Welcome to the New England Chapter of the Infusion Nurses Society...

The New England Chapter seeks to improve the practice of Infusion nursing and quality of patient care through educational programming, mentoring, research, collaboration and networking. We hope that this website will contribute towards reaching that goal.

New England Chapter Celebrates IV Nurses Day

The New England Chapter held its January meeting on the evening of the 24th at the Common Market -Quincy in celebration of IV Nurses Day. A large group of over 50 attendees was welcomed by Chapter President Janet Mulligan, who reviewed the many successes of the 2011 programs and some of the plans for major activities in 2012.  In addition to the 37th annual seminar planned for September, Janet announced that the New England Chapter is currently putting together a Taskforce for Community Education, designed to address the growing demands for effective training courses in Infusion Therapy within the New England region.

Janet Mulligan

The feature presentation at the meeting was delivered by Kathryn McKinnon, Founder of McKinnon & Company, who shared her "10 Proven Time Management Strategies to Help You Create and Save More Time."   As an Executive Life Coach, Ms. McKinnon focuses on executive development and coaching for success among major corporate clients and is a best selling author of the book, Triple Your Time Today.

A truly  Renaissance person, Kathryn has a Harvard MBA, served as Harvard Business School Administrator and teacher, has 32 years of corporate and entrepreneurial business experience, while being a wife and mother of two teenagers, a Reiki Master, a professional singer and a jewelry designer.

The primary message of Kathryn's presentation is simply to effectively clarify your priorities, focusing on those things you can change and not overly stressing on the things you cannot change. The result is the ability to free up time each day to allow you take more satifaction in your life.

Featured Speaker Kathryn McKinnon and Chapter
Corresponding Secretary and Taskforce Committee Member
Pat Silva take a moment following the presentation

More details on Kathryn's messages are found in her publication, Triple Your Time Today,
which is currently available from Amazon.com in both hard-copy and Kindle format.

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Large Turnout for November Meeting in Quincy


Lauren Blough

Over 50 members enjoyed an excellent program on November 8 at the Common Market in Quincy.  The featured speaker was Lauren Blough, RN, BS, CRNI, who is clinical specialist and educator for the Venous Access Specialist Team at Florida Hospital in Orlando, Florida. Ms. Blough's topic was The Science of a Seal for PICC Line Management and was based on a study conducted by her team at Florida Hospital.

The VAS Team at the hospital identified an alternative to gauze sponges for PICC line management to improve patient outcomes and to achieve time and financial savings. The agent chosen was a product called BioSeal CVC, a topical powder made of a hydrophilic polymer and a potassium ferrate. The powder's mechanism of action forms an occlusive Seal to keep an access site dry and intact. The purpose of the study was to assess the ability of the Seal to achieve hemostasis and to eliminate typical 48-hour dressing changes.

Through the application of the Seal to all 418 PICC line insertions at the hospital as well as to occasional bleeding during dressing changes, fast hemostasis was achieved (2 minutes or less in 96% of applications, 48-hour dressing changes were eliminated, and  there was a 40% decrease in Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections (CRBSI). These results have since been documented in the Journal of the Association for Vascular Access.

A copy of the full presentation is available by clicking on the link below.

PICC Line Management Study   

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Successful 36th Annual Seminar in Waltham

On September 20, the New England Chapter held its 36th annual seminar at the Conference Center at  Waltham Woods. The theme this year, Beyond the Bedside: Implications for Infusion Nursing, offered excellent presentations by leading experts in the profession, including Maureen Kerrigan's Medicare 101 (Click Here for the Full Presentation)  

2011 Seminar Committee led by Jill Taylor (back row left) and
 Mary Ann DiStefano (third from left back row)

   

    Seminar Exhibits Play Key Role

Once again, the Vendors who exhibit at our Annual Seminar are a big part of our success.  The Seminar Committee appreciates all these people do to make the day a great educational experience for Infusion Nurses throughout New England.  For those of you who could not make this year's event, below is a list of the companies that supported us at this year's seminar, many of whom have been a part of the event year after year:

• Accuvein - Wayne Barrows
• Bard Access Systems - Chad Balog
• B. Braun Medical -Joanne Wetherbee
• BD Medical/Surgical Systems -Jayne Mazzaglia
• Carefusion - Kate Bowen
• Critical Care Systems - Marie King
• CSL Behring, LLC - Dave Colburn
• CW Medical Supply - Carolyn Lamothe
• Daikomyo Empowering Gems - Kathryn McKinnon
• Genentech - Colette Rogers
• Health Care Technolgy - William Coveney
• HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc. - Bob Magnoli
• Infusion Nurses Society - Jason Beal
• Johnson & Johnson Biopatch - Andrea White
• New England Medical Specialties, Inc. - Kevin Keaveney
• RyMed Technologies - Jason Ryan
• Smiths Medical - Bob Emerson
• Summit International Medical Technologies - Mike Merchant
• Teleflex, Inc. - David Cohen
  

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