The following speech was delivered at the INS Annual Convention and Industrial Exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 30, 2012.
Good morning, friends and colleagues, and welcome to Las Vegas and the 2012 INS Annual Convention and Industrial Exhibition. For nearly 40 years, INS has served as the global authority in infusion therapy. Our history has provided a strong foundation that we have built upon and strengthened over 4 decades. During this time we have witnessed the growth not only of INS but of infusion nursing leaders as well. Both have generated a legacy of making a difference in the infusion nursing specialty. From 1973 through today, our legacy continues to evolve.
As we gather here today in Las Vegas it is important to look at where our legacy has taken us. From our very first meeting, where 17 nurses gathered for the purpose of organizing a professional association of registered nurses involved in the administration of intravenous therapy, to our signature event today where more than 1400 nurses have gathered to listen and learn from more than 70 infusion experts, INS carries its mark as the premier organization for the infusion profession. Our opinion is constantly sought, our voice is frequently heard, and our legacy continues to grow.
The past year we worked to evolve our legacy by contributing to our history, present, and future. "Evolving Our Legacy" comprised 5 areas of focus: (1) global continuum, (2) education, (3) infusion nursing roles, (4) improved patient outcomes, and (5) influencing health care systems. Each of these areas was explored in this year's INS Newsline President's Message column.
The vision of INS is to be recognized as the global authority in infusion therapy. Nowhere is INS' recognition as the global authority more evident than in our Standards of Practice translation program and our International Affiliate program. Last year several organizations expressed an interest in translating the revised Standards into their native languages. By the end of 2011, agreements had been signed to move forward with translating the Standards into Russian, Japanese, and Chinese.
The Infusion Nurses Society has established an International Affiliate program for professional nursing groups located outside the United States who have a shared interest in the specialty practice of infusion therapy. The goal of this program is to expand INS' influence and expertise abroad through collaborative relationships between INS and interested international parties. INS International Affiliates will be able to realize the benefits of being officially aligned with the authoritative voice of the infusion therapy specialty. Through this coalition, we can bring improvements to the specialty and those individuals requiring infusion therapy all over the world. Our International Affiliate program exploded last year with 6 new additions. Joining existing affiliates in Ireland/UK and Thailand were Russia, India, Colombia, New Zealand, Philippines, and Canada.
Both the translation program and the International Affiliate program are prime examples of how our name and influence on the infusion specialty continue to grow throughout the world. During this convention, you'll be able to attend a series of presentations on global infusion nursing issues.
Education is another area of focus throughout this past year. The mission of INS is to set the standard for excellence in infusion nursing. We do this in a variety of ways, each of which is based on our commitment to providing professional learning opportunities and quality education to our membership. Professional learning is a pillar of infusion nursing. From prelicensure programs to continuing education and lifelong learning, education is a hallmark of the infusion nurse. Each year INS participates in the nursing specialty showcase at the National Student Nurses Association. Not only do we provide information about infusion nursing as a specialty, but we also attend sessions with the future of nursing colleagues. The enthusiasm, professionalism, and commitment of these nursing students confirm that the evolution of our profession is solid.
Many of our members provide education to our nursing programs through participating as expert guest lecturers in laboratory and clinical infusion experiences. These activities ensure that nursing students are receiving the necessary education on infusion nursing as they embark upon professional licensure.
Our chapters continue to provide excellence through regular educational forums on a local and regional level. It was an honor to visit the Lower Columbia, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Jersey, Southeastern, and my home chapter, South Florida, this past year to share the presidential theme, "Evolving Our Legacy." Local chapters promote networking and involvement of nurses interested in providing optimal infusion nursing care. Two new chapters were granted charters this past year. We are pleased to have representatives from the Delaware Valley and South Florida chapters with us.
Advancement of science and technology within our specialty requires us to pursue continuing education. As we position our specialty for the future, advancing our practice is a vital component. Learning never stops. Professional learning allows us to be the drivers of expert care and promote best practices for optimum patient outcomes. Projection of infusion nursing roles for the future is critical for the evolution of our specialty. INS has assembled a task force group to analyze and evaluate these issues.
In keeping with our position as the global authority, we have created resources that are critical to infusion professionals. Nowhere is this more evident than in the development of the INS Knowledge Center, a one-of-a-kind, Web-based infusion resource. Innovation in technology, improvement through current information, and generation of knowledge through research all contribute to the body of infusion principles and practices. Technology affords us the ability to take advantage of education in all areas, and this is precisely what the Knowledge Center has done.
The Knowledge Center celebrated its 1-year anniversary on March 1. The number of people who have used it is staggering and continues to grow. More than 1400 people have participated in one of the many webinars that are offered through the Knowledge Center. One of the unique features and advantages of our webinar programming is its on-demand feature. Twenty-four hours after a live webinar is delivered, the archived on-demand version is available 24/7. This is the perfect delivery system for the education needs of the infusion nursing community who are on-demand, 24/7.
The Educational Programming and Educational Resources sections leverage educational offerings presented at live INS meetings and make them available on the same on-demand 24/7 basis. A variety of topics presented by experts in the infusion field give participants a wide range of options from which to choose.
