Legal implications of understaffing of specialty departments of veterinary teaching hospitals.

When a case is referred to a specialty practice, the assumption is that the practice has the appropriate specialists, equipment, staff, and facility necessary to provide the required medical care. But what if the appropriate specialist is not available when the patient arrives?

Efficacy of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring.

Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is of benefit in protecting tissue at risk for trauma or ischemia during surgical procedures. Monitoring modalities include EEG, computer processed EEG, somatosensory (SEP), auditory (BAEP), and visual evoked potentials (VEP), and cranial nerve monitoring. The efficacy of monitoring is controversial, because no properly controlled prospective study of outcome with and without monitoring has been done.