2023 July/August INSider

INS BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2023-2024

PRESIDENT

Inez Nichols, DNP, FNP-BC, CRNI®, VA-BC

PRESIDENT ELECT

Danielle Jenkins, MBA, BSN, RN, CRNI®

PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR

Sue Weaver, PhD, RN, CRNI®, NEA-BC

SECRETARY/TREASURER

Joan Couden, BSN, RN, CRNI®

DIRECTORS-AT LARGE

Jannifer Stovall, MBA, BSN, RN, CRNI®, IgCN

Pamela McIntyre, MSN, RN, CRNI®, IgCN, OCN®

PUBLIC MEMBER

Lisa M. Ong, CPA, PCC

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Chris Hunt, MBA

FUSION NURSES SOCIETY

INS STAFF

Director of Operations and Member Services: Maria Connors, CAE

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3

In this Issue

President’s Message: Plant Seeds to Make Shade Trees

Inez Nichols, DNP, FNP-BC, CRNI®, VA-BC

5 9 11 15 17 19 22

Cover Story: Establishing a Vascular Access Team Overseas

Maciej Latos

One Patient’s Perspective: An Excerpt from Your Hearts, Your Scars

Adina Talve-Goodman

INS 2024

Call for Abstracts

INSide Scoop

Keep informed on things happening within INS

INS Learning Center

Webinars and Podcasts

Welcome New INS Members

Domestic and International

In Memoriam: Julie Wilcox

Plant Seeds to Make Shade Trees

Since “Embracing Our Future” is my presidential theme, I want to share some insightful moments leading up to this theme and the take-home application both in our personal careers and within INS.

In the year 1992, I did not own a computer or cell phone. Seeking information at the time involved a blend of meeting people who knew of resources, making landline telephone calls, and obtaining mail-order information. Some insightful moments began in a BSN leadership course at University of North Florida in Jacksonville and the following year when my employer sent me to a leadership seminar. Simultaneously, I met a home infusion nurse who asked if I would be available to provide subcutaneous injections for a client in my small hometown. This infusion nurse had her CRNI®. So, thinking that I was the cream of the crop with my IV sticker, I was intrigued with the Infusion Nurses Society organization, and the certification in IV therapy was a delectable bait on a multiprong hook. I had no idea of the line and sinker attached!

In the mid-1990s, I was fascinated with the wealth of leadership training and improvement resources available through the Nightingale Conant organization. It was new and transformational, but it was also taking energy, time, and money for a wife and working mother to invest in leadership training and CRNI® preparation. The rewards soon became apparent while working night shift in a surgical ICU. The scenario involved a classic case of refractoriness, in which the patient was unresponsive to platelet transfusions. The patient’s platelet count showed no improvement and was decreasing post-platelet transfusions. I had been studying blood component therapy in the “red” INS book, and I copied the pages on platelet refractoriness and gave it to a day shift RN who conveyed the information to the general surgeon. The general surgeon consulted a hematologist who confirmed the information cited from the INS textbook to be both evidence-based and efficacious. From that point on, the surgeon provided his patients in need of repeated platelet infusions with single-donor platelets, thus decreasing alloimmunization risk. This reinforced the realization that learning and studying are never in vain when promoting health in the collective patient care setting.

Inez Nichols

DNP, FNP-BC, CRNI®, VA-BC INS President of Directors

At the same time, I was listening to an audiocassette (remember those?) of the book The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley. While I was driving on Williams Street one early morning, he quoted this proverb, “In your lifetime, plan to plant seeds to make shade trees you will never sit under.” It really hit me hard when I heard him say those words and describe the meaning. I began to think of the people in my life who had selflessly shared information and expertise to make me a better, more compatible human being and successful nurse. I thought of the infusion nurse who did not keep the INS organization, its Standards of Practice, and the CRNI® her little secret in small town USA. Instead, she empowered me personally and professionally. I realized that I could share knowledge, experience, and know-how practicum with other individuals and hope those individuals would go on to do greater things with it than I could ever imagine or accomplish. Doing so would give me a sense of self-assurance that the world would go on for future generations and continue to promote success in holistic accomplishments.

Likewise, the Infusion Nurses Society is committed to passing value on to future generations. This is most apparent in the commitment to now update the Standards every three years, as we are all part of a fast-moving world with more changes in a day than our grandparents could have ever perceived in a decade.

Likewise, the Infusion Nurses Society is committed to passing value on to future generations. This is most apparent in the commitment to now update the Standards every three years, as we are all part of a fast-moving world with more changes in a day than our grandparents could have ever perceived in a decade. When the 8th edition of the Standards was published in 2021, Mary Alexander, the former INS CEO, stated that the committee had reviewed over 2500 literature sources in a 5-year span. Since 2021, in fewer than 3 years, this committee has prepared a draft of the 2024 INS Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice, this time the 9th edition! Again, this has required thousands of cited references and is a declaration of the rapidly expanding science of infusion therapy and vascular access. INS continues to deliver the Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice with a commitment to promote practice consistency and provide a global clinical decision-making guide when delivering patient-centered infusion care. The selfless commitment of these Standards committee members is to be applauded! As stated by Waitley, they do it because they are passionate, involved, and engaged in what they are doing and giving in this moment of time.

