VIN SAIM102-0720: Fluids and Electrolytes

The lectures for this course will be presented in an audio format using a webinar platform.

Enrollment is closed.
Presenters: Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC
Mary Anna Labato, DVM, DACVIM
Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM
Rachael Carpenter, DVM
Beth Davidow, DVM, ACVECC

Course Open: July 14-September 11, 2020
Real Time Sessions (RTS): Tuesdays, July 21, 28, August 4, 11, 18, 25, and September 1, 2020; 8:00-10:00 pm ET (USA)
Course RTS Times in Your Area: World Clock Converter

Level and Prerequisites: This intermediate course will be open to veterinarians actively interested in provision of optimal fluid therapy.
VIN CE Course: Open to veterinarians. This course is approved by RACE for veterinarians. (RACE 22-41447)

Course Information:
With clinicians always "striving to be almost as smart as the world's dumbest kidney," the course will focus on the evaluation of the fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base status of clinical small animal patients and the provision of optimal fluid therapy. At the completion of this course, participants will have an improved ability to prescribe fluid therapy for their small animal patients, including those with critical illness and complex medical problems.

Week 1 (Real Time Session July 21, 2020): Composition of Body Fluids, Body Fluid Compartments, Disorders of Sodium Balance
Presenter: Katherine James, DVM, PhD
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • understand the terminologies of sodium balance, water balance, content, concentration, 3rd spacing, osmolality and dehydration as the conceptual foundations for the course
  • describe body fluid compartments and introduce how fluids can impact them
  • assess disorders of sodium balance and derive a management plan for them
  • compare diuretics and their mechanisms of action

Week 2 (Real Time Session July 28, 2020): Hyponatremia and Hypernatremia
Presenter: Mary Anna Labato, DVM, DACVIM
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • list the most common causes of hyponatremia and hypernatremia
  • calculate free water deficit for a hypernatremic patient
  • describe how to correct for severe hyponatremia

Week 3 (Real Time Session August 4, 2020): Other Electrolyte Disorders
Presenter: Beth Davidow, DVM, ACVECC
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • choose fluid type, appropriate potassium supplementation, and appropriate rate for treatment of hypokalemia
  • describe causes of hyperkalemia and the appropriate fluid treatment for these disorders
  • understand the physiology of saline fluid therapy for hypercalcemia
  • explain why different fluid types may be better than others when treating patients with possible magnesium disorders

Weeks 4-5 (Real Time Session August 11 and 18, 2020): Fundamentals of Fluid Therapy Planning
Presenter: Mary Anna Labato, DVM, DACVIM
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • compare resuscitative versus maintenance fluids
  • establish a fluid therapy plan for an azotemic, hypoalbumenic dog
  • list indications for the use of colloids

Week 6 (Real Time Session August 25, 2020): Review of Acid/Base Disorders
Presenter: Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • understand the terminology of acid/base disorders and recognize disease processes and clinical presentations that suggest acid/base disorders may be present
  • interpret blood gases
  • work up acid/base related problems and refine them, including understanding compensation and mixed disturbances
  • assess the differential diagnoses for various disorders
  • understand how acid/base related problems impact fluid therapy decisions

Week 7 (Real Time Session September 1, 2020): Special Problems in Fluid Therapy
Presenters: Tony Johnson, DVM, DACVECC and Rachael Carpenter, DVM
Format: Audio
Objectives: Upon completion of this session, the participant should be able to
  • synthesize all the components and concepts from previous sections of the course into a good understanding of the particulars of fluid therapy
  • determine if a patient would benefit from fluid therapy, and if so, what type of fluid, what rate of fluid and if any additives are required
  • develop a fluid therapy plan for volume loss/shock, dehydration and special circumstances: anesthesia, CHF, DKA, AKI, etc.

Successful completion (scoring 80% or better) on the end-of-course test is required to earn a certificate of completion for the course. To learn more about the requirements for earning a CE certificate, please refer to Receiving Your CE Credit and Course Completion Certificate.

Course Materials: Course materials will be available in the course library prior to each Real Time Session.
Required Textbook(s): There is no required textbook for this course.

About the Presenters:
Beth Davidow is a 1995 graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University and did her emergency and critical care residency at Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland, Oregon. She co-founded and helped run two multi-specialty hospitals and a community blood bank in Seattle, Washington for 13 years. Dr. Davidow is currently on faculty at Washington State University. She is also the President-Elect of ACVECC and blogs at vetidealist.com. She has been a consultant on VIN since 2002.

