Inside this issue: President s Address Symposium Highlights Educational Offerings & Advanced Preceptor Conference Update Your Board & GPC-AACN Updates Professionalism: The skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well. www.merriam-webster.com aka A GPC-AACN Nurse! 1 2-3 4 5 Member Writings 6 Member Dinner 7 ATTENTION: We need you to help us run this great chapter! GPC Board elections will be coming up soon. If you are interested, please contact us at: gpcsupport@comcast.net Hello Everyone! were instrumental quality program which in the success of our is currently provided in Advanced Preceptor winter, summer, and Conference that was fall. held in October. They Our 41 st Critical Care did a phenomenal job Symposium was just and put numerous held in November and volunteer hours into was chaired by Melissa it. The speakers were Greig and her team. top notch and everyone This conference is one had a wonderful of the largest AACN time. This conference chapter programs & showcased and celebrated held on the west coast! the wonderful It provides high quali- preceptors that we ty content along with have here in our community! national speakers. The They are the focus is on education reason new nurses and providing CNEs have great experiences for those who have and continue prac- their certifications. ticing in nursing to hopefully become preceptors themselves, someday. It is hard to believe that another year has gone by and a new one is upon us. I know this is the time of year that we all want to make changes for the better. We had a successful 2014 as we continue to increase our membership and provide quality educational opportunities for the Portland-Metro Area nurses. Teri Lynn Kiss, our National AACN president, invites us all to not focus on what we could have done better but rather how can we expand on what we are doing well? Healthcare, in general, seems to focus on the negatives and not the positives: our ability to continuously improve and even how we continue to improve on what we are doing well. I want to give a huge round of applause to Mark Roady, Jennifer Eddy, and Linda Meyer who WINTER 2015 President s Address Next, I would like to thank Karen Godbole who is Convener for the Consortium. This group of leaders continues year after year to provide an introductory educational program for critical care nurses. All our local area ICU nurses that are new to critical care go through The Introduction to Critical Care Nursing course. This is a high Finally, I wanted to share that the GPC-AACN hit 700 members in November of 2014!! This is the most number of members we have ever had!! I look forward to our continued growth of the Greater Portland Chapter. Anna Mulessa sa GPC-AACN President 2014-2015
The 2014 Critical Care Fall Symposium on November 10 th and 11 th was held at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver, Washington was a HUGE success!! (Even if it was a BIT and we did lose a little POWER.) We unveiled the NEW LOGO and retired an old friend!! Opening remarks by the Symposium Co-Chairs: Chairs: Melissa Greig, BSN, RN, CCRN & Daniel Hagg MD Jorge Juliano (NEW LOGO artist) and Anna Mulessa 443 Attendees, 53 Vendors, 18 Nursing Posters, 5 OSCCM Poster Presenters and 5 Physician Posters! Great Speakers & Poster Presenters Jill Ley Teri Kiss AACN 2014-2015 President Michelle Dollar Amanda Fryback & Christie Fletcher Jennifer Goodrich Sam Steele The American Association of Critical-Care selected Elizabeth Bridges, RN, PhD, CCNS, FCCM, FAAN, as its 2015 Distinguished Research Lecturer!! Nurses (AACN) recently Dr. Bridges, a UW Nursing Professor and US Air Force Reserve Colonel, presented timely research at our GPC-AACN 41 st Fall Symposium even without power!
You not only fed your minds at the Critical Care Symposium, but you helped feed Clark County s hungry! The local Food Bank was very appreciative of the 600 pounds of canned goods they received to help provide 500 meals for hungry Clark County families! PeaceHealth Southwest Crew with Teri Kiss 2014-2015 AACN President GPC Assistants: Donna and Monica Hunter at the Pre-Symposium Dinner The VA Crew Good Eats! Anna Tracey and Karen at the Pre-Symposium Dinner Anna and Melissa The GPC awarded bountiful baskets to the 4 Units in our area who achieved AACN s Beacon Award for Excellence! Congratulations: Kaiser Sunnyside s Med/Surg ICU, PeaceHealth St. John s ICU, & OHSU s Cardiac Medical AND Cardiac Surgical ICUs!!
