The CVAA Link: Summer 2020

THE CVAA

Newsletter of the Canadian Vascular Access Association

Summer 2020

British Journal of Nursing & Canadian Vascular Access Association Partnership

We are delighted to announce a brand-new collaboration between the Canadian Vascular Access Association and British Journal of Nursing—with the aim of sharing the latest clinical research and education as widely as possible, while providing extra benefits for CVAA members.

Starting with the July 2020 issue, you will receive a free digital copy of BJN’s IV Therapy and Vascular Access Supplement.

This dedicated supplement is published quarterly, every January, April, July and October.

It shares the latest clinical

evidence and research findings relevant to intravenous therapy, helping readers to maintain their skills in practice.

We will also be publishing an article from BJN in the next issue of Vascular Access.

British Journal of Nursing (BJN) is the peer-reviewed journal that brings together nursing practice, education and leadership into one comprehensive resource.

Published fortnightly, and with more than 9,000 articles available in their online archive, BJN is a great source

of information for clinical education, professional development and the delivery of safe and effective patient care.

Message from our President Pandemic. A word that many of us have vaguely heard of, maybe learned about in school, maybe lived through in 2003 with SARS or in 2009 with H1N1—or maybe you have never heard this word at all! Either way, we have all heard of this word now. We are all impacted by this word.

We, at CVAA, would like to take this time to send our thanks and deepest appreciation for you and all that you do. Whether that means you are on the frontline battling fatigue and sadness; whether you are trying your best to aid in your patients’ mental health; whether you are at a clinic trying to creatively engage with those in need; or whether you are at home trying to entertain small children and educate older children. In whatever capacity this finds you, know that you are thought of and we are grateful for you.

It is our hope that CVAA can offer not only support through this pandemic, but also resources. In this time of crisis in healthcare around the world, our patients are in need of consistent quality care—and a lot of these patients will need a vascular access device and infusion therapy throughout their treatment and recovery. We hope that you can find not only this newsletter, but our online resources, publications, and information within our website to assist you in this time. We are working on providing more online education to meet your needs.

I hope that this finds you well and safe as we all continue to manage this healthcare crisis. We are thinking of you and appreciating all that you do.

Kristie Naayer, RN, BScN, CVAA(c), VA-BC™

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Call for Manuscripts Have you thought about submitting a manuscript for publication?

Consider submitting to Vascular Access!

Vascular Access, the journal of the Canadian Vascular Access Association, is published three times each year and is a source for research-based articles on vascular access and infusion therapy. Whether or not you are an experienced author or have merely considered submitting something to a publication, we can work with you to turn your research, presentation or content into an article. Our Editor-in-Chief and Publisher are available for support and assistance.

• All articles are blindly reviewed by a Peer Review Panel • Our speed to publication is typically 1–2 months • Currently indexed in EBSCO, CINAHL Complete and Elsevier • Transitioning to open access publishing in 2021 • Target audience—national and international clinicians in various fields of vascular access and infusion therapy • Current 650+ mailed distribution list

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We invite you to consider submitting an article to our publication and increase the reach of your education and research.

Review our Author Guidelines here and email publications@cvaa.info with any questions or submissions.

Sosido Global Alliance

Sosido Global Alliance quick facts: • Launched on April 15, 2020 • Currently close to 7,500 nurses participating including nurses from CNSA, ISNCC, SIOP, CANO, CVAA, C17, ANZUNS and several other groups • Weekly email digest includes COVID-19-related discussions (so far 6 questions and 16 answers), COVID-19-related publications from all member nurses (so far 21 nurse authors featured), regular updates on COVID-19-related news from WHO, ICN, CDC and partner groups, as well as new COVID-19-related research across all journals written by and for nurses.

A note from Sosido CVAA members have access to a new community on Sosido called the Global Nursing Alliance on COVID-19 (GNAC19), which connects 7,500+ nurses from around the world to share research and experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

See more about GNAC-19 here.

More details about sponsors, how to sign up, etc., here.

If you are receiving the Sosido email digests, you already have a Sosido account and you have been granted automatic access to GNAC-19 (you don’t

When you log in to Sosido, you will now have access to the GNAC-19 forum to ask and answer COVID-19-related questions of your global nurse colleagues. You will continue to receive only one Sosido email digest every Wednesday, with content from all of your Sosido communities.

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need to sign up). If you have nursing colleagues who are not currently members of Sosido but would like to join the GNAC19 community, please invite them to sign up here.

Thank you to the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia for spearheading and leading this initiative, and thank you to AstraZeneca, BD, Ipsen and Mylan for providing financial support to make GNAC-19 possible.

