This CE offering outlines strategies to maintain and restore central venous catheter (CVC) and peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) patency. CE credits are available for nurses (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires December 31, 2011.

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This webcast will look at the connection between catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) and thrombosis. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.25 contact hours) upon completion. The program expires December 1, 2010.

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This CE offering lists the safety benefits of different types of closed system transfer devices for IV chemotherapy administration/preparation equipment. CE credits are available for pharmacists/pharmacy technicians (1.0 contact hour) and nurses (1.5 contact hours) upon completion. This program expires November 30, 2010.

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• This Web site has been designed specifically for the purpose of providing educational materials related to the 2009 Consensus Conference on the prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). This conference was held in October 2009 over an intensive 1.5 days with experts from around the country whose goal was to develop strategies to assist in the prevention of HAIs

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• These programs (webcast and monograph) both discuss the problems faced by clinicians of obtaining good glycemic control in post surgical/post trauma patients. The two presenters compare the use of paper-based protocols with computer-guided glucose management systems to monitor glycemic levels and determine appropriate dosage levels of insulin for critically ill patients. The discussion also explains the importance and benefits of a team approach to good glycemic control for this patient population.

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• This educational activity will describe the implementation of a computerized program for glycemic control in a 10-bed Medical ICU and 18-bed Surgical/Trauma ICU at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, Fla. The author, Sara Thrower, will describe the rationale for and process engaged in changing from a paper protocol system to a software program. Challenges, derived lessons, and chance outcomes will also be described.

This CD focuses on the safe and effective use of Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA). It will cover PCA patient selection, potential failure points in the PCA process and the Failure Mode & Effect Analysis (FMEA) application. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires December 31, 2011.

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This monograph describes the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report Preventing Medication Errors on infusion therapy and the current state of "intelligent" pump use in U.S. hospitals. CE credits are available for pharmacists (1.5 contact hours) and nurses (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires May 1, 2010.

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• This knowledge-based CE activity features the evolution of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) over the last 25 years. The expert faculty will present risk-management techniques using technology, standardization, and data analysis. They will also discuss PCA compared with other pain-management methods, integration with other protocols and systems, and appropriate use of data to enhance patient care. This presentation focuses on the collaborative partnership between disciplines, particularly nursing and pharmacy. Regardless of an organization's level of technology, such partnerships are essential to advance the use of PCA safely in the acute-care and ambulatory environments

This monograph was created from a live speaker symposium at the 2008 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting. The monograph describes the lessons learned from implementing intelligent infusion technology, outlines the drug library development process, explains how data reports improve compliance, medication administration practices and quality of care and gives strategies for the clinician to optimize patient care. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.5 contact hours) upon completion. This program expires February 23, 2012.

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This CE opportunity will familiarize nurses with 21st century “intelligent” technology that can help enhance patient safety and provide nurses an understanding of the types of errors taking place with medication administration. Examples of how to make a business case for today’s “intelligent” technologies will be addressed. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires November 30, 2010.

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This monograph describes how hospitals are collecting real-time data that can provide clinicians with safety information on patients’ intravenous medication therapy. It describes how to develop a collaborative approach for implementation and maintenance of technology to improve patient care. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.5 contact hours) upon completion of the test. This program expires November 11, 2011.

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This CE offering outlines the advantages and disadvantages of available technologies designed to reduce the risk of medication errors as well as how to develop an implementation plan for intelligent infusion technology. It describes the role of the health-system pharmacist and data generated by medication administration technologies quality improvement strategies to minimize medication errors. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.5 contact hours) upon completion of the test. This program expires on March 10, 2011.

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This CE offering takes a closer look at what you need to know about wireless IV infusion technology — what it is, how it works and what it takes to secure your system. This information helps one make important hospital technology decisions. CE credits are available for nurses and pharmacists (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires July 1, 2010.

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This monograph describes the recommendations of the 2006 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on preventing medication errors that relate to infusion therapy and "intelligent" pump technology. CE credits are available for pharmacists (1.5 contact hours) and nurses (1.0 contact hour) upon completion. This program expires May 1, 2010.

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This CD defines intelligent infusion technology, describes the main components of an intelligent infusion system and the potential benefits of intelligent infusion technology to patient safety. This program also identifies the “5 Rights” of medication safety and the responsibilities of the pharmacist and nurse in implementing an intelligent infusion system. CE credits are available for pharmacists and nurses (2.0 contact hours) upon completion. This program expires February 28, 2011.

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• This program examined the challenges that institutions face of eliminating preventable medication errors and described some of the technological advances to help in reducing these potential errors. The two speakers also discussed how they established a bar code point-of-care (BPOC) system in their respective organizations. Finally, they were able to identify the clinical and some financial benefits of the automated medication administration by highlighting improved patient outcomes.

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• This educational activity will describe the experiences and lessons learned with the implementation of intelligent infusion technology. The author, Jackie Estok, will discuss the importance of creating a safe IV administration environment for clinicians at the bedside, as well as physicians and patients. She will also describe how data collected with this technology is used in the improvement of safe bedside IV administration

• The focus of this activity is to provide an overview of best practices in using technologies with point-of-care decision support and the impact that integration and implementation of such technology can have on medication-use and ultimately patient safety. It is imperative, that health-system pharmacists remain abreast of new and evolving tools and technologies that can improve clinical outcomes in their patients.
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• This program will provide pharmacists with practical methods for minimizing potential IV medication errors by identifying risk points in the medication management system. Strategies for managing these risk points will be discussed as well as the sharing of successful practices that have been demonstrated to enhance safety in various organizations around the country.
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• To view FREE on-demand Webcast, please click on link below: www.aacn.org/CEHospira2009
• The selection of analgesic and sedative medications is an essential component in the care of the critically ill patient. The art of balancing patient comfort and ventilatory optimization is challenging and requires knowledge of all agents being used to prevent oversedation. An overview of the pharmacokinetic, cardiorespiratory, clinical and CNS effects of the current analgesic and sedative agents will be presented. Objective tools that measure pain, anxiety and delirium will be discussed.

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• This program was adapted from the live speaker symposium at the 2009 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Annual Meeting and will discuss the importance of the interdisciplinary team and ways to optimize nurse-physician interaction in patient care and will help identify common factors that influence successful balance between patient comfort and optimal ventilation.

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• After viewing this webcast you should be able to identify the appropriate use of sedation for critical care patients based on responses to case-based questions, review the indications for sedative and analgesic agents and examine the structured approaches to managing sedation and analgesia in the ICU.

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• Evaluate the implications of developing delirium in the ICU, assess the risk factors and prevention techniques for various ICU patient populations, and describe the new pharmacological options for management of delirium in the ICU.

• It is commonly known that hospitalization costs for patients in the ICU are significantly higher than for patients on general patient care units. Drug costs are also higher for ICU patients that non-ICU patients. Pharmacoeconomic challenges continue to face health system pharmacists caring for patients. Highlights from the literature showcasing the importance of potential methods for analyzing drug therapy costs in ICU patients are presented with a focus on sedation.
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