What is Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care (ECC)?
Veterinary Emergency Care is a veterinary discipline that deals with the care of injured or acutely sick companion animals that need immediate emergency care. Veterinary Critical Care is delivered to animals that suffer from a very severe and complicated disease or need intensive care surrounding extensive surgery. The care given extends not only to the direct treatment of the patient but it is complemented by close monitoring and loving nursing care. Veterinary Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Medicine share many common grounds of which teamwork is very, if not the most, important aspect of the Speciality. An extensive team of support staff, nurses, and veterinarians is ready to deliver the intense and complicated care necessary to improve the chances of a good outcome. A veterinarian specialised in Emergency and Critical Care has been trained to head, coordinate and deliver this care.
What is a European Veterinary Specialist?
A Specialist is veterinarian who has gained specific knowledge and expertise in a predefined veterinary discipline, such as medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, diagnostic imaging or emergency and critical care. European Veterinary Specialists in a veterinary discipline are organized in a College. A College needs to obtain official recognition by the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation, EBVS, to become an officially recognized and registered European Veterinary Specialist College. Veterinarians who are member of such a European Veterinary Specialist College are referred to as ‘Diplomates’. EBVS maintains a public register of fully active Diplomates who are European Veterinary Specialists. They are allowed to carry this logo.
