Setting the Standard for Infusion Care"-INS lives by those words. Our mission calls us to take seriously the responsibility of educating infusion therapy professionals and providing resources so you can deliver safe infusion care. That's why we publish and revise the vitally important Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice regularly.
You'll notice that the name of our document is no longer the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice. As our specialty has evolved, it has become clear that infusion care is performed not only by nurses but also by all clinicians involved in the practice, and it is INS' charge to see that all infusion therapy professionals are competent in the specialty. By changing the title of the Standards for 2016, we acknowledged the interprofessional nature of today's health care delivery system.
The revision of the Standards of Practice has always been necessary because our scope of practice has greatly expanded over the years since we first published Venipuncture Hyperalimentation Standards with the NITA Journal in 1981. The broadening of our scope of practice means that infusion therapy has gone well beyond placing short peripheral catheters; nurses are now placing central vascular access devices. The growth of the drug industry, advancement of evidence-based practice, and rapid progression of technological changes have created new levels of knowledge and skills that must be incorporated into our everyday practice.
The Standards offers a solid foundation for our practice as we constantly strive to provide the best care and positive outcomes for our patients. The rankings of the strength of the body of evidence in the document demonstrate that rigorous research is being conducted in the field of infusion therapy, leading to those better patient outcomes. The new Standards cites 350 more references than the 2011 edition, just one indication of the growing influence of our specialty in the literature. And if you happen to notice any gaps in the coverage of the Standards, then you have a chance to do your own new research, share your findings in the Journal of Infusion Nursing, and have your work cited in the next revision of the Standards.
I am tremendously grateful to the members of the Standards of Practice Committee, experts in the field led by Chair Lisa Gorski, MS, RN, HHCNS-BC, CRNI(R), FAAN, for the work they did to develop this latest edition of the Standards -poring over the research, critically analyzing it, and ranking the level of the best available published research. Special thanks also go to BD Medical-Medical and Procedural Solutions for once again providing the educational grant to support this important endeavor.
Use the Standards as the framework for your practice and promote it to your colleagues. Working together to provide safe, quality infusion care can only benefit our patients.
Mary Alexander, MA, RN, CRNI(R), CAE, FAAN