References

Gorski LA, Hadaway L, Hagle ME, et al. Infusion therapy standards of practice. J Infus Nurs. 2021;44(suppl 1):S1-S224. doi:10.1097/NAN.0000000000000396.

Waitley, D. The New Psychology of Winning: Top Qualities of a 21st Century Winner. New York: Gildan Media; 2021.

Waitley, D. The Psychology of Winning. Audiobook. Nightingale-Conant; 1991.

Weir, JA. Blood component therapy. In: Terry J, Baranowski L, Lonsway R, Hedrick C, eds, Intravenous Therapy Clinical Principles and Practice. Saunders; 1995: 165-187.

Inez Nichols, DNP, FNP-BC, CRNI®, VA-BC, President of the INS Board of Directors, is a nurse practitioner currently licensed in Florida and Georgia. She is a hospitalist/infusion and vascular specialist at the Madison County Memorial Hospital in Madison, Florida. Career roles have integrated acute care, primary care, and occupational health care, as well as incorporated patient education, nursing education, and outcomes of monitoring related to infusion therapy. Dr. Nichols attended the University of North Florida and completed the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in 2017. Professional contributions include active work within professional nursing organizations, particularly INS, where she has been a member for over 20 years and served in various roles, including as a chapter liaison (Southeast), in chapter leadership, as a Vesicant Task Force member, as an INCC examination council member and secretary, and as the 2018-2020 INS secretary/treasurer. She has served as a Journal of Infusion Nursing reviewer beginning in 2003 and has published widely within this specialty field.

Establishing a Vascular Access Team Overseas

Over the years, INS has expanded its reach and influence across the globe. In this issue, we are featuring an interview with Maciej Latos, who utilized the Standards while establishing a vascular access team in Warsaw, Poland.

What is the name and size of your organization?

The University Clinical Centre of the Medical University of Warsaw is made up of three academic hospitals: 2 for adults and 1 for children. The complex was established at the Central Clinical Hospital (for adults) and has approximately 1,000 patient beds. There are 16 clinics and 6 departments.

Why did you decide that your hospital needed a vascular access and infusion team?

I think the reasons are the same as everywhere: we have numerous cannulations and numerous hospitalizations and difficult intravenous access. Working in a large hospital, we observed that everyone was playing their own game, that there was a problem with implementing strategies and thinking about the patient and their future in terms of vascular access. It's sad to admit, but the quality of vascular access care wasn't the best either. This, of course, stems from general problems in Poland—infusion nursing is not an official specialty in Poland. We don't have a certification similar to yours. It is usually dealt with by anesthesia nurses and anesthesiologists. There are times when, as clinicians, we place another PIVC and eventually, when there is no other option left: you have to insert a central venous catheter (CVC). We decided to change that. At the same time, it's hard to ask people to think about strategy when they don't have real support in access selection and infusion management. There was a strong need for a team, and we started to be aware of the possibilities.

What were the steps you took to set up this team? Please share with our readers your timeline.

It all started in the COVID-19 pandemic. It was 2020, and we were running an intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients in an atmosphere of great stress. Many patients only had respiratory failure and therefore rarely required a central line. Their condition on the ward deteriorated suddenly and reliable intravenous access was needed by everyone, but not always a CVC. My colleagues, Bartosz Sadownik (a doctor) and Marceli Solecki (a nurse), and I wondered what could be done. How was the world dealing with these problems, which the pandemic had amplified? Our colleague Dr. Robert Becler, who works not only with us but also in Sweden, told us about midline catheters. There was basically no widespread distribution of them in Poland, but we managed to import a few samples. I remember like it was yesterday when two of my colleagues—Dr. Mateusz Zawadka and Dr. Maciej Michałowski—told me, come on, you're going to insert a midline, it's a peripheral insertion, we should be able to do it. It worked, and new possibilities opened up for me. We started reading, looking for protocols, and observing patients and staff.

In 2020, we introduced 5 midline catheters. In Poland, nursing competencies are very unstructured and we were faced with the dilemma of whether midline placement could be carried out by nursing staff. We wrote to national consultants and scientific societies, and got the green light. We created a procedure, and started proposing midline catheters as an alternative to CVCs when the only indication was difficult intravenous access. Insertion was handled by the emergency team, which until then had been helping patients and nurses when there were difficulties with cannulation. Thanks to our head nurse, Elżbieta Żurawska, and chief physicians, Piotrowski Nowakowski and Paweł Andruszkiewicz, we began to implement midline catheters into routine practice, not only based on difficult intravenous access, but also on the expected duration of therapy. This has been successful.

