Abstract
The previously published AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines provide essential information regarding the importance of reducing the stress that cats experience before, during and after the veterinary visit. 1 The AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Nursing Care Guidelines that we introduce in this issue expand the recommendations of the predecessor by placing greater emphasis on the art of healing called nursing care (see pages 337–349, DOI: 10.1177/1098612X12445002). To provide optimal support to a well, sick, injured or recovering cat, nursing care is as important as medical science.
Nursing care is as important as medical science in promoting wellness or recovery. Note how gently massaging the base of the cat’s ear seems to make auscultation a pleasure. Courtesy of Hazel Carney
Nursing care relies on clinical experience, observation, patient- or client-directed feedback and the ability to interpret the patient’s state of mind. In some clinics, technicians/nurses are the primary providers of ‘nursing care’. In reality, nursing care must involve all members of the veterinary care team. The authors define nursing care as any interaction between the cat and the veterinary team (veterinarian, technician or nurse, receptionist or other support staff) in the clinic or between the cat and its owner at home that promotes wellness or recovery from illness or injury and addresses the patient’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Nursing care also helps the sick or convalescing cat engage in activities that it would be unable to perform without help. Involving the cat owner is a key aspect of successful feline nursing care and requires client education, guidance and support from the veterinary team.
Most cat owners can readily detect which members of the veterinary team truly connect with and exhibit empathy with their cats. They will appreciate and respond to an approach that emphasizes the cat’s safety and security. Veterinary team members who understand and provide quality feline nursing care will render better care that facilitates treatment and recovery of their feline patients. Veterinarians will earn owner loyalty and will have a more productive, safer and happier veterinary team.
These Guidelines are comprehensive and may seem daunting. However, even small improvements and incremental progress in feline nursing care can pay immediate dividends and start building a culture of skilled and compassionate feline care. By looking at each section of the Guidelines, a clinic can begin to understand fear and stress from the cat’s perspective; make changes in protocol that will decrease stress in exam rooms, perioperative areas and during hospitalization; avoid things that annoy cats; and counsel owners on how to behave in the exam room so as to soothe their cats rather than contribute to stress. The Guidelines also give many practical tips that the contributing authors utilize in their clinics. These include easy-to-implement cage set-ups, nutritional support principles, venipuncture techniques, and tips for handling cats during examinations and procedures.
In keeping with our desire to include all members of the veterinary care team in the nursing care of feline patients, the Guidelines are the first to have certified veterinary technicians as part of the writing panel. Both Dawn Brownlee-Tomasso and Erica Mattox contributed greatly to the explanation of the practical aspects of the nursing techniques. They explained areas where technicians/ nurses have special insights into, and talents for, decreasing cat stress and improving comfort; they also reinforced the importance of having someone who acts as a liaison between the cat owner and the hospital whenever a cat needs any form of nursing care.
Our other panel specialists, Andrea Harvey, Sheilah Robertson, Renee Rucinsky and Donna Stephens Manley, distilled their combined 100+ years of experience ‘doctoring’ cats into truly applicable, compassionate nursing care techniques and even taught each other some new tricks. We sincerely appreciate the time, knowledge and enthusiasm that the authors shared with this project. We also extend special thanks to Ed Kanara for his guidance throughout.
We are pleased to present these AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Nursing Care Guidelines to the veterinary profession. We firmly believe that as veterinarians understand, utilize and adapt these techniques to their practices, they will improve the comfort and health of our cat patients.
Co-Chairs, AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Nursing Care Guidelines