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Blog
Letter from the President 2024
Sometimes (often), we set out on a journey accidentally. One step leads to the next and the next. Before we register to take the certification exam, we have worked within the specialty for some time; yet even with that experience under our belts, we...
Published: Friday, May 24th, 2024
Vascular Access Specialty Day Brings VA-BCs to the Forefront
As the specialty of vascular access grows, so does the need to spread awareness of safe vascular access practice to clinicians outside of the specialty. Angela Colmenero, RN, VA-BC™, saw Vascular Access Specialty Day as an opportunity to accomplish...
Published: Friday, May 24th, 2024
Is Board Certification Right for You?
You are an experienced clinician, with a solid working knowledge of what you do and confidence in your ability to do your job. So, what’s next for your career? How do you know if an additional board certification is the right path for you? Chris...
Published: Friday, May 24th, 2024
The Hidden Role of Pharmacists in Vascular Access
When we say that vascular access takes a team, we mean it. It takes floor nurses, interventional radiologists, physicians, infection preventionists, and more just within the hospital. When a patient goes home with their device, the patient or their caregivers...
Published: Friday, May 24th, 2024
Going the Extra (Thousand) Miles for Patient Care
Over one thousand miles from home, two VA-BC™s met to save a life. After months of repeated line complications, April Winborne’s, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CPUI, VA-BC™, patient was running out of options for chemotherapy infusions. He had an occluded...
Published: Tuesday, December 5th, 2023
VA-BC™ Spotlight: Dana Baker
In the short walk out of the testing center to her car, Dana Baker, MSN, RN, CRNP, VA-BC™, received the passing result of her June 2023 Vascular Access Board Certified™ exam. She immediately shared the news with friends, family, and coworkers. Now,...
Published: Tuesday, December 5th, 2023
Physician Perspective on Finding Vascular Access
Early on in his career, Dr. Jack LeDonne, MD, FACS, VA-BC™, was confident in his ability to do blind sticks based on anatomical landmarks. In his mind at the time, using ultrasound to place lines was unnecessary, if you knew what you were doing. What...
Published: Friday, December 1st, 2023
From Infusion to Innovation: Creating a Vascular Access Team from Scratch
For two years, Chris Jungkans, BSN, RN, CPUI, VA-BC™, dodged his coworker’s urges to take his skills in the outpatient infusion department a step further: learning peripherally inserted central catheters. When he finally agreed—more for his...
Published: Thursday, May 18th, 2023
Through Degrees and Specialties, Doctor Channels Vascular Access Roots
When Dr. Kerry Kennedy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, ACHPN, VA-BC™, started her journey as an LVN working on a cardiac step-down unit in 2001, she quickly figured out how integral vascular access was to almost every aspect of health care. “Back in the...
Published: Saturday, May 13th, 2023
Vascular Access: The World's Best Kept Secret?
When Turena Reeves, BSN, RN, VA-BC™, applied for a job as a vascular access nurse in the 1970s, she thought it would be an easy job while she raised her kids. After all, she thought, what is so difficult about getting a call, inserting a line,...
Published: Wednesday, December 14th, 2022
Vascular Access Nurse Writes Book for Pediatric Patients
In early 2020, Jackie Lutes, BSN, RN, CPN, VA-BC™, took up her pen and wrote a children’s booklet to make getting a vascular access device easier for her pediatric patients. While working the evening shifts on her vascular access team, Jackie...
Published: Sunday, December 11th, 2022
Escaping From the Island and Other Ways to Promote Multidisciplinary Vascular Access
After completing a degree or certification, many health care professionals take pride in adding credentials like “RRT,” “RN,” “PA-C” or “MD” to their name. Keegan Mahoney, BS, RRT, VA-BC™, however, raises the question: What if some...
Published: Monday, May 30th, 2022
VA-BCs Find Their Voice Through Volunteering
Do you know what a stem is when it comes to test development? What about what we mean when we reference an “item”? If these terms are familiar to you, you have probably been involved with some form of creating an exam like the VA-BC™. If...
Published: Friday, May 6th, 2022
A Whole New Ballgame: RRTs Step Up to the Vascular Access Plate
Registered respiratory therapists (RRTs) have been breaking onto the vascular access scene in recent years, but for Vicente Lopez, RRT, VA-BC™, it’s been part of his job for nearly two decades. “I was doing PICC lines before we had ultrasound...
Published: Thursday, May 5th, 2022
Shaping Today, Leading Tomorrow
According to research by New American Economy, more than one in five physicians and one in 11 nurses in the U.S. are Asian American or Pacific Islander. Even within VACC, around 12% of all VA-BC™s are Asian American or Pacific Islander. VACC is celebrating...
Published: Thursday, May 5th, 2022
Madigan Army Medical Center Certifies Nearly Half Its 60-Person Vascular Access Team in June 2021
In the fall of 2020, Caryn Green, BSN, RN, CRNI, VA-BC™, encouraged three vascular access nurses to register for the December VA-BC™ exam. Green is the Vascular Access Manager at Madigan Army Medical Center, responsible for administering patient...
Published: Friday, November 5th, 2021