Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping quite like a veterinary patient in respiratory distress. You need to act quickly, but even minor handling can push them over the edge.
We built Standards of Care (formerly Plumb’s Pro) to bring clinical decision support into moments like these. When you’re weighing what needs to happen now, what can safely wait, and how to get enough information without making things worse, Standards gives you a place to turn without slowing down.
In a recent webinar, Rachel Halpin, DVM, DACVECC, and Tracy Walters, DVM, walked through real dyspnea cases using Standards. Here’s how it helps veterinary teams navigate high-pressure cases with clearer guidance at every step.
Want a closer look at Standards? Explore a free demo to see how Standards can help you move from clinical questions to clear next steps.
Start With What You Can Safely Assess
Before you can decide what diagnostics make sense, you often have to start with what the patient can safely tolerate. The dyspnea algorithm in Standards begins with immediate priorities like supplemental oxygen and sedation or anxiolysis when appropriate, then helps you decide what can be assessed before adding more handling.
From there, the algorithm helps you make sense of the respiratory pattern in front of you. Is the breathing quiet or loud? Is the effort expiratory, inspiratory, mixed, or paradoxical? Those early observations can help you sort whether the case points toward lower airway disease, upper airway obstruction, pleural space disease, cardiac disease, or something else.
Move From Pattern to Practical Decisions
Once you’ve narrowed down the pattern, you need to decide which differentials fit, which diagnostics to prioritize, what treatments to consider, and what may need to wait until the patient is more stable.
Clinical monographs put the information you need in one place. Instead of scrolling through forum threads, flipping through textbooks, or piecing together references mid-case, you can quickly find expert-backed guidance on diagnostics, treatment, monitoring, and spectrum-of-care decisions, including help for the gray areas that come up in practice.
And because Plumb’s is built into Standards, checking a medication dose or drug interaction doesn’t mean opening a separate tab or losing your train of thought.
Related read: Wondering about the difference between VIN and Standards of Care? Read Standards of Care vs VIN: Why Discussions Alone Aren’t Enough
Keep Hands-On Guidance Within Reach
When a patient needs immediate, hands-on support, there isn’t time to stop and search for a how-to guide. That’s why Standards includes procedure guides with visual, step-by-step walkthroughs you can pull up on the spot. For a patient in respiratory distress, that could mean reviewing how to place a nasal oxygen catheter while you’re actively managing the patient in front of you.
Standards also includes medical calculators, so when you need CPR dosages, a quick conversion, or another case-related calculation, you don’t have to step away to find a separate tool.
Support Handoffs and Client Conversations
Respiratory distress cases are rarely a one-person job. A technician may be getting oxygen ready while you’re thinking through diagnostics, and your client service team may be trying to keep the client informed while the plan is still taking shape.
Standards gives your whole team the same clinical reference to work from, which makes the plan easier to follow and the reasoning easier to explain. It also includes client handouts, so you can give clients something clear to review while the team stabilizes the patient, discusses next steps, or prepares for discharge.
Built for the Way Cases Actually Unfold
Dyspnea cases ask you to make careful decisions with incomplete information. You need a way to stabilize the patient, narrow the possibilities, choose diagnostics and treatments thoughtfully, and communicate what’s happening as the case changes.
Standards brings that support together in one place, so you can keep the case moving without digging through disconnected resources. To see Standards in action, watch how real dyspnea cases move from first assessment to clearer next steps.
