The society for vascular nursing (SVN) is in the midst of its 42nd Annual Conference at McCormick Place, West. The conference kicked off Wednesday morning with the Presidential Welcome from Kristen Alix, MS, ANPBC, AGACNP, CVN, and was followed by the keynote address, “Disrupting DEI in a disruptive environment,” delivered by Katie Boston Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC.
The conference’s education sessions continue to follow four different tracks: Breaking News in Vascular Care and Thoracic Aneurysms; Thinning it Out: Perioperative Considerations and Wound Care Basics, Stroke and Reaching your Vascular Summit; and Upgrades in PAD and Limb Salvage Care.
Alix stated that the education for this year’s program is “unmatched,” with a clinically diverse faculty from all over the U.S. and Canada.
“The conference has grown so much since I became a member and being more involved this year as SVN president has been a true highlight. I can’t wait to see what education and opportunities are brought forth in the years to come,” said Alix. The official SVN meeting program will wrap up today with a closing ceremony that includes “Best Of ” awards.
The available education for SVN attendees won’t end after the four tracks are covered. The SVN conference takes place alongside the VAM 2024. The two meetings have collaborated to offer an immersive program that will merge SVN with the SVS Physician Assistant’s (PA) Section.
The program, built for Advanced Practice Providers (APPs), kicked off on Wednesday evening with the return of Vascular Jeopardy, which first debuted at VAM 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. The game involved vascular nurses, APPs and PAs facing off in a jeopardy-style format answering questions about different cases and treatment of vascular patients.
The immersive program will resume this afternoon with a lunch coinciding with Vascular Team Talks that will be moderated by Suzanna Fitzpatrick, DNP, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC, immediately followed by an hour-long diagnostics session with Kate Carrato, from Advent Health. The remaining time will consist of a hands-on simulation program covering wound care and compressions, closures, vascular ultrasound and sclerotherapy. The last half hour of education will be spent covering Organizational Change by APP Impact, led by Alix, Matthew Smeds, MD, and Holly Grunebach, PA-C, MSPH. The evening will wrap up with a happy hour for all attendees.
The idea of the immersive APP program was generated for VAM 2023. “We realized that if we are working together on cases, it only makes sense for us to learn together at our annual meetings,” said SVS PA Section Chair Holly Grunebach, PA-C, MSPH. “Learning together helps us to develop skills as a team which then translates to more fluidity when it comes to patient care, which is something we all want.”