By 2021, we already had an additional person on shift to do insertions and staff training, and we inserted 150 midline catheters. In 2022, we started to talk seriously about the need for systemic change in our hospital, and after training staff more effectively, we inserted 261 midline catheters. In February 2023, a team was officially established, and we inserted more than 100 in the first quarter of 2023.

What's more, through training, webinars, and social media, we started a debate on the need to develop the specialty of infusion nursing in Poland. It turned out that clinicians saw this problem, but hadn’t made any progress. Now more teams are being formed in our country, which makes us very happy. Remember, we are talking about a country where still many clinicians do not know what midline catheters are, and where inserting ultrasound-guided peripheral cannulas is not known.

Tell us about the process of introducing midline catheters and ultrasound-guided PIVCs. What was that process like for you? Who is performing these procedures?

This is a difficult question. To answer it you have to start with the fact that in Poland the nurse does everything, from typically caring activities to highly specialized ones. A lot of activity is based on the enthusiasm and activity of the nurses themselves. So, together with the emergency nursing team, we started to observe doctors who insert not only CVCs with ultrasound guidance (USG), but also PIVCs. I asked myself: is using USG for cannulation so difficult? We started looking for courses dedicated to nurses, but there were none. With the help of doctors, I started using ultrasound for cannulation, although we had and still have problems with the availability of ultrasound devices dedicated to nurses, for example. Nevertheless, I gained experience and passed it on to the rest of the team. This has been successful. Within two years, we ourselves had trained more than 500 nurses and doctors in Poland to guide the needle with ultrasound as well as midline catheter placement. They all saw the sense in delegating these competencies to the nurses who are closest to the patient, who most often have to solve problems in obtaining peripheral access. At the same time, we realized that these skills needed to be possessed by a small group of people who would specialize in it and do it effectively. This has been successful: nurses and doctors from the wards qualify patients, and the nurses from our IV team obtain vascular access. However, we knew that the work of such a team had to be interdisciplinary, so the team also has doctors who provide support, and also perform CVC-type procedures when a patient presenting for midline or ultrasound PIVC should have a central line inserted instead. This works. In 2018, due to difficult intravenous access, central catheters were inserted in 77 patients, but in 2022, only 19 were utilized.

What have you learned from that implementation and/or what new concerns have arisen?

I have learned determination and consistency. I realized that without those traits, unfortunately, nothing will be done. In a country where a lot of things have to be done from the bottom up, determination and consistency are very important. If we had given up at any stage, we wouldn't be where we are today. Teamwork is always the key to success, but there also has to be someone who sets the rhythm of the group and shows that we won't give up, that we will do it! There is a lot ahead of us. As we gain experience, we see how many more things there are to do. What we have achieved makes us constantly feel that we can do better, that we can do more. What I fear is losing energy. If you do something with the hope that you can make a difference, then you move forward. But this state cannot last forever. If stabilization doesn't come then there may not be enough energy to keep refueling.

What challenges have you had with either of those procedures and/or setting up the team?

The greatest challenge is people not understanding. I want them to understand that our work is important, that it doesn't have to be the way it is now, that everyone can be safer both for patients and staff. The most difficult part is convincing staff that what we do is important. Constant staff shortages, equipment shortages, and lack of money in hospitals makes it very difficult to introduce new things. People try to survive from shift to shift, and there are always new responsibilities.

Another issue is the formation of the team itself. How do you choose people? How do you form relationships? It is clear that not everyone has the disposition, skills, and knowledge to be in such a team. How do you demand the highest quality from people, and at the same time not lessen their enthusiasm for development? How do you explain to those who are not in the team that we are doing new things in a structured way? That we are breaking stereotypes because that is what modern nursing requires?

To be honest I think we had more interpersonal problems than administrative ones. In nursing, in a country with a communist background (although it's been a long time, since 1989), in my opinion, there is still a belief that everyone should do the same thing, keep their head down, know their place. Passionate people are looked upon as strange. Because how can you enjoy your day job? People don’t understand that.

How did the Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice influence your process?

They were a signpost. When I started looking through the literature, I came across the INS Standards. My first thought was: these guidelines are like resuscitation guidelines for cannulation. There are answers to most of the questions we didn't know the answers to. I called my friend Natalia Sak-Dankosky, a nurse who has earned a PhD over a span of 7 years, gaining her professional experience abroad including in the United States at the University of Pittsburgh. She described more or less how it is done in your country, and I felt inspired. At that time, the Standards were daily reading for me. Of course, there were problems of differences in competence and availability of equipment, but we managed to put it all together and adapt it to Polish realities. We wrote a book on vascular access. It turned out to be a bestseller. A book about venflons [cannulas] you might ask. Yes, because there was no publication in Poland dissecting cannulations and infusions. When building the team, we had no guidelines. I read a bit about our neighbors, and listened to lectures given by K. Lisova from the Czech Republic. But we based the team building on the Standards. Most of our guidelines and our protocols that we wrote so far are based on INS guidelines.

