The Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT)



The VetCOT Pulse--March 2026

Here's a snapshot of VetCOT activities and links to helpful resources. Please share with your teams!

SEE YOU SOON...

The 2026 ACVECC VetCOT Conference is

April 25 & 26, 2026, at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas

Attend the annual VetCOT conference for two days of continuing education, dynamic speakers, translational medicine discussions, and networking opportunities with over 100 trauma professionals!

Registration Closes April 9.

BOOK YOUR HOTEL NOW!

BEFORE LOWER ROOM BLOCK RATES DISAPPEAR!

We share the TCCACS exclusive hotel room blocks at Caesar's Palace and The Linq and they are filling up fast!

Due to the high demand, we want to ensure you have the opportunity to secure the lower rate before it's too late.

THE RESORT FEE IS COMPLIMENTARY FOR ALL ATTENDEES WHO BOOK THROUGH THE CONFERENCE LINK AND USE THE GROUP CODE

Book Caesars Palace or Nobu

Phone: 866-227-5944

GROUP CODE is SCTCC6 

Book the Linq

Phone: 866-523-2781

GROUP CODE is SQTCC6 

TRAVEL TIP: For those of you planning to travel to the conference by air, given the current situation with TSA and long security lines at the airports, especially busy airports like Las Vegas, you may want to consider getting TSA Pre-Check and enrolling in Touchless ID with your specific airline; this requires a 5 day advance purchase. Another option is to purchase CLEAR, which can be done on site.

Subcommittee Highlights

April Trauma Talk April 1 @ 8 pm EST

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/98322803482

Guest Speaker: Dr. Greg Lisciandro

Topic: Global FAST® for the Trauma Patient



The webinar will cover the AFAST® abdominal fluid scoring system for decision making regarding patient resuscitation including blood transfusion, TFAST® and its rules for detecting acutely pericardial and pleural effusion, TFAST® rules for detecting and semi-quantitating pneumothorax, Vet BLUE® and its use for detecting pulmonary contusions, its B-line scoring, and its inherent severity scoring system for tracking patients, and more.

The team is working on updating the "Resources for the optimal care of the injured veterinary patient" document. The current version is below.

They are also creating Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) and an update will be given at the VetCOT Conference.

Registry Data and Publications Subcommittee

We have 34 published articles using VetCOT Registry Data and 11 more in process.

Thanks to your continued efforts we also have 80,200 registry case entries.

Trauma Support Subcommittee

Emotional Recovery from Tough Cases for the Trauma Team



In this newsletter, the Trauma Support Team Committee would like to highlight several resources that may help veterinary trauma teams recover from and process difficult cases. We also want to acknowledge that serious trauma cases are often some of the most challenging cases to see and treat, particularly given the high mortality rate that can accompany traumatic injuries.

Caring for these patients can require an immense amount of both physical and emotional energy from the individuals involved, as well as from the team as a whole. Recognizing this impact is important, and we want to ensure that our teams feel supported when cases affect them more deeply.



With this in mind, we would like to share several techniques, suggestions, and self-care strategies that may be helpful during times when a case feels especially heavy for the team.

More web resources on the importance of debriefing:

More web resources on the importance of well-being and self-care:

Identification & Verification Subcommittee

The team has had a busy year reviewing reverifications, new verifications and identification applications. If your hospital is interested in joining the network click the link to our website below to find out more. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2026.

Communications Subcommittee

Follow VetCOT on Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn)

Veterinary Advanced Trauma Life Support (VetATLS) Development

VetATLS Updates – Full Course Available on June 1st!

After many years of work, the Veterinary Advanced Trauma Life Support (VetATLS) Course online modules debut on June 1st. All 11 modules will be live on the ACVECC Learning webpage. Cost for the online course is $375 for veterinarians and $225 for technicians, students, and all other interested learners.

Get notified when the course is live: https://vetcot.org/vetatls/interest-form/

We also made a pretty nifty video. Please check it out and share with your teams! https://vetcot.org/vetatls/



• We will be teaching the first widely available VetATLS Instructors Training at IVECCS 2026. Stay tuned for more information and think about whether this would fit into your IVECCS plans!  

NEW! VetCOT Store on our website. Show your VetCOT spirit with some of our new items.

Happy Easter!