We are extremely grateful for the work of our healthcare professionals in these challenging times. We would like to support you in any way we can, and encourage your feedback.

Tanis Steward Leader, Sosido tanis@sosido.com

New Member Highlights We are pleased to welcome and highlight some new members!

Please meet Stephanie Healey from Fall River, Nova Scotia.

vascular access and infusion therapy. We have been following the American ones for the past few years, but having Canadian ones feel closer to home.

Please meet Brandy Stadnyk from Winnipeg, MB.

Are you considering writing the CVAA(c) certification exam?

Yes, I will be writing it this year.

What is your current role/ institution?

I am a Regional Nurse Educator with a private infusion company named Innomar Strategies.

Why did you join CVAA? I joined CVAA because I am a leader in my organization around nursing practice, I help develop practice guidelines and direct nursing care on the front lines. I want to ensure we are cutting edge and implement best nursing practice according to research and guidelines available.

What features of membership are you looking forward to utilizing?

We are very excited to finally have Canadian Guidelines for

Why are you passionate about vascular access/infusion therapy?

I think that creating the best atmosphere in clinics and hospitals for patients is key, and creating consistent best practices will create confidence in our nursepatient relationships. Research shows that infections are still an issue and IVs are one area that nurses have the ability to change the outcomes directly.

Ensuring that we all adhere to best practice set out by fantastic organizations like the CVAA, that do the research for us, will help us to show patients we are committed to making every experience a good one.

What are you most looking forward to this year (personal life)?

Summertime, here we love to camp and boat, it is always a rejuvenating time of the year, and after all this snow I need some of that.

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What is your current role/ institution?

I am the clinical educator at Deer Lodge Centre in Winnipeg, MB. Deer Lodge Centre is the third largest healthcare facility in Manitoba with 418 beds. It is a hybrid facility with geriatric assessment and rehabilitation, chronic care, special dementia care, and veteran personal care home beds, as well as outpatient community programs.

Where are you located in Canada?

Winnipeg. I have been a member of the Winnipeg chapter of CVAA since 2014 and finally became a national member December 31, 2019.

Why did you join CVAA? I joined CVAA to learn more about vascular access in general to improve my clinical practice. I became a CVAA national member to write the certification exam to further my knowledge and ability to write policy and educate other nurses in vascular access and prevention of associated complications.

What features of membership are you looking forward to utilizing?

I look forward to utilizing the Sosido board for clinical experiences that are not

captured in published literature and access to the CVAA guidelines toolkit as it becomes available.

Are you considering writing the CVAA(c) certification exam?

This year I am looking forward to finally writing the certification exams for CVAA and gerontological nursing now that I’ve finished the Masters of Nursing at the University of Manitoba.

Why are you passionate about vascular access/infusion therapy?

I am passionate about vascular access/infusion therapy because

it is the lifeline for many medical treatments. Especially in the care of older adults (my first passion), vascular access and vein conservation can make the difference between diagnosis and treatment/ management or failure of the healthcare system and death of the patient.

What are you most looking forward to this year (personal life)?

In my personal life I love watching my two monsters (4 and almost 2 years old) grow and explore the world around them.

NEW Industry Certification Exam who work in vascular access and infusion therapy as a way to test their relevant clinical knowledge of the field.

I-CVAA(c) Industry Certification Exam Our industry partners have spoken and we have listened!

There has been interest in providing a CVAA certification exam specifically for those non-clinical industry members

We are thrilled to announce the NEW I-CVAA(c) Industry Certification Exam! Learn more here.

Congratulations to our first new I-CVAA(c) Industry Certified Member, Lia JonkAnderson! Lia is based in Winnipeg, MB, and works with Medline Canada.

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Did you attend a virtual World Congress of Vascular Access (WOCOVA)?

The Global Vascular Access Network (GloVANet) introduced WoCoVA live!

WoCoVA live! started with a two-day scientific program bringing you some considerations about the impact of the COVID pandemic on the world of vascular access.

June 17 and 18, 2020 This two-day scientific program covered some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on vascular access treatment. It was an overwhelming success this first WoCoVA Live! online event.

With more than 5,300 registrations of people from 88 countries, the first WoCoVA Live! surpassed their expectations, and became an instant success.

Watch the archived conference here.

Friday File – Light & Lovely As this is a heavy time, we added a brief option for distraction and hopefully delight to our weekly Friday File emails. If you missed them, you can see them here:

Three minutes of joy

Three minutes of joy

Adorable unless they’re at your home!

Hard not to find the positive in this

A foot tapping bop

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BD Awards

CONGRATULATIONS! The CVAA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 - CVAA/BD Excellence in Vascular Access Management & Infusion Therapy Award! The award recognizes the important contributions made in vascular access management and infusion therapy practice with a focus on peripheral IV therapy.