What would you do differently if you started from the beginning now?

There was a pandemic. There was no time to think much about it. As I mentioned—first we were looking for a way to help the patient, then the team-building initiative came out of it. If I had the opportunity, I would have started it from the other side. I would have planned the formation of such a team, started with education (which we did simultaneously), chose people in a quiet recruitment process, and started working with patients after such a team was established. Although it was possible to add more team members on a mentoring basis, it could have been more structured. But opportunities were what they were. The pandemic required a lot of quick decisions, especially as we didn't know how it would unfold.

What are the current benefits of having this team?

Patients, nurses, and doctors receive real support. This ranges from choosing the right vascular access to infusion dilemmas and infusion education. Every day, Monday through Friday, one person is on call at all times. A member of the team helps choose the right vascular access, inserts midlines and PIVCs, and helps solve dilemmas and trains staff. Patients know us, especially those coming back for treatment, and often suggest contacting us because they know if they have a difficulty, with us they will get real help.

What are some changes that you’d like to make to this team in the future?

In our team we have 10 nurses and 3 doctors and a lot of people around us who support us, who give us a solid background. People who work hard in the team are constantly gaining knowledge and skills. I hope that in the future we will be able to expand the team so that it is available 24/7 and always has the equipment it needs, such as a mobile ultrasound. I think that system changes in Poland’s hospitals and universities and the creation of infusion nursing in the public consciousness would make everyone's work easier, both for us and for every team that is created in our country.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

I would like to thank everyone who is with me on this journey, who understands that we need to make changes step by step, sensibly and responsibly: the people who have a management role in the hospital and those who work at the bedside, the nurses and doctors. I would like to mention my team members, because for all of us, an interview with INS is a very big reward for what we do. Special thanks to: Bartosz Sadownik, Piotr Nowakowski, Paweł Andruszkiewicz, Elżbieta Żurawska, Halina Sęk, Robert Becler, Marcin Łasiński, Marceli Solecki, Artur Szymczak, Dorota Dąbrowska, Tatiana Radomska, Konrad Sopiński, Kamil Meyka, Marta Jurkiewicz, Klaudia Smyrek, Jakub Dzięciołowski, Natalia Sak-Dankosky, Łukasz Wróblewski, Mateusz Zawadka, Aleksandra Święch-Zarzycka, Konrad Baumgart, and Dariusz Kosson and others.

Maciej Latos, who has his master's degree in nursing, specializes in anaesthesia and intensive care. He is a paramedic, a historian, and an assistant at the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Division of Teaching at the Medical University of Warsaw (MUW), where he teaches courses in the Centre for Medical Simulation and Innovation MUW. He works as the head of the vascular access and infusion team in the University Clinical Centre (Central Clinical Hospital of the MUW) and as a nurse practitioner in the postoperative unit and emergency team. He promotes the implementation of best practices in medicine by hosting podcasts and writing on professional topics. He is the editor of Polish Nurse and Midwife Magazine, the coauthor of the Polish book Vascular Access in Clinical Practice, and the author of several scientific articles. A member of the Polish Association of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Nurses and the Infusion Nurses Society, he is also the father of two daughters and a fan of cycling.

One Patient’s Perspective

An excerpt from “Should You Hold Me Down (Go on, Take It)” from Your Hearts, Your Scars

by Adina Talve-Goodman

As clinicians, it’s beneficial to listen not only to other clinicians, but also to patients, to hear what they have experienced and to remember their expertise about their own bodies. With that in mind, in this INSider, we’d like to share an excerpt from Adina Talve-Goodman’s recently published posthumous collection, Your Hearts, Your Scars. Adina was born with a congenital heart condition and survived multiple operations over the course of her childhood, including a heart transplant at age nineteen.

“Will I feel it?” I ask the doctor as I do a slight hop onto the operating table. He turns to me while pulling on his gloves. “Latex allergy,” I say, lifting my wrist to show him my plastic bracelet that says just that.

“What happens when you come into contact with latex?”

My eyes meet the resident’s gaze and he quickly looks away, blushing. He’s about my age, I guess, and suddenly I’m conscious of the sheerness of my hospital gown and the outline of my breasts. If he looks closely enough, he might be able to see my new heart pounding, my chest rising and falling from the beat, my skin pulled tight like a drum over the new instrument. I think about telling the doctor the truth: If I take it in my mouth, nothing happens, but if I have sex with latex condoms, it burns for days. Instead, I look at the floor and say, “Rash.”

