Page 6 - Clinical Connections - Summer 2024
P. 6

RVC RESEARCH    STUDY    VETERINARY SERVICES       RVC.AC.UK
         Heart surgery
        CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY TEAM
        PROGRESS



        Dan Brockman, who leads the team
        and is Professor of Small  Animal
        Surgery, outlines developments in
        the  Cardiothoracic  Surgery  Service,
        which are enabling more dogs to be
        treated. The RVC’s service, which
        was established in 2005, is the only
        place in the UK offering “open-heart”
        surgery to canine patients.  As Dan
        explains, other elements of the team,
        in addition to the surgeons, are vital
        to deliver an exceptional service to
        dogs and their owners.
          In common with many initiatives, we lost a
        bit of ground due to the impact of COVID in
        recent years but we are making it up again
        now. Our team is strengthening and we’ve
        recently  hired  two  Registered  Veterinary
        Nurses;  Rachel  Collin  and  Kayley  Dowd,
        who  are  dedicated  to  the  cardiothoracic   Dan Brockman with Mabel, who had pioneering open-heart surgery to treat congenital tricuspid
        service  both  of  whom  have  extensive   dysplasia, in 2016
        previous experience in busy practices.
          They are working alongside Sarah Carey,   consistency of seeing a familiar face every   repair is low and we have an important part
        our  Cardiothoracic  Service  Co-ordinator,   time they come to the hospital and hearing   to  play  in  building  more  capacity.  We  are
        and  have  been  learning  the  ropes  very   a consistent voice on the phone. The client   booking  cases  into  2025  already.  We  are
        quicky. Our nurses are crucial to the success   care aspect of cardiothoracic surgery is so   currently doing two surgeries a week again,
        of the programme and have a very broad   important,  as  these  pet  owners  are  often   which is what we were doing before COVID,
        ranging role – they are patient co-ordinators,   extremely emotionally bonded clients.  and if we can attract more anaesthesiology
        theatre nurses, deliver ICU care and support                            and cardiology personnel, we can potentially
        general client communication and facilitation   Surgical team developments   go up to three cases a week. It becomes
        of visits. It’s a slightly different role from most   Matteo Rossanese [Lecturer in Soft Tissue   much  easier  to  train  people  when  you
        traditional nursing roles in the hospital as it’s   Surgery]  declared  an  interest  in  open   have a higher throughput as the trainee will
        not discipline-specific – they have to cross   heart  surgery  some  years  ago  and  has   “climb” the “learning curve” more quickly.
        lots of disciplines.                been “scrubbing in” with me for a couple of   In relation to the broader team, we have
          The nurses meet the clients and follow the   years. Matteo is a very gifted surgeon who   two new cardiologists [see spring’s issue of
        patients all the way through their care. The   has  already  completed  advanced  surgical   Clinical Connections],  Nekesa  Morey  and
        people  who  manage  this  particular  group   training  and  so  having  such  a  competent   Joshua Hannabuss, and they, along with our
        of canine patients need to understand the   pair  of  hands  involved  with  the  surgery  is   enthusiastic  team  of  cardiology  residents,
        needs of the dogs which are subtly different   extremely helpful.       are extremely helpful to the programme.
        from many other patients. The consistency   We’ve  got  to  the  stage  now  where  we
        of  having  the  same  person  look  at  the   essentially  assist  each  other  –  we  take
        animal  multiple  times  a  day,  allows  them   it  in  turns  to  be  the  primary  surgeon  and
        to pick up very subtle changes – and those   assistant surgeon. Matteo is acting as the
        subtle changes can be very important!   primary  surgeon  with  guidance  now  and  I
          Having a core group of people who work   would hope that, given another year or so,
        with these patients all the time, rather than   he will be capable of doing the procedure on
        the patient moving from ward to ward, where   his own, without my input.
        a new group of people have to get familiar   We  are  also  hoping  to  get  both  a
        with  them,  enables  better  consistency  of   Cardiothoracic   Surgery   Fellow   and
        care – and therefore also better consistency   Perfusion  Fellow  back  on  the  books  this
        of results.                         year. It’s about succession planning for me
          That  continuity  of  care  is  also  ideal  for   now – I’d ultimately like to walk away from
        interaction with clients – they love knowing   this programme by the time I retire knowing
        that they will see a certain nurse and a certain   that  it’s  sustainable  and  it  will  continue.
        vet.  Because  it’s  often  such  an  emotional   The  demand  is  enormous  but  the  supply   RVC  surgeons  Dan  Brockman  and  Matteo
        experience for owners, they really like the   worldwide of people who can do mitral valve   Rossanese with a mitral valve surgery patient


        6   Summer 2024
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