Challenging the future with INS
"There’s definitely something here for everyone associated with infusion therapy," says Jason Beal, marketing manager for Challenge the Future for the Intravenous Nurses Society’s (INS) annual meeting May 6-11 in Minneapolis. Beal says he expects about 1,400 attendees for this year’s program. "In addition to numerous educational opportunities, we’ll have three days of uninterrupted exhibits, which is unique for health care trade shows. We’ll also have social events and our second annual golf tournament for the Gardner Foundation, our charitable arm."
Classes to focus on IV specialties
Beal says presentations have been carefully planned to offer an integrated approach to infusion therapy practices. Classes will also provide information for antineoplastic therapy, infection control, fluid and electrolytes, technical and clinical applications, transfusion therapy, parenteral nutrition, pediatrics, pharmacology, and quality assurance — the nine core content areas of infusion therapy specialty practice.
INS is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accredita-tion and the Florida Board of Nursing (#27F1992). INS is also approved by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing pharmaceutical education. The ACPE program code is 224-000-00-001/067.
For RNs, a maximum of 20 contact hours are available at the 2000 Annual Meeting and Industrial Exhibition, and an additional 10 contact hours can be earned by attending the National Academy of Intravenous Therapy during the weekend. The 2000 INS National Academy and Annual Meeting have been approved for CRNI and CLNI recertification units. A total of 40 recertification units will be awarded to CRNI/CLNIs who attend the entire program, 20 for the National Academy, and 20 for the Annual Meeting.
Following is a sampling of available courses:
• Intra-Arterial Therapy with Implantable Pumps: Intra-arterial therapy is an alternate route for regional chemotherapy administration. This presentation will include exploring the patient considerations related to implantable pumps.
• Risk Management Considerations: Principles and Current Trends: Effective risk management is often the key to an organization’s viability. The presentation will explore key principles, current trends, and tools with emphasis on effective risk management strategies for all health care professionals.
• Infusion Support of the Complex Cardiac Surgery Patient: Intravenous therapies for the cardiac surgical patient both in the hospital and alternate care settings, including treating imbalances appropriately and quickly to decrease length of stay and have a positive outcome during the recovery phase. Fluid and electrolyte imbalances intraoperatively, postoperatively, and postdischarge will be reviewed.
• Nutrition for Optimal Wound Healing Management: Adequate intake of energy, protein, fluid, vitamins, and minerals are required for effective wound healing. In some cases, pharmacological doses of nutrients are beneficial for optimal healing. The presentation will discuss the importance of nutrients in the wound-healing process and the role of the health care professional in providing nutrition-related support in various health care settings.
• Developing an Asparaginase Protocol to Minimize Anaphylaxis: Hypersensitivity reactions are adverse effects of chemotherapy in up to 40% of patients. Asparaginase preparations have a high incidence of anaphylaxis. The institution of an anaphylaxis protocol will minimize symptoms and ensure rapid implementation of life-saving measures when reactions occur. The presentation will define hypersensitivity reactions, review occurrences, and discuss proposed mechanisms for protocol development.
• Supportive Therapies after Solid Organ Transplantation: Patients undergoing transplantation of solid organs often require infusion therapies during recovery. The health care professional must be familiar with these therapies, side effects, and how they affect recovery. The presentation will discuss clinical practice guidelines and the most common therapies appropriate to this patient population.
• Transfusion Therapy with Cryoprecipitate and Fresh Frozen Plasma for Managing Blood Loss: Transfusion therapy requires familiarity with all types of blood products. The presentation will focus on indications and uses of cryoprecipitate and fresh frozen plasma. Administration guidelines and the roles of each blood replacement component will be discussed.
• Intravenous Treatment of Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP): Classified as both a fungus and a protozoan, Pneumocystis carinii has been known to cause PCP. The presentation will review the approved and investigational infusion treatments and protocols used to treat Pneumocystis carinii in the immunocompromised patient.
