Learning Center
The 2024 INS Standards: Focus on Patient Safety
Patient safety is a fundamental concept covered throughout the 2024 edition of the INS Standards. This session will specifically focus on key points regarding safety in vascular access device-related infection, phlebitis, and pain management for venipuncture and vascular access procedures as well as briefly discuss standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, and Aseptic Non Touch Technique (ANTT®). In this session, the speakers will introduce and provide an overview of these Standards with a focus on the practice recommendations.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, learners will be able to:
- Describe strategies designed to reduce the transmission of infectious agents between health care workers, patients, and the environment.
- Describe recommendations to reduce the risk for phlebitis.
- Summarize recommendations for assessing and addressing pain management in adult as well as pediatric populations.
Lisa Gorski, MS, RN, HHCNS-BC, CRNI®, FAAN
Lisa Gorski has worked for over 35 years as a clinical nurse specialist (CNS)/educator for Wheaton Franciscan Home Health and Hospice, now Ascension at Home. Lisa is the author of more than 70 book chapters and journal articles and is the author of several books. She has served as the INS president from 2007-2008 and as the chair of the INS Standards of Practice Committee from 2009 to 2021, and is the cochair for the 2024 Standards. She is also the leader of the INS Vesicant Task Force. She speaks nationally and internationally on standards development, home health care, and infusion therapy/vascular access.
Michelle DeVries, MPH, CIC, VA-BC, CPHQ, FAPIC
Michelle DeVries has been involved in infection prevention and hospital epidemiology for 30 years, spanning community, university, and federal health care facilities as well as postacute care settings. She is passionate about raising awareness around vascular access device complications and devotes her time to education on this topic with an emphasis on data collection and analysis. She was a reviewer for the 2016 and 2021 INS Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice and is now serving on the committee as an author for the 2024 Standards. She is a senior adjunct research fellow with the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research (AVATAR), a past director-at-large with Vascular Access Certification Corporation (VACC), and the president of the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) for 2024.