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Another early morning here in Phoenix. I attended the exhibitor symposium, Evidenced Based Practice to Prevent CRBSIs. This was co-sponsored by J&J wound management and ChloraPrep. I must say that food wise this was the nicest breakfast yet. The bacon was a little under done but not everyone likes theirs crunchy. The presentation gave a nice overview of the types of papers or studies out there and how much scientific weight can be applied to the different types. We wish all published data was from controlled randomized studies. But since it is not, we must be alert to the study model or type in order to give the data appropriate weight in our discission making processes.

Most of the conference attendees were then at the roundtables. I am sure they were just fabulous but I was not able to attend. Instead I represented my employer at the corporate member breakfast, yes I ate again. This was much like a town hall meeting only much more intimate. I would like to repeat my message from yesterday. Encourage, no push, your institutions to become a corporate member or perhaps contribute to the foundation which will be doing wonderful things this next year. Our profession needs to get the word out and influence bedside practice if lives are to be saved. AVA is a powerful tool toward that goal. Your institution will benefit from a strong and active AVA.

I was able to join the first general session, already in progress, presented by Dr. LeDonne entitled The Age of Reason: The Rise and Fall of Blind Central Venous Access. He pretty much had the room in stitches. His power point had some pretty impressive animations to drive home his points which he simplified with mottos and short points. A great supporting work for the use of ultrasound to better our patient outcomes. Comments he made did seem to indicate he may have misunderstood some of Jamie’s presentation yesterday. I hope they are able to get together and clarify that for him.

We then heard from Marcia Ryder. She is such a pleasure to listen to. Her words are pure science. No opinions, just evidence based conclusions. Her presentation, New Evidence for the Prevention of CRBSI, covered a lot of ground. A good take away message was “errors are not inevitable”. Our goal should be zero CRBSIs. The common conception was that was impossible. But it is now being done and can be repeated. It is a realistic goal. She went into the value of bundles. She showed a lot of great data on valves. Type and design all play a role in the risk they present to our patients. It was just a wealth of data to plow through. Thanks to Marcia, I do enjoy listening to you.

The final day of the exhibits was a sad thing. I do so love that part. I did finish looking at the posters. There were so many, great job by all! You should know that posters are not that difficult to do and you don’t have to be a big shot to do them. There were several posters from people that had never published. Even posters by first time attendees! And they were all chock full of great stuff. Consider sharing a success story or small study from your practice with the members. Your work can help others improve as well.

I do plan to go back and work, in my company, to effect some changes in the products we use. Thanks to the vendors in the exhibit hall, I have the data I need and have had a chance to lay hands on these products. Right now I have a transparent membrane dressing stuck to my arm. It has been there 3 days and been wash (yes with soap and water and scrubbing) daily. It is still stuck and still very comfortable. We might be trailing this product among others. So the exhibit hall is a valuable place for us that deliver care directly. I can not thank the scores of vendors that were present enough for the effort and expense they put forth to be there. I hope to see you all next year in Savannah.

The afternoon breakout sessions were a little sparse. Meaning there were not as many choices. But I was glad to see some new topics other than PICCs, valves and CRBSIs. I will be comparing notes again with my colleagues to see what I missed in the other sessions I could not attend.

The various committees met in the late afternoon. I encourage everyone to join a committee. As a volunteer, you can do as little or as much as you want. I also believe that many hands make light work. Even the board of directors are volunteers. So it is truly the committees that do most of the foot work for this organization. They are pivotal to the success of AVA. It is never too late to join a committee. Contact the committee chair person of that committee that might interest you. Contact links and information can be found on the AVA web page for each committee. I have elected to work with membership this year.

Arrow was kind enough to host a little pre-party reception. We had more food but also, most importantly, more opportunities to mix and network. I said hi to old friends and made new ones.

The AVA party had a western theme. There were some cowboys doing roping tricks and posing for pictures. Before I got in the door I heard a nurse, who shall remain nameless, exclaim “look at that butt”. That confirmed for me that we were in a party mode. There was a DJ and a nice soft dance floor. There were cartoonists doing personalized caricatures. Casino gaming tables were the main event. We were given plenty of play money to lose. All the big games were represented and the tables were packed. That freed up some table space, which was in short supply, for the rest of us to sit at. Food, on the other hand, was plentiful, varied and oh so good. My diet has gone way down south these last few days if you haven’t guessed by now. My only complaint is the time just flew by and it was over before I was ready for it to end.

Well after our trek back to our hotel, my group was in the lobby planning for tomorrow. In the door walks the entire group for one of the vendors. We didn’t know they had been staying at our hotel. They were celebrating a successful show and going home tomorrow. They produced, you guessed it, a ton of food, deserts none the less, as well as some adult beverages. They invited us to join and a great time was had by all. It was kinda of like the good ole hot tub roundtables. Just people being friends and having a good time. This of course caused a lengthy delay in me getting to this blog. Man am I going to pay for this tomorrow. Maybe I can sleep on the plane, LOL.

One last side item here. I have talked to many attendees about the elimination of conference syllabuses this year. If you had not heard, in an effort to reduce AVA’s carbon foot print and be more green, we got no syllabus. Instead we were given a CD with all the presentation slides on it. These same files are available on the AVA web page as well. The cost of the CDs was covered by Hylenex. A pretty cool drug, look it up if you are not familiar with it.

I think it is clear that there are pluses and minuses in this move. But over all I think it has been positively received. It does offer one clear advantage. It is going to be so much easier to share information. You can talk about a great session you attended and be able to hand a copy of the slides to someone or e-mail them. No more digging out the book and copying the pages one at a time, complete with your scribble all over, and then having to personally deliver or mail. I think we will see this format again next year.

Lets call this a day. My day 4 blog may be a day late since I will be traveling home tomorrow. But I promise to get the last day up and posted. I try not to leave a project unfinished. Good night ya’ll.

Tony West, RN, CRNI