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Thank you for joining us in Indianapolis for the 2001 INS Annual Meeting and Industrial Exhibition. This is the time for us to celebrate the remarkable progress and achievements of the past year, while laying the foundation for the year to come. It is my pleasure to review all that our members, leaders, partners, and staff have accomplished since we met in Minneapolis last spring.
This meeting marks a major milestone in the life of INS, as you all know. We are changing our name to Infusion Nurses Society. It is important that our identity truly reflect who we are, especially in this time of rapid changes in healthcare. Over the last several months, we found that infusion more closely represents the scope of our nurses' practice. We will officially roll out our new name at the Opening Session. I believe we have succeeded in both preserving our valued traditions and stepping forward into an exciting future.
Membership recruitment and retention efforts continue, and we have been gratified by steady membership rolls since June. Currently, we have 5400 members. We strive to strengthen the value of membership with benefits such as discounts on publications, meeting registrations, and certification fees; early notification of educational opportunities; and free bimonthly delivery of Newsline and the Journal of Intravenous Nursing. The National IV Nursing Network, another exclusive membership benefit, provides answers to members' clinical questions, handling an average of 15 calls a day.
Our marketing efforts will be greatly assisted by the results of the Allegiance for Associations survey. This segmentation and target-marketing program will tell us how individual members would like to interact with us and what communications they prefer to receive. Using this data we can target our marketing efforts, sending each member the information she or he most wants. We also will be able to identify those members who are willing to take a more active role in the Society on a national level. We will be able to identify future INS leaders.
The Web site (http://www.ins1.org) continues to be an essential point of contact for members and others interested in our activities. The site hosts an average of 13,400 user sessions each month and 1000 page views each day. Online transactions such as product purchase, membership application, and meeting registration are now possible. Most INS activities and announcements, including educational programs, Local Chapter meetings, election results, and recent publications, appear on the Web site. The site also provides links to industry partners through the Virtual Exhibit hall.
Publications have remained strong this year. The latest edition of the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice was published in November 2000 as a supplement to the Journal of Intravenous Nursing. Every member of INS received a complimentary copy. The new edition represents 2 years of intensive research and revision conducted by the INS Standards of Practice Committee. It features updated references and a new, accessible format that complements other INS publications, most notably Policies and Procedures for Infusion Nursing. Another key resource for IV nursing also underwent a long-awaited revision: the second edition of the INS textbook was published in February 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company. It has been renamed Infusion Therapy in Clinical Practice. The four editors and the more than 30 expert contributors revised and updated the material to reflect the most current thinking and practice. New chapters have been added to reflect the expanding role of the infusion nurse and the many new applications of infusion therapy.
We have been bolstered by strong sales and positive reviews for our publications this year. Sales of the Polices and Procedures manual have been much higher than expected, with large orders still coming in from prominent healthcare organizations across the country. The second edition of the Core Curriculum for Intravenous Nursing received a favorable review in the Journal of Emergency Nursing. The PICC Education Module is sought after as a valuable teaching tool. To further promote our major publications, we began running a series of colorful ads in the Journal of Intravenous Nursing. The "We Wrote the Book" campaign highlighted the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice, PICC Education Module, Policies and Procedures, Core Curriculum, and INS textbook. The ads will continue to appear in the Journal throughout the rest of 2001.
The Journal itself will undergo a change this year. As of the July/August 2001 issue, it will be known as the Journal of Infusion Nursing. With a new name, a new design, and a new mission statement, the Journal will continue to present high-quality articles on the latest infusion-related research, techniques, and technology, as well as specialized information and educational opportunities in the form of Special Focus Issues, supplements, and the continuing education testing program. This year we added the "Test Your Knowledge" feature, which helps readers prepare for the CRNI Certification Examination by presenting sample questions drawn from each core area. We had Special Focus Issues on Hematology and Fundamentals of IV Nursing. A special supplement issue based on the one-day educational program presented with the 1999 National Academy was published with the September/October 2000 Journal, and also featured the latest installment of the continuing education testing program. Another supplement, based on the one-day program in Chicago last August, will accompany the May/June issue and will include another CE test. The CE test has proven to be a popular means of earning recertification units toward the CRNI credential: 172 CRNIs participated in the Journal CE program in the year 2000.
INS National Meetings provide high-caliber educational programming, networking opportunities, and a way of promoting INS' mission and values among the broader healthcare community. The one-day program in Chicago, entitled "Infusion Nursing Responsibilities in the Management of Vascular Access Devices in the Alternate Care Setting," was presented in conjunction with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Home, Hospice, and Long-Term Care 2000 Conference. This was INS' third successful collaboration with ASHP on an educational program. Genentech, Inc., sponsored the program as well as the Journal supplement that was published with the May/June issue. The second one-day program of last year, "Needlestick Safety Issues in Infusion Therapy," was sponsored by Abbott Laboratories and presented in conjunction with the 2000 Fall National Academy of Intravenous Therapy in Orlando. We also will offer a one-day program on the day before the 2001 National Academy in Dallas; this one will focus on nursing implications of immunoglobulin therapies and will be sponsored by Bayer Corporation. We are planning to collaborate with the National Home Infusion Association on their 2002 Annual Meeting, which will allow us to reach out to another segment of the infusion community.