The doctor switches his gloves and tells me to “lay down.” It’s lie, I think.

Instruments start moving, metal-on-metal sounds, and I whip my head from one direction to another, trying to see. The nurse pulls my hair back into a shower cap and tells me that I’m so pretty, she didn’t think I was a patient when she came out to call my name in the waiting room. I smile at her and resist the urge to ask what other patients look like. She means it as a kindness, I know. But pretty is the wrong word, I want to tell her. The truth is, we don’t really have a word to describe a woman who comes through something a lot like death and remains light. We don’t have it for boys, either, so we say strong for them. We say pretty when we mean you look a lot like life.

I thank her and ask, “Do you strap me in?

Should you hold me down?”

“Haven’t you had a lot of these?” the doctor asks.

“I was always asleep.”

“Why?”

“Because I was a kid, I guess. Because I might try to run, maybe.” I smile at my small attempt at a joke. I smile and make jokes in these situations because I think that people, doctors, are more likely to want to keep funny people alive. The doctor laughs as he holds up the catheter, the small needle he plans to insert into the base of my neck, and then cast a thin line down into my heart. The nurse stands to my right and strokes my hair. I take a deep breath to slow my heart and I think about how biopsies used to be for me when I was younger. The walls of the lab at St. Louis Children’s Hospital were painted with stars. Maybe because it was comforting to think of something like this happening in the dead of night, when a kid could sleep through it, wake up six hours later still a little drugged, saying, And you were there, and you, and you. But inevitably, that kid

would reach her hand up to the sore spot at the base of her neck and realize it had all been real, in some way, those minutes when someone was taking pieces of her heart.

Here, in this new hospital, the nurse tells me that during the procedure I should pick a spot on the wall to focus on. I search the wall for stars, but there are only patches of more white and less white. I choose less, just above my head.

The nurse tells me that she’s going to insert the IV now. “Better you don’t look, sweetheart,” she says.

“I’m a really difficult stick,” I say. “But this vein, this vein is good.” I point to a spot in the crook of my arm, to the veins that have held IVs successfully in the past and still retain just the faintest mark of tiny blue dots. I want to ask the nurse to count to three, to make sure I’m ready so that I can breathe deeply to try to stay relaxed to prevent the vein from contracting, and to please not dig, because, truly, it’s not the sticks that I mind; it’s only the digging around, the rooting for the vein in my skin, that sometimes makes me cry, because I had this nurse once and she shoved a needle in my arm and she wouldn’t pull it out even after I screamed Stop. I want to give her that speech, the speech I always give nurses before IVs, but they don’t count to three here and I feel silly asking. I just point to the crook of my right arm.

“That’s the best spot,” I say. “And, if it’s okay, can I have a twenty-four needle?”

“That’s too small,” the doctor says.

“I know it’s for babies,” I say. “But anything bigger usually blows the vein.”

“I’d like to try a twenty-first,” the doctor says.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “but I’d really prefer the twenty-four. You’re not giving me much, right? I’m going to be awake the whole time, right?”

The nurse laughs. “Wow, somebody’s an expert. I think a twenty-four is fine. I pulled one anyway when I saw how tiny you are.”

“Thank you,” I say.

“Are you ready, sweetheart?” she asks. I nod and the IV is inserted. I want to close my eyes, but I don’t because I’m not sure if that might be rude, and I feel like I’ve gained some clout with the needle talk. Once it’s in, I thank the nurse and tell her it wasn’t so bad.

The doctor tells me that first he’ll numb my neck using a shot. “It might burn,” he says.

The nurse holds my head firmly to the right and says, “Got your point?”

I smile and say yes, though, really, I can’t find one and all I can think is, Why did I need an IV if you’re going to give me a shot in my neck and no drugs to put me to sleep?

The shot burns and I try to concentrate on not moving, not looking around, not thinking about the size of the needle in my neck. I focus on my breathing and think that maybe this counts as going to yoga.

“I’m going to start now,” the doctor says, “threading the catheter to your heart. You might feel it skip a few beats. You might feel it, y’know, react. Inhale deep and hold it.”

I inhale. I close my eyes.

Adina Talve-Goodman was born on December 12th, 1986, and passed away on January 12th, 2018. She was an actress, editor, and writer, who was working on her first book when she was diagnosed with cancer. In the seven essays in Your Hearts, Your Scars, she tells the story of her chronic illness and her search for meaning and love, never forgetting that her adult life is tied to the loss of another person—the donor of her transplanted heart. Read the rest of this essay and/or the entire collection by buying the book in digital or hard copy through Amazon.

Excerpt from Your Hearts, Your Scars. [https://www.amazon.com/Your-Hearts-Scars-Adina-Talve-Goodman/dp/1954276052]

Copyright © 2023 by the Estate of Adina Talve-Goodman. Published by Bellevue Literary Press: www.blpress.org.

