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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.
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