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CACCN - GEC Newsletter 1
CACCN
President’s MessageOur current president, Ellen Reil, currently works at the General Systems Intensive Care Unit at the University of Alberta Hospital as a Clinical Nurse Educator. She has a vast set of experiences to draw from, and strongly encourages RN’s to continue learning throughout their career.
Here are a few words from Ellen:
When mulling over what to write for the president’s message, Sara suggested I borrow from J. F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. So here goes – ask not what your CACCN can do for you, ask what you can do for your CACCN. Why that particular turn of words?
With the annual Dynamics convention here in Edmonton this September, there will be many opportunities to help make it a wonderful experience and successful venue. The planning committee has worked very hard and the brochures are out; check the Chapter News board at your facility.
The speaker line-up covers a wide variety of critical care nursing interests. Please contact the Greater Edmonton Chapter – we will pass on names to the Dynamics committee. Volunteering, even for a couple of hours will be a great help.
Also – another evening session has been organized for June 17 at The Upper Crust restaurant in Edmonton. A presentation on family presence during resuscitation should make for lively and stimulating discussion over coffee and dessert. I look forward to greeting many of you at this session and hope to see a large contingent at CACCN Dynamics this fall.
Ellen Reil
The Canadian Association of Critical Care Nurses - Greater Edmonton ChapterCommitted to assisting Critical Care Nurses reach their goals
President’s MessageEllen ReilEditorial on the importance of volunteerism within the CACCN, and the spirit of lending a hand.
Page 1
Update from Dynamics
A review from Dynamics 2009, submission by Tereza Coughlan from the UAH ICU
Page 2
Updates and Happenings
Dynamics 2010A poll for our membersCongratulations to ourretiree’s Page 3
Education EventsTurn to page 4 for an update of events and offers within the Greater Edmonton Chapter of the CACCN
Page 4
Around TownPictures, news, national update and contact information. Get it all here.
Page 5
Newsletter Spring/Summer 2010
"And so my fellow nurses, ask not what your CACCN can do for you; ask what you can do for your CACCN."~Ellen Reil/JFK
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CACCN - GEC Newsletter 2
Review from Dynamics 2009ByTereza Coughlan
OUTSIDE THE ICUVITAL SIGNS SCORING SHEET – “EARLY WARNING SYSTEM”
The topic of Medical Emergency Teams (or Rapid Response Teams) is consistently popular at Dynamics of Critical Care. The implementation and existence of emergency teams is often justified by claims that they significantly reduce “code blue” calls on the wards. This reduction in code calls usually also means an increase in admissions to critical care units. With considerable cost to implement and run, many hospitals simply do not have the budget or infrastructure for a dedicated emergency team.At Dynamics 2009 the Niagara Health System (NHS) from Ontario gave a very interesting presentation on a simple charting tool for ward nurses (it was adapted from similar ones used in the United Kingdom). This tool assists nursing staff to recognize a change in the patient’s status sooner, and therefore triggers the initiation of medical consultation and treatment. Based on the knowledge that cardiac arrests and ICU admissions are frequently preceded by failure to recognize deteriorating vital signs, and that early response is associated with improved outcome, the NHS developed a one-page vital signs graphic sheet that provides visual and number cues to the nursing staff with regard to the status of the patient. Color-coding complements the numerical/physiological assessment: white indicates normal parameters – yellow, orange and red represent vitals increasingly farther out of “normal” range. Each vital sign receives an individual score, which are tallied for an overall severity score. This number is then used to communicate the patient’s status. For example, the tool instructs the nurse to
contact medical help if a surgical patient scores>3 or a medical patient scores>5. The back of the sheet has two additional tools: a decision tree for accessing physicians and management (exactly who should be notified, based on the patient’s condition), and the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) communication tool as a prompt for relaying pertinent information quickly, concisely and effectively. Despite this tool appearing very simple, inexpensive (one double-sided sheet) and seemingly almost self-explanatory, the NHS has been unable to implement it for the following reasons: large estimated training costs ($250 000 – denied funding), lack of educators (one 0.7 ICU educator position for 3 hospitals), unionized environment challenges (managers not allowed to educate staff), and lack of funding and educator time to develop a computer-based training module.From an ICU perspective, this vital signs sheet may seem simplistic in that it resembles what we use every day. As ICU nurses we are of course generally quick to respond to changes in our patients’ status, whether it’s “just a gut feeling” or actual documented numbers. Ward nurses do not have the same time luxury with multiple patients, and may not have the same communication confidence with medical staff (hence the SBAR). A quantifiable number is documentation that gives the ward nurse the power to activate help sooner, and makes the attending more accountable if they do not respond in a timely fashion. What is most commendable is that the goal for development of this tool was to reduce the need for admission to critical care units, making it an ICU admission avoidance strategy.
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CACCN - GEC Newsletter 3
Dynamics 2010 Edmonton, Alberta
Changing Lives, Pushing Boundaries,
Striving for Excellence: The Power of Critical Care
September 19 - 21, 2010
Check out the Chapter Webpage @ www.CACCN.ca
Happenings & Updates from the CACCN-GEC
!
Do you enjoy the recent change in format for our educational sessions? 2 hour evening coffee/dessert sessions vs a whole day conference style session?Please send us an email to let us know? We value your feedback and want to provide you with the best sessions possible.Email Sara @ [email protected] with your response.