Reprinted by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

Infusion Nurses Society (INS) is recognized as the global authority in infusion therapy and is dedicated to exceeding the public’s expectations of excellence by setting the standard for infusion care. INS is also dedicated to providing professional development opportunities and quality education, and to advancing best practice through evidence-based practice and research.

We are accepting abstract submissions for 50-minute podium presentations. Content must be evidence-based and reflect the current state of the science or be based upon research-driven results contributing to the science. Presentations must be free of commercial bias and adhere to the criteria set by the California Board of Nursing for awarding contact hours. Please review the Speaker Reimbursement Policy.

Are you interested in speaking at the national conference?

2024 Annual Meeting abstract submissions are due by August 30, 2023

Virtual and/or webinar abstract submissions are continually accepted separate from this call

• Vascular access device (VAD) technology

– Products (eg, infusion control devices, dressings, vein visualization)

– Use and management

– Complications

• Infection prevention

• Patient education

• Special populations for example:

– Pediatrics

– Older adults

– Pregnancy

• Alternative care settings, including but not limited to:

– Home care

– Outpatient infusion centers

– Skilled nursing facilities

• Disease states

Guidelines:

• Infusion therapies

– Fluid and electrolyte balance

– Pharmacology

– Transfusion therapy

– Parenteral nutrition

– Antineoplastic and biologic therapy

– Pain management

• Quality improvement and patient safety

• Nursing professional development

• Clinician health and wellness

• Current affairs, social science, and global concerns

• Emerging evidence

• Health care ethics

• Professional liability and legal considerations

Session proposals/abstracts on the following infusion therapy–related topics may be submitted: APPLY

• To be eligible, your abstract must be your original work; subsequent presentation of this content is acceptable, provided you have an original title with a different view, perspective, or focus.

• To submit your abstract, please be prepared to enter the following information:

– Name and credentials—current employer, job title, and CV/resume

– Paid consultant roles (title and company)

– Proposed topic (including) (please refer to the detailed submission criteria for each section):

3.

4.

5. References

– Speaking experience

Important Dates and Information:

August 30, 2023: Abstract submissions close

October 6, 2023: Selected speakers will be notified

October 31, 2023: Presentation date to be determined by the INS Education Department

Organizing Committee:

Marlene Steinheiser, PhD, RN, CRNI®, INS Director of Clinical Education

Dawn Berndt, DNP, RN, CRNI®, INS Director of Publications and Educational Design

Contact INS with any questions: ins@ins1.org

1. Original title

2. Session description/abstract

Learning objectives

Content outline

INSide Scoop

Our recurring feature, INSide Scoop, serves to keep you informed on things happening within INS, as well as upcoming events, items of interest, exciting new educational deliverables, certification news and additional, current information.

Publications

The Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice, 9th edition is slated for publication as a supplement to the Journal of Infusion Nursing in January 2024. Phase one of the revision process is now complete: the revised Standards draft (491 pages) went out for public comment from May 1-27, 2023, and 144 reviews were completed. Phase two revisions are now underway: the Standards of Practice Committee is analyzing and incorporating the generous and in-depth feedback received during the review process. INS and the Standards of Practice Committee are grateful to the clinical experts from around the globe who reviewed the initial draft and wish to express our sincere appreciation for those who shared their knowledge and expertise.

Membership

In recognition of INS’s 50th anniversary, we are offering 50% off all books in the INS bookstore. As you can see, this keeps Susan busy shipping these valued products out on a daily basis. You can enjoy this discount on INS’s signature resource Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice as well as all 5 versions of the Policies and Procedures for Infusion Therapy and all the CRNI® study resources!

Celebrate 50 years with us and keep Susan hopping by placing your orders now.

Marketing

Congratulations to Whitney Hall on her recent promotion! Whitney’s creative flair and interest in furthering her education in the graphic design area has earned her the new title of graphic design and marketing manager. Whitney is responsible for all INS/INCC messaging, both digital and print. Her aptitude for graphic design soon became apparent and paired well with her already strong project management skills. If you have noticed that INS/INCC media has a fresh new look in our messaging and social channels, that can all be attributed to Whitney. Join us in congratulating her on this well-deserved promotion!

Whitney Hall, Graphic Design and Marketing Manager

Education

Webinar Opportunities

Have you recently completed an evidence-based quality improvement project or published an article about your research findings? If so, consider sharing your advancement of best practice through evidence-based practice and research. INS is inviting you to submit a proposed webinar. To apply, click here. INS will evaluate potential speakers’ expertise based on their research, projects, publications, and prior speaking experiences. Additionally, industry partners are encouraged to consider sponsoring a CE-accredited or non-CE webinar. To discuss sponsorship opportunities, please contact Marlene Steinheiser, Director of Clinical Education, via email at marlene.steinheiser@ins1.org.