The INS Local Chapters continue to offer membership and educational opportunities to infusion nurses on the local level. This year, I had the pleasure of attending meetings of the New England, Rhode Island, and Connecticut Chapters and presenting at the North Carolina Chapter. Membership in a Local Chapter offers an exceptional opportunity to network with other IV professionals and discuss everything from new technology to employment opportunities. Local Chapters also host a variety of educational programs, many of which offer continuing education units. Our Regional Liaison program provides a link between the National Office and Chapters within each geographical area. INS members and all infusion professionals are encouraged to join or start a Local Chapter in their region.
On January 25, many Local Chapters marked this year's IV Nurse Day with celebrations and special events around the country, bringing infusion professionals together and helping to raise awareness of the specialty. Many celebrants purchased T-shirts and tote bags with the slogan "IV Nurses: Making a World of Difference," and provided INS with a source of non-dues revenue.
In March, we saw the results of INS' first original research project published in the Journal of Intravenous Nursing. The study compared catheter-related complication rates associated with infusion devices placed by infusion nurses to those associated with devices placed by generalist nurses. This type of outcomes research is one of INS' strategic plan initiatives. Research is needed to validate "best practice," or else to indicate the need for a change in practice. At the yearly focus group held at Annual Meeting, members are invited to share their ideas for new research projects and discuss ways of using research to improve patient care.
In this time of rapid healthcare changes and heated political debate, it is important for INS to become involved in healthcare policy making and educate our members about political issues. We have developed a partnership with Craven and Ober Policy Strategists to help us in this area. Craven and Ober prepares a regular column for Newsline, called "IV PUMP: Politically Useful Messages for Practicing Nurses," which made its debut in the March/April 2001 issue. They are also helping us address our strategic plan initiatives related to increasing INS' legislative awareness.
Collaborative efforts with other healthcare organizations are essential to INS' growth. We submitted a proposal to the 2002 American Nurses Association convention for a presentation entitled "The Cost of Infusion Therapy: Clinical Expertise, Supplies, Complications, and Legal Issues." We are sponsoring two focus sessions at the 2002 National Student Nurses Association Golden Anniversary Convention. Our program will be directed toward both nursing school students and alumni. INS will present an overview of peripherally inserted central catheters at the annual meeting of the Emergency Nurses Association in September. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is another key partner. INCC Chairman Sharon Weinstein and I met with Dr. John Noble, Chair of the Board of Commissioners, to discuss such areas of mutual interest as competency, compliance with standards of practice, and patient safety. INS also has been in discussions with Joint Commission Resources to identify potential collaborative educational programs and products. The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition was invited to help develop this meeting's parenteral nutrition focus sessions; in turn, we reviewed their standards of practice for nutrition support nurses. We were a sponsoring organization in the revision of the "Guidelines for Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections," authored by a working group representing nine professional organizations and led by the Society of Critical Care Medicine. We also reviewed the "Guidelines for the Management of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections," which were prepared jointly by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. This document was reprinted in the May/June issue of the Journal of Intravenous Nursing.
INS' presence on the World Wide Web is expanding as we are cited and used as a resource by healthcare sites. The Nurses.com Web site continues to feature infusion nursing questions and answers from the National IV Nursing Network, as well as questions submitted by their readers and answered by our infusion experts. INS and the Standards of Practice were cited on the icanPREVENT Web site in an article about the new chlorhexidine skin preparation product.
INS also offers its expertise in the form of consultation services to other organizations. This year, we consulted on video productions and nursing school educational programs, and we reviewed and evaluated products for manufacturers. We responded to the well-known article on infusion pump errors published in the Chicago Tribune. Our letter to the author, Michael Berens, referenced the Standards and discussed the value of certification and competency validation for practitioners of infusion therapy.
In keeping with our global mission, INS remains strong on the international stage. Brenda Dugger's trip to Japan was a great success. I traveled to Dublin, Ireland in September to participate in a meeting of the International Society for Quality in Health Care. With Sharon Weinstein as moderator, I presented on a panel with Michael Cohen of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Ronni Solomon of ECRI, Irish pharmacist Tim Delaney, and Oksana Chekaeda from the Russian Federation. The panel was called "Reducing Error and Improving Patient Safety: Clinical Risk Management Tools for Quality-Medication Safety." In June 2000, I made a trip to several cities in China sponsored by an educational grant from BD. I spoke to the nurses there about infusion nursing as a specialty. The Chinese nurses showed great interest in how infusion therapy is performed in the United States and are looking to form their own infusion nursing associations. I returned to China this May for another round of presentations covering such topics as quality management and pediatric and geriatric infusion therapy. INS will be represented at the International Council of Nurses meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark this June. Along with proposals submitted by Sharon Weinstein and several foreign colleagues, an abstract, "International Efforts at Reducing Sharps Injuries," was selected for presentation in addition to a panel entitled "An International Approach to Medication Safety: Effect on Patient and Caregiver," sponsored by Ethicon Endo-Surgery Vascular Access.
