VSPAN Vital Times Virginia Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses Serving the PeriAnesthesia Nurses of Virginia Volume XXX, Issue II, Summer 2015 I hope everyone is enjoying these summer days. Summer is a time for relaxing and fun filled memories as you spend time with your family and friends. I hope that you are taking advantage of this time. As nurses, we take care of our patients and families, but it is vital that we take care of ourselves. I would like to tell everyone that wasn t able to attend this year s annual ASPAN 34 th National Conference in San Antonio, Texas, that it was a privilege to attend. The theme of the conference was Igniting Professionalism: Excellence in Practice, Leadership and Collaboration. As many of us are going through the countless healthcare changes within our facilities and are daily embracing new technology in our work areas, it was a great way to stay up to date on the newest best practices that everyone now has to move towards. It has always been a way to not only learn but to interact, network, share experiences, and discuss the topics that are specific to our PeriAnesthesia practice with other healthcare providers. There were many events that I was able to be involved in, like the President s reception, Component night, and the treasure Hunt dream walk along the River Walk in San Antonio. These events allowed us to socialize with other state components with food, music, and dancing without leaving the hotel. The sights around the hotel were amazing. When I arrived in San Antonio they were finishing their 11 days of their 2015 Fiesta Celebration. This celebration is called The Battle of Flowers PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Parade and is the only parade in the U.S. that has been going on since 1891 that is planned and directed exclusively by women. Today, the Fiesta annually involves 75,000 volunteers from 100 nonprofit groups who coordinate over 100 events. The Order of the Cascaron was formed in 1992 to recognize the outstanding efforts of volunteers who make Fiesta possible. It was very amazing to see the San Antonians and visitors celebrating with vibrant clothing on the streets of San Antonio. The River Walk was what everyone said it would be AMAZING!! When we left, we left with some old and new friends, a new perspective and an elevated level of enthusiasm to return back to work with the most current insights and practices of PeriAnesthesia nursing. It was also an honor to have a few of our members represent us at the National conference. Joni Brady was running for the Vice President, President Elect for ASPAN, and Donna Goyer, Governmental Affairs SWT. This year, I was elected to sit on the ASPAN Nominating Committee. We are so proud of our members being part of ASPAN and appreciate all of the work that we are doing for our professional organization. I also have some great news to pass on to our VSPAN members. The Vital Times won the ASPAN Component Newsletter Contest with an award of $250.00. As everyone knows, that during the winter and spring, your VSPAN leadership uses this time to organize the educational opportunities for our PeriAnesthesia nurses across the state of Virginia. Region 3 in Northern Virginia has been very busy planning our annual state conference Knowledge is Power Renewed Awakening! in Fairfax Virginia on September 19, 2015. Please mark your calendar for September 19 th because you won t want to miss this conference! We have an excellent group of speakers lined up. Some of the topics will be: Anesthesia of the Bariatric patient, blocks, bullying in the workplace, and the Affordable Healthcare Act The brochure will be enclosed in the newsletter, so please don t miss out on some great speakers!! Finally, in the near future you will be seeing our new and improved website for VSPAN. Please go on the site and look at it and let the board know what items you would like to see and let us know what you think of the site. It is my hope and part of my presidency pledges that we increase our members and followers. I would like to get more members to become active in PeriAnesthesia nursing and help create and sustain a strong foundation for our profession. Pam Champigny, MSN, BSN, RN, VSPAN President Inside this Issue: Continuing Education 2 Upcoming Education 2 Early Ambulation 4 Registration for 2015 State Conference Insert Government Affairs 5 Board of Directors 5
A nurse s commitment to their patient is reflected by their personal engagement in lifetime learning. Ongoing professional development ensures that nurses are contemporary practitioners of safe and expert care. Though many nurses maintained a required number of continuing education hours it drew attention when in 2013 notification from the Virginia Board of Nursing communicated that requirements for licensure renewal (effective August 1, 2015), includes one of the following activities: Current specialty certification by a national certifying organization, as defined in 18VAC90-20-10. Completion of a minimum of three credit hours of postlicensure academic education relevant to nursing practice, offered by a regionallyaccredited college or university. A board-approved refresher course in nursing. Completion of nursingrelated, evidence-based practice project or research study. Completion of publication as the author or co-author during a renewal cycle. Volume XXX, Issue II, Summer 2015 Continuing Education for Perianesthesia Nurses in Virginia How are we doing? Teaching a nursing-related course resulting in no less than three semester hours of college credit or specialty certification. Teaching nursing-related continuing education courses for up to 30 contact hours. 