a moment-to-moment basis to help keep that pet alive.

Some cats and dogs require specific fluids or medications to keep their blood pressure normal, some require continuous
heart rhythm monitoring with an ECG and medications to regulate their heart rhythm, some require oxygen therapy for severe lung disease and some animals
even need a respirator to help them breathe while their bodies are trying to heal. A criticalist assesses her patients very frequently and utilizes these monitoring devices, equipment and medications to give your pet the best chance of surviving, despite his critical condition.

Some cats and dogs require specific fluids or medications to keep their blood pressure normal, some require continuous heart rhythm monitoring with an ECG and medications to regulate their heart rhythm, some require oxygen therapy for severe lung disease and some animals even need a respirator to help them breathe while their bodies are trying to heal. A criticalist assesses patients very frequently and utilizes these monitoring devices, equipment and medications to give your pet the best chance of surviving, despite its critical condition.