The VetEmCrit Academy built for ER vets who want to grow, level up, and learn together: https://academy.vetemcrit.com/join This is the first episode in a new long-form series by Dr. Lance Wheeler, DVM, DACVECC, working systematically through the core topics in small animal emergency and critical care medicine - starting with the foundations and building toward the more advanced concepts. The series is designed for ECC residents preparing for boards, technicians pursuing their VTS (ECC), and any clinician who wants a structured, practical review of high-yield emergency and critical care. In this first episode, he tackles one of the most fundamental skills in ECC: evaluation and triage of the critically ill patient. He starts with the primary survey - respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurologic - and walk through how to recognize early decompensation before a patient crashes. He covers practical thresholds you'll actually use on shift: oxygenation and ventilation targets, hypotension and shock index cutoffs, glucose, sodium, and potassium alert values, and the criteria that distinguish septic peritonitis, uroperitoneum, and bile peritonitis on point-of-care ultrasound. Along the way, he incorporates recent literature. If you enjoy this episode and want the full experience - weekly deep-dives, interactive simulators, and clinical algorithms you can use on shift - come join us inside the VetEmCrit Academy.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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