Association for Vascular Access Hosts Webinar on Building a Better Bundle

The Association for Vascular Access (AVA) will host a Webinar, “Building a Better Bundle,” on Aug. 13, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EDT.  The free Webinar is supported by an educational grant from Ethicon, Inc. and its BIOPATCH® protective Disk with CHG.

Featured speakers will be:

— Sophie Harnage, RN, BSN, clinical manager of infusion services at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, in Roseville, Calif. Under her leadership, Sutter developed a central line bundle that has completely eliminated catheter-related bloodstream infections (CR-BSIs) since January 2006. This achievement -- which encompasses more than 5,000 PICC line placements -- appears to be unprecedented in healthcare.

— Kathy McHugh, RN, BSN, CEO of AVA and a national leader in improving clinical practice and patient outcomes related to vascular access.

Many infection control experts believe that CR-BSIs are entirely preventable. The progress made at Sutter supports this point of view.

“The innovative bundle Sophie Harnage helped create has set a new standard for safe vascular access care and maintenance,” McHugh said.

Roughly 80,000 CR-BSIs associated with central lines occur in the U.S. every year. The infections are fatal in up to 25 percent of cases.

The AVA webinar is available free of charge. Those interested in attending can sign up at the AVA Web site at www.avainfo.org, after July 24, 2008.

Source: Association for Vascular Access