The Intravenous Nurses Certification Corporation complements the mission of INS by ensuring the clinical eligibility and competency of nurses holding the CRNI credential and promoting the value of credentialing to the healthcare community. This year, INCC completed its job analysis and role delineation study of the infusion nursing specialty. The job analysis, which was funded by Bayer Corporation and conducted by Applied Measurement Professionals (AMP), defined the current responsibilities of nurses practicing infusion therapy. A task force of registered nurses and CRNIs has evaluated the data and revised the CRNI Certification Examination content to better reflect the infusion specialty of today. In March, the RN Examination Council met at AMP headquarters in Kansas to complete the Angoff study, which determines the cut score for the Certification Examination.
This year, INCC became a member of the American Board of Nursing Specialties, a membership organization for nursing certification bodies that advocates for consumer protection by establishing and maintaining standards for professional nursing certification. As a member of the Nursing Credentialing Research Coalition, INCC participated in the International Study of the Certified Nurse Workforce, a study of 19,452 certified nurses from the registries of 23 credentialing organizations. The results of stage 3 of the study were published in the January 2001 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, with stages 4 and 5 to follow. The study identified many demographic and characteristic trends among certified nurses. It is heartening to learn that 72% of these nurses reported one or more benefits of certification and almost all said that certification brought about at least one change in their practice.
The composition of the INCC Board is changing this year. Paul Creager resigned after 10 years on the Board as the Public Member; he was the first INCC member to be named. Chairman Sharon Weinstein is transitioning off the Board after serving a 2-year term. Ann Corrigan has been appointed Chairman Elect, and Maxine Perdue will assume the position of Chairman at the June INCC Board Meeting.
The certification program is being restructured this year, in keeping with changing demand. Only one exam, rather than two, will be held in 2001. There also will be one Board meeting and one RN Examination Council meeting. New activities have been planned at this Annual Meeting to support nurses' interest in becoming certified. A workshop on the exam was held, and sample tests will be administered at the INCC booth. We continue to seek new ways to promote and support infusion credentialing.
The Gardner Foundation grows again this year, offering a record total of ten scholarship and research grant awards. We have increased our efforts to promote the Gardner Foundation programs as a member benefit and encourage members to submit applications. Melanie Barstad, Vice President and General Manager of Vascular Access for Ethicon Endo-Surgery, was appointed to the Gardner Foundation Board of Directors.
As we reflect on the accomplishments of this year, let us remember that they are the result of much hard work and dedication. I thank our members, our leaders, our industrial sponsors, and our organizational partners for all their contributions and support. Great changes are dawning for INS, and with your help, we will become even stronger as the century progresses. I believe that, as the Infusion Nurses Society, INS will continue to be a leader in the specialty, standing for excellent care for patients and excellent professional opportunities for nurses. I look forward to many more achievements in the coming year.
2000 FINANCIAL REPORT
INS remained financially strong in the year 2000. Results of the 2000 financial audit reveal that the organization collected revenues of two million fourteen thousand five hundred seventy dollars ($2,014,570) and disbursed two million nine hundred seventy-nine dollars ($2,000,979) for an increase in net assets from operations of thirteen thousand five hundred ninety-one dollars ($13,591).
Total overall revenues decreased by 2.6% over 1999. Membership revenue decreased by 7% while meeting revenue decreased by 11.4%. However, publications revenue and investment income both increased by 30%. Strong financial controls remained in place throughout the year, which resulted in an 8% decrease in operating expenses.
An expense of six hundred sixty-eight thousand and fifty-five dollars ($668,055) was incurred as a result of a write-off of debt owed by INCC. This amount represents the accumulation of loans made by INS to INCC over the past several years. After a review of current and predicted conditions, the INS Board of Directors voted to retire the debt. This transaction has been recorded as an extraordinary item for the year 2000.
The Society continued its fundraising efforts on behalf of the Gardner Foundation. Assets totaled ninety-five thousand dollars ($95,000) as of December 31, 2000. Additions to the funds amounted to sixteen thousand dollars ($16,000) with expenditures of twenty-one thousand dollars ($21,000).
In conclusion, an independent accounting firm audited the Intravenous Nurses Society financial statements as of December 31, 2000 and issued a clean opinion.
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