Bursary InformationRemember!! All members of CACCN Greater Edmonton Chapter are eligible to apply for bursaries of up to $250.00 to help pay for attendance at many educational events or conferences. The bursary guidelines are available on our website at www.caccn.ca , or contact a member of the executive.
Onwards and UpwardsA special note goes out to a long standing member of the CACCN; Irene Musyka, who has decided to retire after many years of dedicated service.Irene has worked in the ICU at the Royal Alexandra Hospital for many years and has held several positions during that time, from staff nurse, to Educator to Manager. She has mentored countless new critical care RN’s and raised the standard of care by leading by example. I was not able to recover the statistics to back up this next comment, however I don’t think Irene has missed a CACCN sponsored event, ever. Her smiling face seems to be present at each session/conference. Her dedication to continuing education is an inspiration for us all. We wish Irene all the best in her retirement years.Thanks goes out to this valued nurse and member of our association. You will be greatly missed.
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CACCN - GEC Newsletter 4
Educational Events
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
~Will Durant
Education under the STARS - An evening filled with friends, great food and a great topic of discussion This education session will be held at The Upper Crust Restaurant (109 St and 86 Ave)
June 17, 2010 with registration starting at 7:30 pm
The guest speaker is Kara Livy who will be guiding a discussion around the controversial topic of family presence during resuscitation.
An assortment of yummy desserts and refreshments will be served.
Space is limited so send your registration in ASAP
See the brochure sent out previously or visit our website for more info.
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CACCN - GEC Newsletter 5
Chapter Contacts♣! Past President: Charlotte Pooler
(C.C.I) Email: [email protected]
♣! President: Ellen Reil Email:
♣ Vice President: Twyla Spoke (RN, RAH CCU)
Email: [email protected]
♣! Secretary/Treasurer: Gwen Thompson (RN Mis ICU)
Email: [email protected]!♣! Newsletter: Sara Pretzlaff (CNE,
RAH ICU), Email: [email protected]
♣! Membership: Liane Manz (UM, RAH ICU)
Email: [email protected]
♣! Member at Large: Heather Colaco
! Email: [email protected] ♣ Website: Shane Heavener (Clinical
Nurse Educator Mis ICU) Email: [email protected]
♣! Liaisons: Elsie Boomer (SGH CCU), Sara Pretzlaff (RAH DICU), Edith Cooper (RAH PACU)
Around Town
From CACCN National OfficeThe Board of Directors held their 3 day board meeting this spring. At this meeting we said good bye to our outgoing president Cecilia Hyslop. Kate Mahon assumes the role of president for the upcoming 2 years. Teddie Tanguay became the vice-president and we welcomed a new member to the Board, Ruth Trinier who represents the central region of Canada. The major accomplishment of the past year was the revision of the Standards of Critical Care. We also created a New Vision, Mission and Strategic Plan, did news interviews regarding H1N1 with CBC and Canadian Medical Journal by members of the board, and did phase 2 completion of the website to name just a few. A few of the priorities for the upcoming year include improvements to the website such as changing password, participating in a National research study on nutrition and submission of abstracts online for Dynamics. Dynamics is an important event for CACCN and I am happy to say that it is being held in Edmonton this fall from September 19 to September 21, 2010. As the Dynamics chairperson I am excited to welcome our colleagues from across Canada to Edmonton. The planning for Dynamics is coming along nicely, the program has been set and the brochures have been sent out to the members and hospitals. As well, you can register on line beginning July 1, 2010. I look forward to seeing many of you at this conference. The Annual General meeting is being held at Dynamics September 19, 2010 at the Shaw Conference center. If you are unable to attend please send your proxy forms that can be obtained from the website or the Journal into National no later than midnight on September 13, 2010. It is important for your voice to be heard in the association by voting on matters at the AGM. As well there are 2 positions open for election this year for the Board of Directors. One of the positions is for the central region. The other position is an additional board position, in view of the increased workload on the CACCN Board. It was felt that to continue to be a strong voice for critical care we needed to have an additional member to meet the workload. This position does not represent a region in Canada, so anyone can submit their name for this position. If you are interested contact [email protected] for the nomination forms or visit the website. To quote Kate Mahon our president "Critical care nurses are recognized as strong leaders and highly respected by other health care colleagues for the skills, advanced knowledge and professionalism we bring to bedside care every day. Our patients lives depend on our collective wisdom and shared experiences. CACCN is the voice for critical care nursing in Canada. We want to hear fro you ....LOUDLY!! Find your voice! Talk to your colleagues Encourage them to join CACCN with you. Together we can change what needs to be changed. Although we are 1,110 members strong, we have the opportunity to represent the professional practice of thousands more critical care nurses in Canada, and we can only do that by increasing our membership so our voices grow louder and stronger together. Like the Olympic message...Believe!Teddie Tanguay RN, MN, NP CNCC(C)Vice-President, CACCNWestern Region
February Education Night Review The Education evening held on February 10, 2010 at The Upper Crust
was a great success. Dr. Evan Lockwood presented “The Beat Goes On” a very informative discussion on indications for pacemaker use and
different types of devices that are available today. He introduced bi-ventricular pacing and spoke about the benefits for patients. A great big
THANK YOU goes out to Dr. Lockwood, the staff at the Upper Crust Cafe and all of the executive members that made this night possible.