15 contact hours of workshops, seminars, conferences or courses relevant to the practice of nursing and 640 hours of active practice as a nurse. 30 contact hours of workshops, seminars, conferences or courses relevant to the practice of nursing. (Virginia Board of Nursing, 2015) Purpose: The Virginia Society of Perianesthesia Nurses (VSPAN) decided to study and evaluate how the continuing education needs of perianesthesia nurses in Virginia is being met. There was interest in determining the years of nursing experience, their primary area of work, the highest level of education, and the required number of education hours per year at their workplace. We reviewed the number of hours completed through the workplace or outside the workplace, how these hours were funded, reasons for attending education, and the preferred type of learning style. Method: A non-randomized survey through Survey Monkey with 10 multiple choice questions was emailed to 399 members of VSPAN January-February 2015. Members responded by choice with 117 responses, 29% of the surveys sent. Findings: Years of Nursing Experience: Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia are well experienced with 78% respondents having 20 years or greater nursing experience. Primary Areas of Work: The largest respondent group was 33.04% PACU staff and 26.09% of the group is cross trained to work in multiple areas. Highest Level of Nursing Education: Of the respondent group 59.48% of Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia have a Bachelor s degree. This is exceptional as compared to the 39% of Virginian s with a Bachelor s degree in nursing (Department of Health Professionals, 2010). Education Hours Required, Completed, and Funded by Workplace: Educational hours required by the workplace are greater than the mandatory hours required by the Virginia Board of Nursing per year. Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia generally completed their required education hours at the workplace. Funding was supported by the workplace and declined with the increasing number of required educational hours per year. 2 Continued on Page 3
Volume XXX, Issue II, Summer 2015 Continuing Education, Continued from page 2 3 Education hours completed outside the workplace and how they are funded: Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia completed 70.18% of 0-20 hours of education hours outside the workplace. Of employees, 45.21% are self-funding this education. Workplaces are funding 29.45% of outside education hours. Scholarship funding pays for 10.27% of outside education. There is opportunity in Virginia to increase the scholarship funding for outside education hours for Perianesthesia nurses. Reasons for attending educational programs and the preferred type of education activity: Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia resulted in 33% that attended programs due to selfinterest. In addition, 33.78% are motivated to be current in their profession. 20.89% attended due to required contact hours for their job. The smallest motivator was financial reward at 2.67%. Preferred type of education activity was 72.41% live presentation. There is 15.52% interest for on line educational opportunities. Self-study reflected 6.9% of Perianesthsia nurses and webinar presentation 1.75% interest. Having educational sessions in Virginia with speakers is preferred and needs to continue throughout the state. There is opportunity to explore other methods of providing education hours for Perianesthesia nurses in Virginia. Continued on Page 4
Volume XXX, Issue II, Summer 2015 Continuing Education Continued from page 3 Early Ambulation in Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Patients References: Department of Health Professions (2010). Highlights from the 2007-2008 DHP Licensure Renewal Survey. Accessed from: https://www.dhp.virginia.gov/ hwdc/docs/rnfactsheet_08.pdf. Virginia Board of Nursing (2015). Accessed from: http:// www.dhp.virginia.gov/nursing/. Submitted by Michele Berry RN CAP IV and Brenda Gilliam MSN MHA CAPA Carilion Clinic, Roanoke, VA In 2009 the Cardiovascular PACU at Inova Fairfax Hospital began a pathway to encourage early ambulation for the Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) patients. The goal was to ambulate the patients 250 feet within an hour of extubation in the OR to increase healing, decrease pain and the risk of pneumonia. An added benefit of early ambulation was decreased length of stay in the PACU. The responsibility of the Perianesthesia nurse was to implement early ambulation in a c c o r d a n ce w i t h t h e multidisciplinary clinical pathway that had been developed. In 2007, 100% of the VATS population was admitted to the hospital. By 2009, the patient population who met eligibility criteria started transitioning to outpatient status. The unit began collecting length of stay data in 2009 and ambulation data in July of 2010. Ambulation data was collected for both extubation time and PACU admission time. The study results showed that in-hospital admissions of patients who met criteria decreased from 100% to 13% over a five year period. The overall mean PACU LOS shortened by forty six minutes and the mean time from ambulation decreased by 23%. The range of time from admission to PACU to ambulation was ten minutes to two hours and five minutes. The active participation of the Perianesthesia nurses was essential to integrate the clinical pathway into their routine of care for the patients. In spring of 2015 the ambulation data remains fairly consistent. The decrease in ambulation time and PACU LOS continues to show the safety of such an approach. Sally Schermer, RN, BSN, MBA, CCRN, CPAN, CAPA Raffle Baskets for State Conference Each year, raffle baskets are sent from PACU 's from all over the state to be contributed to our state conference. It is a great fundraiser and so easy to participate. We have made a suggestion of placing a basket or even a box in your unit and asking people to donate small items such as toys, or baby items, or food, or personal items. It is fun to see the variety of items that are donated and then decorate the basket with pretty paper and a ribbon. I urge you to consider donating a basket from your PACU and enjoy the fun. 4
