perspectives
By Lori Kaczmarek , MSN , RN , VA-BC TM
Protect the Patient , Educate the Clinician , and Save the Line
They say it takes a village to raise a child . Those raising a child ( ren ) during the COVID-19 pandemic certainly have a newfound appreciation for this concept . By the same token , planning , inserting , and maintaining a patient ’ s vascular access device ( VAD ) takes a team effort and a collaborative one at that . Members of the Association for Vascular Access ( AVA ) are part of that team – the village , if you will – that makes safe and positive vascular access outcomes a reality . AVA is pleased to join Healthcare Hygiene magazine ( HHM ) in this issue
While nurses are most often responsible for care and maintenance of VADs , physicians , nurses , respiratory therapists , and advanced practice providers are just some of the professionals who share responsibility about the clinical decision-making and insertion of the device . focused on vascular access and welcome the opportunity to introduce you to our organization .
Suzanne Herbst , RN , then a home infusion nurse , founded AVA in 1985 . She identified the need for a collaborative approach to care for patients requiring vascular access . It was the height of the AIDS ( Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ) epidemic in the United States and Herbst recognized the inconsistencies and inaccuracies among consumers and clinicians regarding these critical lifelines . The need for reliable and clear education about VADs was essential to improve patient outcomes .
It is doubtful that at that time Herbst knew the scope and breadth by which her grassroots effort to educate and inform would ultimately shape the vascular access landscape . The movement to make ours a world with safe vascular access began with a small group of like-minded clinicians in the San Francisco area .
Today , with more than 3,000 members and 52 networks , AVA reaches beyond U . S . borders . International members travel to attend the annual AVA Scientific Meeting and the collaboration continues year-round with education , exchange of ideas , shared research , discussion about patient challenges , and development of new research goals .
What is perhaps unique to AVA is its multidisciplinary membership . We recognize that vascular access knows no boundaries . While nurses are most often responsible for care and maintenance of VADs , physicians , nurses , respiratory therapists , and advanced practice providers are just some of the professionals who share responsibility about the clinical decision-making and insertion of the device . Industry leaders partner with AVA and collaborate in product development , modification , and education . Infection
prevention and epidemiologists join the effort to prevent VAD associated infection . And finally , patients and family caregivers are the center of it all as the key stakeholder and recipient of VADs .
In 2006 , the AVA Foundation ( AVAF ) was founded to support AVA ’ s mission and serve clinicians , students of healthcare professions as well as patients and families through innovation , research , and education . The AVAF is a 501 ( c )( 3 ) educational and research organization . In 2009 , the Vascular Access Certification Corporation ( VACC ) was established . VACC is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the validation , through certification , of a specialized body of knowledge for all professionals working in the field of vascular access . VACC administered the inaugural Vascular Access Board Certification ( VA-BC™ ) exam in December 2010 .
It makes sense for AVA and HHM to partner in the effort to bridge the efforts of all VAD stakeholders . Almost all patients admitted to the hospital require some form of vascular access for treatment or phlebotomy for diagnosis and care management . And while improved outcomes have been made to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections ( CLABSI ) devices inserted peripherally are associated with bacteremia , come with high failure rates , and have lacked attention that central access devices receive ( Helm , 2019 ; Helm , Klausner , Klemperer , Flint and Huang , 2015 ). And finally , paramount is the need to preserve vessel health using evidence-based approaches to the clinical decisions about device selection ( Moureau & Carr , 2018 ) as patients are living longer , often with complex health issues requiring long-term vascular access .
There is so much more to know about this organization than I can possibly fit here . I invite you to explore and learn more by visiting our website at
AVAinfo . org and see how AVA is collaborating with all disciplines to make vascular access safe . We look forward to engaging and partnering with all stakeholders in the quest to achieve this vision .
Lori Kaczmarek , MSN , RN , VA-BC TM is the current president of the Association for Vascular Access ( AVA ). She is a speaker and vascular access clinical specialist for Adhezion Biomedical , LLC and on the speakers ’ bureau with Becton Dickinson .
References :
Helm , R . E . ( 2019 ). Accepted but Unacceptable : Peripheral IV Catheter Failure : 2019 Follow-up . J Infus Nurs , 42 ( 3 ), 149-150 . doi : 10.1097 / NAN . 0000000000000324
Helm RE , Klausner JD , Klemperer JD , Flint LM , and Huang E . Accepted but unacceptable : peripheral IV catheter failure . J Infus Nurs , 38 ( 3 ), 189-203 . 2015 . doi : 10.1097 / NAN . 0000000000000100
Moureau NL and Carr PJ . Vessel Health and Preservation : a model and clinical pathway for using vascular access devices . Br J Nurs , 27 ( 8 ), S28-S35 . 2018 . doi : 10.12968 / bjon . 2018.27.8 . S28