RACE APPROVED: 1.0 Hours for Vet Techs & Vets

Are you Keeping Score? The Importance of Pain Scoring Systems

(RACE 1.0 hrs)

Let’s talk about pain score scales and systems that are available, which ones are easiest to use, which are the most useful for dogs and cats. We will also discuss why pain scoring and treating pain is vital, and the importance of choosing and implementing a pain scoring system for the patients in your hospital.

RACE 1.0 Hours for Vet Techs & Vets
RACE Program #: 20-978698
RACE Provider #: 50-36598
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Meet the Instructor

Karen M. Roach, RVT, VTS (ECC)

Born and raised on the salty shores of Canada’s East Coast, Karen took her love of animals (and an impressive tolerance for bad weather) to the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, where she graduated from the Animal Health Technology program in 1994. After a few years in general practice, she jumped into the deep end - emergency medicine - joining the newly opened Metro Animal Emergency Clinic in Halifax.

Not content with just handling late-night pet emergencies in Atlantic Canada, Karen took on the ultimate adventure: New York City. In 2000, she completed a one-year Veterinary Technician Internship at The Animal Medical Center, where she discovered a passion for anesthesia and critical care medicine (and possibly also an appreciation for the art of jaywalking).

After surviving the concrete jungle, she returned to Halifax to continue her emergency medicine journey, eventually earning her Veterinary Technician Specialist designation in Emergency and Critical Care in 2013. But wanderlust (and maybe the prospect of milder winters) struck again, and in 2014, Karen packed up and headed south to New Jersey.

Four years at NorthStar Vets later, she traded in the fast pace of ER life to focus on training the next generation of vet tech superheroes. Since 2018, she’s been part of the Training Department at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital, where she gets to combine her expertise, experience, and endless patience (honed from years of caffeine-fueled ER shifts) to teach and mentor others in the wild world of veterinary medicine.

When not wrangling vet techs-in-training, Karen can likely be found reminiscing about the ocean, dodging New Jersey traffic, contemplating why she ever thought moving away from donair sauce was a good idea, or sipping chai tea sweetened with the only syrup that matters - Canadian maple syrup.

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