Karen Mueller, n/a: No financial relationships to disclose
Project Alena was created when I sat at my daughter Alena’s beside watching her fight for life in an intensive care unit. As I watched the ventilator manage her breathing, I had a sudden realization that her VAD that was to deliver lifesaving treatments, could also take her life away. I will unfold the story through the eyes of a nurse, a member of the 2019 Canadian Vascular Access and Infusion Therapy Guideline development and a vascular access medical device expert and what happens when all that you have learned is put into clinical practice on your own child. This presentation is about sharing the stark truth of what is working, or not working, in our approach to vascular access care and discussing opportunities for change. The objectives of this presentation are to share the impact of vascular access practices and guideline recommendations from a patient perspective; identify gaps in current vascular access guideline recommendations; as well as share my passion to change the view of vascular access from a clinical practice to a recognized clinical specialty.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the impact of vascular access practices from a patient perspective: from VAD choice, VAD insertion and care and maintenance.
Identifying gaps in vascular access guidelines recommendations; understanding potential risks of current practices based on scientific data
Understand the role of vascular access in future healthcare. Why vascular access and infusion therapy is not only a practice, it is a complex clinical specialty.
