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G U E S T E D I T O R ’ S M E S S A G E

Darcy Doellman, MSN, RN, CRNI, VA-BC

Pedivan: Past and Present

elcome to your special, pediatrics-focused issue ofJournal of the Association for Vascular Access.

W Vascular access professionals working in pediatrics

are in an ideal position to develop, implement, and evaluatepractices related to vascular access for younger patients andtheir special needs. Research like the articles presented inthis issue not only contribute to the literature on this popula-tion, but also foster improved patient outcomes in clinicalpractice.

The goal of improving patient outcomes in pediatricvascular access is one shared and championed by Pedivan,a virtual special interest group (SIG) of the Association forVascular Access (AVA), which was launched in 2008 bya small group of AVA members (Doug Burns, MS, RN,HSA; Pat Catudal, BS, RN; Darcy Doellman, MSN, RN,CRNI, VA-BC; and Janet Pettit, DNP, NNP-BC, CNS, VA-BC). In addition to posting a resource library on the SIG web-page at www.avainfo.org, within Pedivan’s first year a 1-dayconference was held at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, andan author group was formed to write “Best Practice Guidelinesin the Care and Maintenance of Pediatric Central Venous Cath-eters” (available from the AVA website). These guidelineswere the first published document by an organization thatfocused specifically on central venous catheters and the pedi-atric population.

The Pedivan SIG continues to grow. During spring 2012,the group’s fourth annual conference was held in San Antonio,TX. This was a 2-day conference that included a faculty ofnational experts, a manufacturers’ exhibit hall, and clinicianattendees interested in vascular access for both adult and pedi-atric populations. This fall, Pedivan sessions will be integratedthroughout the AVA Annual Scientific Meeting at Gaylord

JAVA j Vol 18 No 2 j 2013

Opryland in Nashville, TN. A highlight willbe the premiere of the Pediatric Power Hour,an interactive session addressing currenttrends in pediatrics-specific vascular access.Additional session topics will include pediatriccentral venous catheter home care guidelinesand an overview of a national pediatric collab-

orative on reducing IV infiltration.

The group’s accomplishments would not have been possiblewithout the leadership of Pat Catudal. Pat, who has spent thepast 31 years at Tufts Floating Hospital for Children in Boston,MA, may be best known for developing a scoring tool forintravenous line insertion that was published in JAVA andadopted by many hospitals as a method to determine thedegree of difficulty and the appropriate practitioner fora planned intravenous line insertion in a young patient. Shehas been at the helm of Pedivan for 5 years. Her passion andexperience in pediatric vascular access have helped shape theSIG’s vision and voice.

This summer, the leadership teams of Pedivan and AVAwill have a joint retreat to review progress made to dateand identify priorities for the coming year. We hope tocontinue to produce collaborative projects that will posi-tively affect vascular access outcomes in infants and chil-dren. We welcome new members and innovative ideas aswe work toward broadening our reach and achieving newsuccesses.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.java.2013.04.005Copyright � 2013, ASSOCIATION FOR VASCULARACCESS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.