Katherine James is a VIN consultant (Urology and Nephrology) and has a PhD in veterinary medicine from the University of Minnesota with a focus on nephrology and urology including effects of nutrition on acid-base balance in chronic kidney disease. Her interests in nephrology include sodium and water balance physiology, as a foundation to understanding fluid therapy and disorders of sodium and water balance. Other special interests are in the application of functional medicine principles to veterinary medicine and the study of clinical reasoning/cognitive errors in medical practice.

Mary Labato is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Small Animal Internal Medicine. She is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University. She is a self-proclaimed nephrology and urology nerd. Her special interests are acute and chronic kidney disease, hypertension, protein-losing nephropathies and renal replacement therapies. She assesses fluid balance in patients on a daily basis.

Rachael Carpenter is a 1999 graduate of The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed a one-year internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY and then went on to complete an anesthesia residency at Michigan State University. After that she worked in private practice as an emergency clinician before accepting a position at the University of Illinois as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Anesthesia and Analgesia. She left Illinois in 2009 to be the anesthesiologist at Ruffian Equine Medical Center in Elmont, NY, before accepting a position as a Clinical Instructor in Anesthesiology at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in 2014. Along the way, she began working part time for VIN as a jack of all trades, master of none. She lives in Blacksburg, VA with her two teen and tween age daughters (please send help), her husband (an equine surgeon), two cats and Russell Terrier. In her spare time, she rides naughty ponies for her daughters riding instructor, is a soccer Mom and attends NICA mountain bike races.

Tony Johnson is a 1996 graduate of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. After completing a one-year internship in California, he chose to pursue a three-year residency in emergency medicine and critical care at Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital in Portland, Oregon. In October 2003 he became ACVECC board certified. Dr. Johnson went on to practice critical care medicine in Chicago, Illinois and Gaithersburg Maryland before joining VIN as Minister of Happiness. He has lectured at several local, national and international veterinary conferences. He was inadvertently voted Speaker of the Year for the Western Veterinary Conference for 2010 and has somehow won several teaching awards. Dr. Johnson's special interests include pain management, bacon, mechanical ventilation, trauma, blood banking and transfusion medicine.

Total CE Credit: 14

Tuition: Member $322 ($290 early bird special if enrolled by June 30, 2020)
Non-Member $468 ($364 early bird special if enrolled by June 30, 2020)
Prices are listed in US dollars.

*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close on July 21, 2020 at 5 pm ET (USA) or when the maximum number of participants is reached.

*For more information on how online CE works, see the Participant Resource Center.

To Enroll:
  1. Enrollment qualifications: VIN CE courses are open to VIN member and non-member veterinarians. Veterinarians enrolling in a VSPN CE course must be a VIN member. Veterinary support staff must be a VSPN member to enroll in a VSPN CE or a VIN CE course open to VSPN member enrollment.
  2. Each enrollee must be able to receive emails from @vspn.org and @vin.com addresses. Email is our major form of communication with participants; personal emails are highly recommended rather than clinic/hospital email addresses.
  3. Each person is individually responsible for his/her own registration. To ensure that all information received is secure and correct, please do not enroll for a course on behalf of another individual.
  4. For further assistance call 800-846-0028 ext. 797 or email . Please include the course title, your full name, and contact information in your correspondence.
Enrollment is closed.

"This program (22-41447) is approved by the AAVSB RACE to offer a total of 14 CE Credits, with a maximum of 14 CE Credits being available to any individual veterinarian. This RACE approval is for the subject matter categories of: Medical, using the delivery method of Interactive-Distance: (Web-based, Teleconference or Audio-Conference). This approval is valid in jurisdictions which recognize AAVSB RACE; however, participants are responsible for ascertaining each board's CE requirements."

Course withdrawal and refund policy: A complete refund of the paid course price will be issued when your withdrawal request is received prior to the listed start date of the course. If you wish to withdraw after the start date please contact the VIN office 800-846-0028 ext. 797 to discuss eligibility for a pro-rated refund.

*For more information on VIN's upcoming CE courses, check the VIN Course Catalog.

Katherine James, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM)
VIN Education Director

VIN CE Services:
800-846-0028 or 530-756-4881; ext. 797
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from the United Kingdom: 01 45 222 6154
or direct line to VIN/VSPN from Australia: 02 6145 2357