Vital Times Summer Government Affairs Update Much like the summer weather, Capital Hill and the Supreme Court activities have been heated and stormy at times. Across the House of Representatives and the Senate, the majority of the activities involve appropriations. The members of the r e s p e c t i v e a p p r o p r i a t i o n s committees submit proposals of which programs to fund and the amount of funds to appropriate to each program. The reauthorization of the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2713) is a critical concern for nursing. The Nursing Workforce Development programs (Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act) have supported the recruitment, retention, and distribution of our nation's registered nurses. Without reauthorization these programs are at risk for loss of federal funding. The reauthorization needs to occur prior to September 30, 2015 in order for funding through 2020. Currently the Senate appropriations committee has passed a bill that recommends a level of $220.632 million for the Nursing Workforce Development programs. This is $10.99 million less than the FY 2015 enacted level, or a cut of 4.75%. The cuts are directed at the Advanced Education Nursing program the NURSE Corps, the Nurse Faculty Loan Program and the Comprehensive Geriatric Education program is zeroed out. For the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the bill recommends a total of $32 billion, an increase of $2 billion over FY 2015. Within the total NIH budget, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) would receive $147.508 million (a $6.56 million (4.7%) increase over FY 2015). The House bill proposes level funding for the Nursing Workforce Development Program with a slight increase for the NIH funding. The hope will be for strong nursing advocacy and a combination of these bills for at least level funding for Nursing Workforce Development and support of the higher Senate increase for the National Institutes of Health. If you representatives sit on any of these committees, please take the time to either encourage or thank them for their support of these important programs for nursing and the health of our communities. On June 25, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that subsidies can continue for the purchase of health insurance for qualified individuals in the 34 states that rely on the federal government to operate their health insurance exchanges. Plaintiffs in the case King v. Burwell had challenged the validity of the subsidies, arguing that only individuals in states with a statebased insurance exchange were eligible under the language in the Affordable Care Act. Virginia remains a state that has not taken advantage of the federal funds available to fully implement this law and close the coverage gap. This ruling may afford greater dialogue on this topic. Keeping in mind this this is an election year for all 140 representatives of the Virginia General Assembly we should anticipate hearing much more about this in the coming months. The Affordable Care Act remains strongly debated and partisan and will be a hot topic for the many Presidential candidates as well. Enjoy the summer and stayed tuned for the winds of fall! Donna Goyer BS, RN, CPAN, CAPA VSPAN Government Affairs Chair 2014 2015 VSPAN Executive Committee President Pam Champigny, RN, BSN 4221 Sussex Drive Chesterfield, Virginia 23832 804-675-1966 Pamela_champigny@bshsi.org Past President Nancy Bertera,MSN,RN,CPAN, CAPA INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital 10220 Martinhoe Drive Vienna, Virginia 22181 703-391-3663 mabertera@gmail.com Secretary Sally Schermer, RN, BSN, MBA, CCRN, CPAN, CAPA 5094 English Terrace Alexandria, Virginia 22304 703-823-3485 slschermer@aol.com Treasurer Deborah Britt, MSN, RN, CAPA 5639 Lee Highway Arlington, Virginia 22207 703-201-2457 dbritt@virginiahospitalcenter.com Publication Chair Patti Shorner, RN, BSN 1370 Lakes Edge Drive Goodview, Virginia 24095 540-981-2974 pashorner@carilionclinic.org VSPAN VirginiaSPAN@gmail.com www.virginiaspan.org Please e-mail all articles to VirginiaSPAN@gmail.com. Guidelines: (1) Articles must be typed; (2) The author s name, title, institution, and work phone or e-mail address must be included for verification. (3) References should be Newsletter Articles Due by October 31, 2015 listed in the order they appear. (4) Topics can range from patient assessment, nursing care, pharmacology reviews, case studies, research, management topics or a review of an educational offering. 5
Virginia Society of Perianesthesia Nurses PO Box 384 Midlothian, VA 23113 Knowledge is Power The Society exists to promote quality care for patients and their families, by encouraging professional education, development of standards, research, certification, and specialization in all phases of perianesthesia nursing, and by providing a forum for exchange of ideas between health care providers involved in perianesthesia care.