The Call for Nominations of CVAA members went out in December 2019.

Purpose of the award • Promote safety and quality improvement in peripheral IV vascular access management and infusion practices for optimal patient outcomes • Recognize champions and trailblazers in Canadian vascular access management and infusion therapy practice • Raise the awareness of the impact of individual contributions to system wide results We had a great number of deserving applicants and the submissions were blindly reviewed by a committee of Board members. We are very pleased to announce the following recipients: • First Place & National Winner – Julia Casey, Clinical Educator at Coverdale Infusion Clinics and President of the New Brunswick CVAA Chapter (New Brunswick)

• Second Place & Regional Winner – Chanda MacDonald, Clinical Educator at Nova Scotia Heath Authority and President of the Nova Scotia CVAA Chapter (Nova Scotia) • Third Place & Joint Regional Winners – Miranda Harrington (Board Student Ambassador), Madolyn Connolly and Catherine Farmer, joint founding members of McGill Ingram School of Nursing (ISON) Vascular Access Student Club (VASC) (Montreal)

Miranda Harrington

Madolyn Connolly

Catherine Farmer

The regional and national recipient(s) receive an education grant to be used for educational pursuits and a registration for the CVAA conference.

CVAA is appreciative of the initiative and support of BD Canada, one of our 2020 Platinum Corporate Members, and wish to thank them for funding this award.

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Valuing Certification Healthcare professionals (HCPs) have a lot on their plates, especially now in these days of crisis.

Even when we lived a “normal” life in Canada, HCPs still had a lot to consider, prioritize, and assess on a minute-to-minute basis. Working in a certain area of healthcare deems that you must/ should have increased knowledge in that area.

Yet, a lot of healthcare areas have an increased level of complexities within them, demanding knowledge from each of the staff. Vascular access and infusion therapy are examples of those complexities.

Vascular access and infusion therapy are common themes among most inpatients and, increasingly, among long-term care patients, rehabilitation patients, home care patients, and many more settings. As this theme is so common, it is often mistaken as “general knowledge”. Unfortunately, it is anything but.

We have seen a rapid decrease across Canada in IV therapy teams, vascular access specialists, and dedicated healthcare team members for vascular access and infusion therapy. This has been noted in the media and in presentations across the nation. There also doesn’t appear to be any follow-up after these teams are dissolved— whether patient care and safety has increased, decreased, or otherwise. It leaves one to wonder how these HCPs are being supported in this common, yet undeniably important part of the care that they give.

Vascular access and infusion therapy are areas of healthcare that do not have any formal courses developed. One is not able to sign up for a course within an institution for vascular access and infusion therapy. There are resources and online content one can review and some nursing schools will have varied levels of teaching on this

topic, but there isn’t a formal curriculum based on this subject, a subject that effects 60%–90% of hospitalized patients.1 Often the education provided in this area is based on what is given by employers upon hiring and this education varies greatly.

Certification is one way that CVAA supports knowledge and education in the world of vascular access and infusion therapy. Although certification cannot deem competency in an area, it is one way that can assist in the development of the HCP’s foundation of knowledge. Certification in vascular access and infusion therapy indicates that this individual has spent the time to learn, research, read, and digest the best practice literature and available resources on vascular access and infusion therapy. This individual has a passion about wanting it to be stated that they have the proficiency in understanding vascular access clinical applications, transfusion therapy, special applications to geriatric and pediatric

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populations and more. This individual has focused energy and resources into prioritizing certification in this area of healthcare so they can be involved in policy development, quality patient care, advocating for other individuals, establishing standards, creating up-to-date education materials, and much, much more.

CVAA(c) Certification, especially if one is pursuing it on one’s own time and dollar, is something valuable to be involved in, as part of your career journey. Certification measures one’s level of knowledge, encourages professional growth, and formally recognizes those individuals who meet the requirements. Certification is something to pursue as a way to stay current in the field of vascular access and infusion therapy. It is also becoming evident that there is a correlation between nursing certification and patient outcomes.2

Vascular access and infusion therapy are pervasive in our healthcare world. Enhancing your education in these fields is something to be passionate about; it is something to be knowledgeable in; it is something worthwhile. We encourage you to find out more about CVAA(c) Certification and enhance your knowledge and practice today.

References 1. Helm, R., Klausner, J., Klemperer, J., Flint, L., Huang, E. (2015). Accepted but unacceptable: Peripheral IV failure. The Journal of Infusion Nursing, 38(3).

2. Fitzpatrick, J. (2017). The value of nursing certification: Revisited and reinforced. The Journal of the Association for Vascular Access, 22(3).

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