Record Keeping

Investigators are responsible for maintaining accurate records of anesthesia, surgery and postoperative care (including analgesic administration). .

In addition to providing a valuable record of experimental procedures that may be referred to at a later date, surgical records serve as documentation that the procedures were conducted humanely and by appropriately trained individuals.

Individual records are not necessary for groups of rodents treated similarly. Records should be kept in the animal room or an accessible area nearby.

Information to include on Surgical Records:

• Date of surgery
• Name of surgeon
• Animal identification i.e., number or group name
• A description of the surgical procedure*
• Name(s), dosage(s) and route(s) of anesthetic and analgesic drugs administered
• Names and dosages of experimental agents administered
• Post-operative monitoring that clearly documents daily observation and health status
• Medical treatments administered during or after surgery

*Surgical records should be kept in a notebook. It is strongly recommended that a detailed description of each surgical procedure be kept in the front of the notebook. Rather than rewriting the surgical description on each record, provide the name of the procedure that corresponds to the description provided in the front of the notebook. Also record any deviation from the detailed description.

An example of a surgical and post operative record form that includes all of the above information is included here. This Word document may be downloaded and/or adapted for your use.

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