Animal Nursing
The Animal Nursing domain tests routine patient care: vital signs, restraint, venipuncture, catheter management, medication administration, nutrition, husbandry, and client communication. Questions often ask for the safest handling approach or the next monitoring step.
Core rules
- Establish TPR and pain score at every assessment; trends matter more than one reading.
- Use the least restraint necessary; scruff cats only briefly, and use towel wraps for fractious cats. Avoid neck leads on dyspneic patients.
- Use aseptic technique for IV catheters: clip, scrub, gloves, secure, and flush. Remove catheters at the first sign of phlebitis.
- Calculate energy needs from ideal weight, not current weight in obese patients: RER = 70 × (BW kg)^0.75.
- Document food intake, urine, feces, vomit, and medications.
Worked example
A 10 kg dog needs weight-loss feeding. RER = 70 × 10^0.75 ≈ 394 kcal/day. Feed 80% of RER for weight loss ≈ 315 kcal/day. If the diet is 300 kcal per can, feed about 1 can daily, split into meals, and recheck weight in 2–4 weeks.
Traps
Using current overweight weight for calorie calculation, restraining a dyspneic cat in lateral recumbency, forgetting to flush a catheter, and giving oral medication to a vomiting patient.