The current VIN date & time: Eastern

VIN ANES115-0122: Parturient Physiology and Anesthesia

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

Presenter: Kimberly Hassen, DVM, ACVAA
Course Open: January 21–February 10, 2022
Real Time Sessions (RTS): Monday, January 31, 2022; 8-9:30 pm ET (USA) World Clock Converter
Total CE Credit: 1.5
RACE Category: 1.5 hours Medical

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Course Information:
If the thought of anesthetizing a pregnant animal gives you morning sickness, this course is for you! This first half of this course is designed to give you a thorough understanding of how physiology changes during pregnancy so that you can feel confident making clinical judgments should you ever have to anesthetize a pregnant animal. The second half of this course not only details sample small animal protocols, but also discusses risks, benefits, and recent literature to support the use of various drugs and analgesic techniques so that you feel comfortable making medical decisions for these patients. Please note that this course is canine and feline focused.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion of the course, the participant should be able to
  • understand how respiratory, cardiac, and gastrointestinal physiology are altered in pregnancy and how that translates to anesthetic management for the pregnant patient.
  • recognize hematologic changes that accompany pregnancy
  • discuss the imperative steps to mitigate anesthetic risk for parturients.
  • discuss which anesthetic drugs are safer during pregnancy, and which come with excess risk.
  • discuss what locoregional anesthetic techniques can be performed for Cesarean section analgesia and learn the steps in performing these.

Level and Prerequisites: This advanced VIN CE course is open for enrollment to veterinarians actively interested in parturient physiology and anesthesia. The intended audience will have basic knowledge in physiology and anesthesiology, as some topics may require a more advanced level of understanding. But everyone will be able to learn something from this course, and so all levels are welcome! Please note this course is canine and feline focused.
Accreditation: This course is approved for 1.5 hours of continuing education credit by RACE for veterinarians. (RACE 20-858897)

Course Agenda:

Week 1 (Real Time Session January 31, 2022): Parturient Physiology and Anesthesia
Presenters: Kimberly Hassen, DVM, ACVAA
We will cover respiratory, cardiac, and gastrointestinal physiology as it pertains to pregnancy. We then will discuss how to be adequately prepared for Cesarean sections, and various drugs and local blocks you should or should not use/do.

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.


Enrollment is closed.


Tuition: Member $35 ($32 early bird special if enrolled by January 10, 2022)
Non-Member $95 ($89 early bird special if enrolled by January 10, 2022)
Prices are listed in US dollars.

*To ensure participants are ready and prepared for classes, enrollment will close on January 24, 2022 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.

  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. 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.

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