Module 1: Fear Free Efforts to Prevent and Alleviate Fear, Anxiety, and Stress (68 mins)

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In this module, we will review the key concepts considerate approach, gentle control & touch gradient, and then apply each concept to every aspect of a patient’s visit. Considerate approach, gentle control, and touch gradient will be explained and demonstrated for greeting patients, performing physical examinations and preventive care, planning for diagnostics and treatments, and moving patients through the hospital.

ATTENTION: The links within the course module(s) are temporarily unavailable. Hyperlinks will take you to a site called Schoox, which isn’t available to members just yet. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience. Resources can be downloaded from the “Course Resources” section of the main course page. Please contact wags@fearfree.com if you have any issues or need further assistance.

Lesson One: Key concepts

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Define considerate approach, gentle control, and touch gradient
Put the steps of a physical examination in order based on the principles of touch gradient
Explain the importance of the emotional medical record, what should be recorded, and when it should be consulted
Use the Fear Free FAS scale to evaluate fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) in patients

Lesson Two: The visit, start to finish

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Identify the roles of the Client Service Representative (CSR), Veterinary Technician (VT) and Veterinarian during Fear Free visits
Create a treatment plan for preventive care, including assessing patient reinforcers and distractors, and assessment of wants and needs for veterinary care
Determine how to make a plan for who will be involved, where treatments will be performed, and what supplies you will need to complete the procedure while simultaneously providing a Fear Free environment
Understand the process of establishing stopping points for treatments or diagnostics as dictated by the patient’s level of FAS and the relative importance of the procedure, and recognize the importance of teamwork for best results

Lesson Three: Patient movements

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Make a plan for patient movements for dogs and cats, based on considerate approach and gentle control
Understand the importance of communication between team members prior to patient movements, and how to utilize the resources in your environment to minimize social stress caused by inter-patient contact
Recognize when to pause, reassess and make new patient movement plans when necessary