XABCDE: Finding and Fixing Life-Threatening Problems in Emergency Patients

Your patient is crashing—do you know what to address first? The XABCDE approach provides a lifesaving roadmap for prioritizing care in dogs and cats with severe illness or injury.
This session focuses on what to do first, what to do next, and what not to miss, with practical strategies for managing hemorrhage, airway obstruction, breathing abnormalities, shock, neurologic compromise, and more. Learn how to stay ahead of rapid deterioration through structured reassessment and decisive intervention.
Designed for clinicians who need to act quickly and effectively under pressure.

• Recall the XABCDE trauma triage approach and apply it to prioritize life-threatening conditions in ill and injured dogs and cats.
• Demonstrate appropriate initial management of exsanguinating hemorrhage, including tourniquets, wound packing, and hemorrhage control techniques.
• Evaluate and manage airway, breathing, circulation, and disability abnormalities in critically ill or injured dogs and cats.