Dr. Adam Redpath of the University of Nottingham and Oakham Veterinary Hospital has developed an exciting collaboration with Piavita AG to enhance the post-operative monitoring of horses in the hospital’s newly equipped Critical Care Unit.

The Piavet system provides real-time cloud-based access to vital signs of inpatients using a small, robust device attached without the need any wires or additional electrodes. The devices will be to monitor heart rate, respiratory rate and core body temperature for horses within the hospital from any location.

About the Piavet System, Dr. Med. Vet. A. Redpath says, ‘Continuous monitoring of vital parameters enables us to provide the highest standards of clinical care to animals at greatest risk of developing complications such as sepsis and SIRS, paralleling standards of patient monitoring that would be provided to human patients in high dependency hospital care. The lack of wires means the unit can be rapidly fitted and does not rely on the placement of electrodes, which may become detached, especially in horses with colic. As part of our ongoing research into assessment and management of acute and chronic pain in the peri-operative period, these devices will allow us to measure the impact of analgesic medications on changes in cardiac autonomic tone using heart rate variability analysis