Hello and welcome to the October issue of the Vascular Access eJournal.
I opened the last journal’s address with a Henry Ford quote about the success to be found in working together. I continue with the theme of collaboration in this edition, reflecting on several professional collaborations. Firstly, there is the success of the Society’s 2nd National Scientific Meeting in Perth earlier this year. This meeting represented a unique collaboration with the committee for the World Congress in Vascular Access (WoCoVA). AVAS sponsored key presenters from the WoCoVA faculty to present highlights from the 2016 Congress in Lisbon. Hence, the first meeting day had a distinctly International flavour (mirroring the Eurovision contest in the Northern Hemisphere, ha ha). The main AVAS Meeting* opened with passionate presentations from Professor Fiona Wood and Dr Vineet Chopra. We had 320 attendees from 17 countries, 65 presenters, 26 industry exhibits, and 1000 tweets in those few short days back in May! Thank you to all who contributed to the incredible vibe. We look forward to inviting you to the 2019 meeting.
Planning for the 2018 World Congress is well under way and date claimers circulated. The call for abstracts will be out soon. http://www.wocova.com/congresses/wocova-2018/
In September, I had the privilege of attending the 31st Association for Vascular Access (AVA) Annual Scientific Meeting. Everything is bigger in America and a sizeable crowd congregated in Phoenix to hear a wide range of presentations highlighting the successes and challenges within vascular access research and practice the past year. They encouraged delegates to Capture the Spiritand presentations focused on better patient assessment, vessel preservation, and demonstrating the value of the vascular access specialist. Congratulations to the conveners for a very well organised event that allowed for a positive atmosphere that was infectious (in a good way!). I had the pleasure of meeting one-on-one with newly installed CEO Ramzy Nasrallah and Director of Outreach Beth Gore. They are keen to create an alliance between associations globally so that we can more formally share some of our resources. With time, it may be that this alliance can extend support to vascular access practitioners in countries not as resource-rich as our own. Watch this space for developments.
Closer to home, we have been developing collaborations with the Intravenous Nursing New Zealand (IVNNZ) and Cancer Nursing Society Australia (CNSA). In the spirit of cooperation, AVAS has shifted to holding their National Meeting every other year opposite IVNNZ to optimise the opportunity for delegate and industry support for the respective group’s meetings. The 16th National IVNNZ Conference, with the theme Eruption of Latest Innovations in Infusion Practice, is scheduled for the 16–28 March 2018. The date claimer was in the IVNNZ September newsletter and the call for abstracts is out now https://www.ivnnz.co.nz/conference-2018/call-for-abstracts/
AVAS has also joined with CNSA to run pre-conference workshops at the society’s respective meetings to address the educational needs in vascular access and cancer care. Their annual conference will be held in Brisbane on 21–23 June 2018, focusing on Science, Symptoms and Service Delivery. https://www.cnsa.org.au/congressevents/cnsa-annual-congress At the end of the day, we are all interested in improving care and outcomes for patients and we have enhanced power to do this as a collective.
Finally, I would like to introduce you to the new team leading AVAS. My heir apparent, Mr Peter Carr, admirably fulfilled the role of Vice-President and Meeting Convener, but study and family responsibilities meant he was unable to take up the role of President. So, I remain the AVAS President for another couple of years, ably supported by a new executive and a mixture of new and established people across the board (as listed below). Our initial goals are to enhance the web footprint and educational offerings of the Society, collaborate with like-minded societies, look at credentialling of vascular access courses, and promote the Only One campaign message.
Looking forward to a productive and positive time ahead for AVAS.
Best wishes,
Sam
Samantha Keogh
AVAS President
*We plan to have podcasts of AVAS SM key presentations on the AVAS website very soon for you to enjoy again or as a sampler for those yet to attend a meeting!
“Those who have learnt to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” Charles Darwin
Author(s)
Samantha Keogh AVAS President Page 2