INS 2024

Even though INS 2023 is close in our rearview mirror, we have begun preparations for INS 2024, which will be held May 18-21 at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The INS education team is currently reviewing INS 2023 sessions and meeting evaluations, and we will be meeting this summer and fall to determine the learning needs of our meeting attendees and plan next year’s sessions. We will continue the veINS track comprised of sessions devoted to the important aspect of infusion therapy, the vasculature, as well as the track of sessions which specifically focus on care provided in alternative care settings. We look forward to continuing our global reach with speakers and attendees. The call for abstracts for INS 2024 is open now, and will close August 30, 2023. Submit an abstract here

2023 Fall Virtual: Vesicants, Risk Factors, and Preventative Interventions

Extravasation may result in severe patient injuries including scarring, permanent functional impairment, and even loss of a limb. Such injuries are preventable when clinicians identify which medications and solutions are vesicants, understand infusion-related risks, and implement preventative interventions. An INS task force was formed to review and update the 2017 vesicant list, identify current issues and risks relative to vesicant administration, and revise the extravasation prevention checklist. Presented by members of the task force, this INS virtual symposium addresses 5 challenging aspects of mitigating the risk of extravasations: identifying vesicants, optimal vascular access device and site choice, clinical practices to avoid extravasation, prevention of legalities with case study examples, and implementation of organizational policies and procedures.

Meetings

Exhibit space for INS 2024 is available! The INS 2023 was a sold-out exhibition, so reserve your exhibit ASAP.

INS 2024 will be at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri. This is your opportunity to meet face to face with hundreds of professionals and showcase the newest products and services on the infusion therapy market.

Reserve Exhibit Space Today!

• Sponsorship & Advertising Options Coming Soon

• Attendee Registration Opening in December

View these webinars and more on-demand: www.learningcenter.ins1.org/webinars

An Updated Evidence-Based Practice Bundle for Blood Cultures

Mitigating the Risks Associated with IV Push Medications

Listen to these podcasts and more on-demand: www.learningcenter.ins1.org/podcasts

Chat with Matt: The Importance of Hemodilution in Infusion Therapy

Plasma-Derived Medications: Donors Make Them Possible

The Positive Impact of Rapid Infusions

Safe IV Push Medication Administration Practice

Your Premier Online Infusion Therapy Course

The self-paced program consists of 8 learning modules that simulates a real-world experience. Each module is consistent with INS’ Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice.

Courses will address learner’s gaps and challenges nurses can face while on the job, including building confidence, engaging in critical thinking skills, and familiarization with on-the-job resources and tools.

Welcome New Members!

