Eiler Success Stories

AVA (Association for Vascular Access)

Background
The Association for Vascular Access (AVA) includes healthcare professionals from multiple disciplines across the world. It was founded in 1985 to promote the emerging vascular access specialty. Today, its over 2,000 members advance research, professional and public education to shape practice and enhance patient outcomes, and partner with the device manufacturing community to bring about evidence-based innovations in vascular access.

The AVA mission is to improve patient safety, comfort and outcomes; define the vascular access specialty; promote a favorable public policy environment; optimize professionals’ knowledge and skills; share best practices; and promote research in vascular access.

Primary 2010 Initiatives
Creation of Vascular Access Certification Corporation.
The Vascular Access Certification Corporation (VACC) is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the validation, through certification, of a specialized body of knowledge for all professionals working in the field of vascular access.

The certification through VACC will be multidisciplinary in scope to include the broad range of health care professionals and clinicians actively engaged in the practice of vascular access. AVA is the first organization to offer this type of certification. Candidates for certification will include (but not be limited to):

• Registered Nurses • Advanced Practice Nurses • Physicians, • Physician Assistants, • Radiology Professionals, • Cardiovascular Professionals • Respiratory Care Professionals, • Licensed Practical (or Vocational) Nurses, • Other Clinicians actively engaged in the practice of vascular access

Conduct annual scientific conference to present the latest techniques and methodologies that have been developed by vascular healthcare professionals.

Participate in the first International Scientific Conference in Amsterdam, WoCoVA.
Situation

AVA is well known across the healthcare field as the organization that has led professional development of vascular access technology in the 25 years since its inception.

Among its major current initiatives are:

Supporting development of the standards of practice for all healthcare professionals practicing vascular access technology.

Building expanded members through offering one-source for all professional practice standards.

Training vascular access professionals in new techniques, technologies and standard practices.
Challenge

AVA needed to communicate regularly and effectively with its constituents in multiple disciplines: vascular access physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and technicians across the U. S. and foreign nations.

They wanted to increase their membership, attendance at their annual scientific conference and raise the visibility of the organization. Members are located in healthcare centers in all 50 states as well as medical-device companies in many states and foreign nations.

We developed an enhanced web site and new-media techniques that allowed members instant access to the organization’s information and announcements. This is done especially through the AVAGram series that allows members to post and receive new information via Facebook. Twitter and LinkedIn. We also created a Facebook tutorial for the membership to receive in their quarterly newsletter.
Solution

Development of the Facebook program has had a dual benefit for members: they receive current information and they can communicate in return by posting their comments on the Facebook site and via Twitter.
Results

In an organization of over 2,000 members, all located in disparate sites across the 50 states and several foreign nations, all participants can now communicate regularly to a targeted group of members and colleagues.

Members and non-members all have access to training programs, new technologies and professional information through the AVA web site (www.avainfo.org).

In this down economy, attendance at the scientific conference was up almost 25%.

AVA communicates with the media and potential members in healthcare organizations across the world using instantaneous new-media channels that reach the target audience directly.