" When I was in critical care practice, I loved the obsessive detective-like approach to figuring out and correcting underlying problems in our patients as well as the interaction with owners who were often distraught. Putting owner's minds at ease and helping them to make difficult decisions was always a personally important part of my work. Above all, I have always loved teaching veterinary technicians and nurses, veterinarians and students and that is why I have focused on that aspect for the past 12 years."

Do you recall a particular case that meant a lot to you?

"Yes, looking back over a 37 year career, several cases still stay in the front of my mind. One was Paco, a large mixed shepherd who lost his tongue to squamous cell carcinoma in 1983. I still remember sitting with him for hours a day teaching him how to eat by "bolting" meatballs and drink out of a rodent type water bottle. My knuckles were scraped raw from his teeth as I pushed those meatballs to the back ofhis mouth until he got the idea. It was very rewarding when he got it! The other case I will always remember from 1990 was a yellow lab named Jetter who ate a large sandwich style toothpick that perforated through his GI tract and ended up in his liver. He spent a week on a ventilator with septic peritonitis traumatic liver damage, DIC and SIRS but we saved him. At that time it was the longest successful ventilator case we had ever had. Jetter had one of those super dedicated families, including the grandmother who brought us the most awesome pumpkin cheesecake roll. I still have that recipe in my file."

What is your worse nightmare to treat in emergency and critical care medicine?

"It used to be botulism but now for me it is any condition that results in intractable pain. When I think back on how much pain we tolerated years ago because we did not understand how to manage it, I am astounded. Today I am unable to tolerate painfulness in our patients and thankful for both the understanding and options we have available."

Where Nancy SHAFFRAN will be lecturing soon

• AAHA, Nashville - March 2014
• AVMA in Denver - July 2014
• IVECCS in Indianapolis - September 2014
• Atlantic Coast in New Jersey - October 2014

 Select references:

• Hoffmann K, Shaffran N. Care and Management of the Critically Ill Recumbent Animal, Veterinary Technician, Vol. 7, No. 3, March 1986.

• Shaffran N. and Oakley D. Transfusions: Collecting, Storing and Administering Blood, Veterinary Technician Vol. 8, No. 4, May 1987.

• Shaffran N. Interpretation of a Rise in Central Venous Pressure, Proceedings of the IVECCS Symposium, 1992

• Shaffran N. Percutaneous Catheterization of the Medial Femoral Artery, Proceedings of the IVECCS Symposium, 1992.

• Shaffran N. Critical Care Nursing, Veterinary Technician, Vol. 14, No. 7, July 1993.

• Dhupa N. and Shaffran N. Constant Rate Infusions. In Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Ettinger, 1994 ed.

• Shaffran N. Central Venous Pressure, Practice Staff, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1994.

• Shaffran N. Ethics of Pain Management and Recognition of Pain in Critically Ill Small Animals, Proceedings of the IVECCS Symposium 1996.

• Shaffran N. Arterial Blood Gas Analysis, Veterinary Technician, Vol. 19, No. 2 February 1998.

• Shaffran N. Pain in Critically Ill Small Animals: Ethical Aspects, Veterinary Technician, Vol. 19, No. 5, May 1998.

• Shaffran N, Pain Assessment and Treatment In Battaglia, A.M. Small Animal Emergency and Critical Care: Saunders, Philadelphia, 2001

• Shaffran N, Join the Pain Management Movement, Veterinary Technician, Vol 23, No. 6, June 2002

• Shaffran N, Defining Pain in Dogs and Cats, Veterinary Technician, Vol 23, No. 8, August 2002

• Shaffran N, Assessing Pain in Dogs and Cats, Veterinary Technician, Vol 23, No. 9, September 2002

• Shaffran N, Analgesic Options for Managing Pain in Dogs and Cats, Veterinary Technician, Vol 23, No. 10, October 2002

• Shaffran N, Common Protocols for Pain Management, Veterinary Technician, Vol 23, No. 12, December 2002

• Shaffran N, Pain Relief as a Practice Standard, Veterinary Technician, Vol 24, No. 1, January, 2003

• Shaffran N, Pain in the Joint; Understanding Canine Osteoarthritis, Veterinary Technician, Vol 24, No. 10 October 2003

• Shaffran N, Battaglia A, Pain Management in Critical Care, the Veterinary Nurse/Technician's perspective, Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, June 2005

• Shaffran N, Pain Management, 5 chapters in Small Animal Surgical Nursing, ed Busch, Elsevier Mosby, St Louis Missouri, 2006

• Shaffran, N, Pain Management; The Veterinary Technician's Perspective, Update on Management of Pain, Veterinary Clinics of North America, K Mattews ed, Elsevier, Saunders, Vol 38, No 6, November, 2008

• Shaffran, N and Grubb, T, Pain Management, McCurnin's Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians (8th Edition), Elsevier, Saunders

• Goldberg, M.E. and Shaffran, N, Pain Management for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses, Wiley Blackwell, In Progress

How to contact Nancy ?

nshaff@aol.com