• Reviewing Parenteral Nutrition Formulas for Appropriateness: Parenteral nutrition supplementation is frequently used in hospitals, long-term care, and home infusion care. The presentation will provide tools for reviewing, assessing, and determining nutritional formula suitability in hospital and alternative care settings.
• Health Outcomes Research for IV Nursing Practice: Intravenous nursing provides treatment modalities most likely to achieve successful outcomes. The presentation will illustrate key elements of the research process with application in design, implementation, analysis, and results interpretation of intravenous nursing-sensitive outcomes, including complications such as phlebitis and catheters-used-per-successful-needlestick.
• Drug Delivery Issues in Alternate Care Settings: Alternate care providers must provide infusion therapy with limited clinical resources. One way to safely provide necessary infusion care is to combine technology with reliable vascular access devices. This presentation will describe scheduled drug delivery systems using programmable infusion pumps and telecommunication technology.
• Business Techniques for the Nurse Manager: A general overview of budget development, time management, task delegation, and profit/loss statements.
• Focused Assessment for the Total Parental Nutrition (TPN) Patient: The presentation will provide a framework for applying critical thinking skills to the assessment and monitoring of TPN patients to perform a focused assessment.
• Interviewing Skills for the Nurse Manager: Helping the nurse manager identify the best candidate for prospective employment by integrating business principles of interviewing. Legal aspects of interviewing techniques and mock interviews will be presented.
• Hyponatremic Encephalopathy with Use of 5% Dextrose in Water: Five-percent dextrose in water has been known to cause the infusion-related complication hyponatremic encephalopathy. The presentation will discuss the pathophysiology and treatment with appropriate interventions of this condition. Also discussed will be the variety of dextrose/water formulations and possible untoward effects of administration.
• Legal Nurse Consulting: Putting Your Nursing Expertise to Work in a Medical/Legal Career: Opportunities exist for registered nurses to use their nursing expertise assisting attorneys as legal nurse consultants (LNC). LNCs work in such environments as insurance companies, law firms, and as in-house or independent consultants. LNCs may analyze and organize medical records in a more cost-effective manner by capitalizing on their knowledge of hospitals and home care settings. The presentation will discuss how LNCs can assist in literature and research searches, medical writing, and liability issues.
• Performance Management: Maintaining a successful health care team through job satisfaction, motivation, stimulation, professional development, and collegial support can ensure high productivity, job commitment, and team building. The purpose of performance management is to evaluate and improve employee performance rather than monitor and criticize. The presentation will build on existing performance evaluation systems and provide skills to positively affect employee performance.
• Pathophysiological Changes in the Elderly: Physical and pathological alterations occur during the aging process. Changes affect not only the manner in which infusion therapy is delivered but also the tolerance with which it will be received. The presentation will review these changes and address considerations for safe fluid management in the elderly. Anticipated side effects of fluid administration will be reviewed along with appropriate considerations and interventions.
• Diagnosis, Treatment, and Management of Hepatitis C: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 4 million people are infected with the hepatitis C virus, including over 80,000 health care workers. The presentation explores risk factors associated with transmission, diagnosis, progression, and treatment of HCV. Patient education, compliance, and reimbursement issues will be discussed.
• Developing an Alternate Care Transfusion Center: The alternate site transfusion center can help meet growing health care needs by providing resources necessary for various treatments and VAD placement. The presentation will discuss the process used to develop a transfusion center, the role of the intravenous nurse specialist, and the benefits of transfusion therapy in the alternate care setting.
• Will OASIS Demonstrate the Value of Infusion Nursing? The Outcomes Assessment and Information Set (OASIS) is the culmination of the Health Care Financing Administration-sponsored research effort that began in 1988. The data collected through OASIS is to be used to formulate the case mix adjusted for final Medicare reimbursement rates under the prospective payment system, mandated under the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997. The presentation will discuss how the data is collected, implications, and how the value of infusion nursing will be measured by OASIS.
To register for the INS annual meeting, or to obtain a complete listing of classes and events call (617) 441-3008.
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