One of the most talked-about features of the Knowledge Center is the Clinical Nursing Forum. The forum provides a portal for INS members to submit a clinical question that is answered by our infusion nursing experts. The exceptional feature of the forum is that you can conduct a search of our Q&A database by category or key word. This gives you the opportunity to see what questions have been asked about a particular topic and how those questions were answered. More than 1000 questions have been asked and answered since the Knowledge Center went live in March 2011.
We would like to express our sincerest thanks to B. Braun Medical for the financial support they have supplied in support of the Knowledge Center. Their funding enabled us to work with our technology partner to design, test, and implement this unique resource. Without B. Braun's support, the Knowledge Center would have been difficult, if not impossible, to create.
Technology has also found its way into INS' marketing efforts through quick-response or QR codes, mobile apps for our national meetings including INS 2012, electronic polls, online surveys, and digital publications. By using these tools, we are able to bring you information quicker and more efficiently. In this new world of rapid technological advances and dramatic shifts in health care delivery, INS continues to develop ways to bring you the information you need and deserve.
Whether your preferred method of communication is by computer, laptop, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Facebook, Twitter, fax, or mail, INS can reach you. And we can reach you quickly. Gone are the days of communicating exclusively by mail and waiting for the postal carrier to bring you the information you were looking for. In a matter of minutes, and in some cases seconds, INS can blast information and answers to its entire membership. Much like our Knowledge Center programming, our communication with our membership is on-demand, 24/7. The mobile app created for this meeting is just another example of our commitment to technology and to you.
INS also sets the standard for excellence in infusion nursing by advancing the specialty through evidence-based practice and research. As we continue to deliver the infusion information needed to advance our specialty, we must be cognizant not only of how we deliver it but also where we find it. This is done through evidence-based research. By conducting our own research and encouraging others in the field to do so, INS has made a commitment to seeking out evidence-based research that will help to guide our practice. This year INS agreed upon an initiative to form a Research Committee to provide support and education for our membership.
Each year, funding provided through the Gardner Foundation has allowed INS members to conduct this necessary research. In addition, this year we were fortunate to have the support of Smiths Medical, who provided funding that became the impetus for the creation of the INS Infusion Nursing Research Grant. The purpose of this grant is to support research related to infusion nursing practice and further infusion knowledge and evidence-based practice.
We also advance our mission by developing and disseminating standards of practice. Last year brought about a revision to the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice. This revision, with its evidence-based platform, continues to be a vital resource to the infusion community. Each INS member received a complimentary copy as a supplement to the January/February 2011 issue of the Journal of Infusion Nursing. In addition, nearly 8000 copies were sold in 2011.
In keeping with INS' commitment to technology, the Standards, along with the revised Policies and Procedures for Infusion Nursing, were made available in an e-book platform through vendors such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, OmniLit, Untreed Reads, and Sony.
INS also worked with our publisher, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, to make the Standards available through their Ovid subsidiary. Founded in 1988, Ovid was one of the first businesses to recognize the rapidly expanding capabilities of information technology. From its start helping librarians and researchers access and search Medline records, Ovid has grown into a world leader in information access providing electronic content, research capabilities, and support services to users worldwide.
In addition to the e-books and Ovid, the licensing program that INS developed several years ago is another way in which the Standardsof Practice is disseminated. One of our biggest success stories in 2011 was a license agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Library Network Office, which is accessible to 900 small clinics, 152 medical centers, and 60 000 nurses in the VA system. This program provides not only the necessary infusion information requested by the VA but also immeasurable exposure for INS and the Standards.
It is also imperative for us as infusion experts to not only acquire knowledge and information but to also impart it to other nurses, health care professionals, and the public. The power of knowledge is a critical component to evolving our legacy. INS continues to be recognized as the authority in infusion therapy by the many invitations to support position papers such as the Sharps Safety Consensus Statement and Call to Action, the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing's position statement on the role of the registered nurse in ambulatory care, and various papers prepared by the American Nurses Association (ANA). INS is involved with health care policies through involvement with ANA's Organizational Affiliates, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation Working Groups, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Practice Guidelines, and Food and Drug Administration task forces, to name just a few.
Our purpose of existence is to serve our ever-growing membership. In a time of intense market uncertainty, especially in the field of health care, it is difficult to believe that a professional association could experience a growth in membership. But INS has enjoyed that. It is almost impossible to believe that such growth would be sustained and record breaking, but INS has enjoyed that as well. For 8 consecutive years, INS has experienced triple-digit growth in membership. In the last 3 years alone, INS' membership has increased by nearly 900. This growth has been accomplished amid one of the most economically challenging times this country has seen. Yet, despite the uncertainty and the challenges that present themselves every day in the health care field, our membership has shown a commitment to INS and the infusion profession. You are to be commended and congratulated for helping to evolve our legacy.
On behalf of the entire INS Board of Directors, I would like to thank each of you for your commitment to INS and the infusion specialty. Your attendance at this meeting is testament to your dedication. Please know that the many successes that INS has enjoyed and our standing within the infusion community would not be possible without your help and your passion.
INS has generated a legacy of taking action to make a difference in infusion nursing. It is imperative that we continue to honor, practice, and foster that legacy by increasing our knowledge foundation, improving patient outcomes, and sharing our wisdom with future generations.
Thank you.