DOMESTIC MEMBERS

Richard Ables

Janet Alio

Nicole Allen

Kristen Andersen

Kathleen Anzia

Amy Ashbeck

Kristen Atkinson

Yanira Aviles

Kayte Bak

Suzanne Ballinger

Marita Baragiano

Courtney Beach

Susan Belton

Deanna Beveridge

Jaclyn Bonifant

Candis Brown

Dana Browning

Sarah Budden

McKenzie Buehner

Angel Cabrera

Alphecca Cajes

Abby Campbell

Lisa Campbell

Shira Charpentier

Karen Clarke

Angela Collins

Haley Conner

Christa Cook

Aimee Corrigan

Erica Davis

Wendy Deaton

Lysandra DeLoach

Lindsey Downie

Pam Duchene

Kelly Duke

Erin Duvall

Nina Elliott

Zinga Evans

Kathleen Finnigan-Ryan

Karen Fischer

Sara Foreman

Rita Fordos-Huebel

Melinda Forrest

Clare Foshey

Lisa Furtado

Rachel Garris

Lindsey Gaskins

Ciaran Geraghty

John Germain

Chris Gianola

Ashley Glassic

Cyreen Christine Gonzalez

Rachel Goodman

Danielle Gordon

Kitzie Gordon

Rhiannon Goudreau

George Graboski

Heather Grandal

Janice Green

Melisa Hale

Beth Haley

Patricia Hamilton

Julie Hampton

Fredy Hanna

Veronica Harley

Michelle Harpestad

MIchael Hatcher

Tana Hegan

Shelly Hillard

Natalie Hoffman

Margie Hood

Vickie Hunt

Melissa Irvin

David Ivy

Megan Jackey

Christina Jensen

Jessica Johnson

Schundra Johnson

Kristy Jones

Anna Rebecca Jorgensen

James Kamps

Kelly Kight

Shannon Kimberley

Alan King

Tami King

Patricia Kirby

Claire Knaplund

Kelly Kocher

Cynthia Kostuk

Jill Kuntzman

Christopher Lambert

Sarah Lambert

Arnold Landingin

Melissa Larson

INFUSION NURSES SOCIETY

Sarah Lehmeier

Josh Lindekugel

Shanon Lopez

Sade Love

Cora Loxton

Lauren Luna

Jessica Madaris

Alma Rizza Manuel

Theresa Martinez

Sara Maugh

Emily McGrath

Karen McManus

Diane Mendoza

Denise Mercer

Melissa Meyer

Barbi Mills

Nigina Mirazimova

Genene Mitchell

Brenda Moran

Jennifer Mrnak

Katie Munoz

Melissa Murphy-Mento

Christine Neuger

Heather Norsby

Cynthia Nowlan

Jennifer O’Connell

April O’Connor

Sheri Ordonez

Jennifer Ortiz

John Ostermann

Henry Pagaduan

Brigid Parado

Celia Pena

Jill Petersen

Angela Piecewicz

Meredith Pipkin

Jessica Pruvenok

Kristin Raffaelli

Kendra Raymond

Kathleen Riel

Cynthia Ringling

Brenda Rivera

Grace Rommelfanger

Lynne Rowan

Dorothea Sanders

Erin Schilhab

Chaltu Schlichter

Gloria Schramm

Emily Sellers

Lindsey Seltzer

Juanesha Serra

Kristin Shafer

Roger Sherman

Michelle Shu

Lynda Skaggs

Jessica Smith

Mathew Sparks

Stephanie Speed

Sheila Stauffer

Rebecca Strauss

Ann Strickland

Audrey Stuhldreher

Kristen Swartz

Kirstin Tanner

Cheryl Taraborrelli

Alana Taylor

Margaret Taylor-Gassert

Rebecca Tebeau

Brandy Thorning

April Thurkill

Karl Tokita

Marita Tomacruz

Diane Truong

Taylor Uptmor

Marti Walton

Lori Weisman

Robert Wesley Williams

Nancy Williamson

Barbara Wilson

Rachael Wilson

Charlotte Winger

Casseopia Zacharias

Sarah Zeilinga

INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS

Courtney Budgell – Canada

Andrew Bulmer – Australia

Sri Annita James Palasingam – Malaysia

Hanna Jang – South Korea

Mahasen Juaton – South Korea

Tracey Jones – United Kingdom

Junhee Park – South Korea

Se Yeon Kim – South Korea

Jon-En Yeung – United Kingdom

JOIN INS TODAY

In Memoriam Julie Wilcox

March 31, 1960 – May 9, 2023

Julie Wilcox, beloved wife, mother, and nurse, died with family at her side in her home in Marietta, Georgia on Tuesday, May 9 at the age of 63 following a three-year battle with brain cancer. Julie was born to Major Peter Sharron Downing and Katherine (Kay) Hoey Downing in 1960 at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. She is survived by her brother Michael Downing, daughters Katie Wilcox and Jaimie Quintero, and husband of 35 years, John Wilcox. She was preceded in death by her younger brother, Peter Sharron Downing Jr., and her mother and father.

Julie had an eventful childhood, as her father’s military career required the family to move many times. Julie graduated from the school of nursing at the University of Vermont and began her career at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. After cutting her teeth at Beth Israel, her quest for adventure led her to seek and accept a position in the heart transplant unit at the Stanford University Hospital in Palo Alto, California. Unbeknownst to Julie, her future husband, John, was at the time working in collaboration with Stanford at the University’s Environmental Safety Facility, only one block away from the hospital.

Not long after moving to California, John and Julie met through one of the original video dating clubs, where they found themselves mutually attracted to one another’s biographies. They began dating, and in short order agreed to make their relationship exclusive. She and John married and lived together in San Jose, California until 1991. During that time Julie transitioned from hospital to home care nursing and began her long career in providing and managing home infusion therapy.

In 1991 Julie and John were ready to have a family, and decided to relocate to John’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia to be closer to family. Shortly thereafter, Julie gave birth to daughters Katie and Jaimie and stayed at home to care for them for several years. After her children entered school, Julie resumed her career and worked as a key infusion nursing care provider and nursing manager for a succession of high-profile commercial infusion pharmacies. Julie obtained her CRNI® from the Infusion Nurses Society in 1998 and held this certification for 25 years, until 2023.

Julie gladly helped friends, neighbors, and family in need. She patched wounds, brought food and care to the ill, helped friends overcome financial problems, and greatly enjoyed helping others plan and celebrate momentous occasions. She raised by example two fine daughters who have been successful in life and are also compassionate and quick to do whatever they can to help those in need.

Julie’s family would like to recognize and thank the many neighbors, family friends and extended family members for their condolences, concern, help, and emotional support that was freely given during this time of need. In particular, the family thanks Margaret and Pete McIntyre and Mary McGoldrick, who strove to brighten Julie’s final days and who provided much needed expert advice and support during a trying time, and Katie’s and Jaimie’s husbands, who selflessly cared for Julie and provided unwavering support to their wives.

Retrospective Issue