There are more highlights from the 2014 Fall GPC-AACN Advanced Preceptor Conference Check out our YouTube video of the Nurse preceptor bohemian rhapsody parody song!!! https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8-i_jym_cw Focus your flame at NTI in San Diego in May! Check out AACN s website for all the information about this annual (phenomenal) educational event. http://www.aacn.org San Diego Convention Center
Your GPC Board for 2014-2015 President: Anna Mulessa, BSN, RN President-Elect: Missy Thingelstad, BSN, RN, CCRN Past-President: Tracey Loudon, MN, RN, CNS, CCNS, CCRN Education Co-Chairs: Jennifer Eddy, BSN, RN, CCRN Kate Thomas, BSN, RN, CCRN and Allen Wiemer, BSN, RN Treasurer: Becky Campbell, BSN, RN, CCRN Treasurer-Elect: Zoe Anastas, MPH, MPH, PCCN Board: Guest Bill Honeycut from Sumner College requested information about preceptor preparation. Education: CCRN/PCCN Review January 27 & 28, 2015 at Providence Portland Medical Center & CCRN/PCCN Review June 8 & 9, 2015 at Providence Portland Medical Center. Spring Member Dinner: $3,500 budget, McMenamins facilities explored, social media and healthcare topic for presentation/discussion. Possible dates: March or April. Symposium: Speakers are all confirmed. Budget and estimated expensed in budget. Three 2015 Symposium registration scholarships will be given to poster winner along with a drawing prize each day at symposium. There will be Wi-Fi for all attendees during symposium FREE from Hilton! November Board Meeting Highlights Secretary: Jenny Cloud, MBA, BSN, RN, CCRN Past Board Member-at-Large: Cyndi Perez MSN, RN, CCRN New Board Members: Kimberly Caudle, BSN, RN, CCRN Public Relations/Webmasters: Jorge Julliano, BSN, BS, RN James Pillard, BSN, RN, CCRN Newsletter Editor: Karen Godbole, MSN, RN, CNRN 2014 Symposium Coordinator: Melissa Greig, BSN, RN, CCRN Symposium (continued): Planning for 448 registrants for day one and 449 registrants for day two. 53 vendors. 18 posters. Consortium: 57 attendees in Fall Critical Care Consortium Course; 2015 Winter Course: February 9-10, February 23-24, March 23-24, 2015. Advanced Preceptor Conference had 224 attendees: budget not finalized but appears to have profit not a loss. Public Relations and Chapter Website: New GPC-AACN logo presented and approved 2 versions accepted. Membership: No new updates. Merit Scholarships: No submissions this quarter. Next due dates are December 1 and March 1. Newsletter: Next due date for newsletter submissions is December 20 th. Treasurer: Budget reviewed and chapter in Good Standing. No December Board Meeting Happy Holidays Board: Discussed Symposium and applying for President s Theme Award due in February. Education: CCRN/PCCN Review will be January 26 & 27, 2015 at Providence Portland, 100 registrants, max occupancy 150. Catering to be determined. Next review is June 8 & 9, 2015. Member Dinner, tentatively March 16, 2015 at Kennedy School gymnasium room with an educational offering regarding social media. A diversified panel would discuss the laws and issues. Budget is $3,500.00 Symposium: 443 attendees, 53 vendors, 18 rural scholarships, 5 OSCCM poster presenters, 5 physician posters and 18 nursing posters. Costs for Hilton $10,000 less than 2013 due to food choices. No monetary loss with Symposium. Did make a profit to share with OSCCM. Symposium 2015 meetings will be held the third Thursday of the month at Meridian Park and hope to have Polycom available. Consortium: Winter 2015: February 9-10, 23-24 and March 9-10. 45 participants, all speakers confirmed. January Board Meeting Highlights Consortium (continued): Next course dates for 2015: July 20-21, August 3-4, 17-18 & October 19-20, November 2-3, 16-17. Preceptor Conference Video Done and on YouTube. Public Relations and Chapter Website: No updates. Membership: Active GPC and AACN compliant: 577 On hold and AACN non-compliant: 123 (most of these are AACN expirations within last couple of months, reminder being sent in next two weeks). Total memberships: 700, Certification counts: CCRN: 245, PCCN: 18, CSC: 10, CMC: 6 CCNS: 6 Merit Scholarships: Form to be revised by Kim and Jorge. Due date March 1, 2015 for April-June. Newsletter: Awaiting more submissions to get newsletter completed. Jan 15 th to be next deadline. Treasurer: October and November reports reviewed. Budget balanced and Tracey & Anna to look into event insurance in case of conference cancellation.
Open heart surgery patients are at extremely high risk for skin breakdown and in the spring and summer of 2013, CICU nurses noticed an increase in prevalence of hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU) in this patient population. A large proportion of these HAPU incidences occurred on the patient s occiput. An inter-professional team was put together to quickly formulate a thoughtful response to this patient safety problem. Thus, the Open Heart Skin Protocol (OHSP) was born. The protocol s interventions are initiated as early as possible, most often prior to the patient s transfer to the operating room. This could mean that the interventions are put into place in various settings, including Short Stay, CICU, 2G, and CVL. The interventions include: A Mepilex sacral dressing to the coccyx, a special gel-filled pillow (Z-flow) to the occiput, heel floating with pillows, padded oxygen tubing, and elbow floating. Again, these interventions are initiated prior to transferring to the OR and are maintained throughout the patient s hospital stay until they are independently ambulating and deemed not to have a risk for developing pressure ulcers. The interventions of this protocol have successfully & significantly decreased the prevalence of HAPU in the open heart surgery population, and as such, Kathy Cassinelli, BSN, RN, CCRN, CICU Skin Care Expert, has had the opportunity to present these results at multiple inter-professional conferences. The most recent of which occurred on November 10 th and 11 th, 2014 at the Greater Portland Chapter (GPC) of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Fall Symposium in Vancouver, Washington. This exciting conference has been attended by over 600 clinicians working in critical and progressive care: nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists. Kathy presented the protocol, specified interventions, and results in the midst of a power outage. But, as a seasoned critical care nurse, Kathy did not let that phase her as she reviewed the information in her presentation, answered a multitude of questions about how we all came together to improve patient care, and empowered nurses and other professionals to make similar changes at their own institutions. Please submit your thoughts. Tell us what is going on in YOUR institution n and help SHARE GREAT IDEAS. It is EASY!! We can help! Submit writings to: news4gpc@gmail.com We would love to hear from you!