Congratulations to Cooper’s vascular access team (VAT), who are celebrating their 10-year anniversary this year. The team started as the Cooper PICC team in July of 2012 with two RNs who inserted peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) lines, midline catheters, and difficult IVs. Over the past decade, they have adapted to a number of changes, taking on the responsibilities of placing lines as well as training newly hired nurses, learning how to insert ultrasound peripheral IVs (PIVs), and advocating for patients.
A PICC line is a long, thin tube inserted through a vein in the arm and passed through to the larger veins near your heart. PICC lines might be used for cancer treatments, liquid nutrition, or other circumstances where a patient would otherwise need multiple needle sticks.
“As our consults increased, so has our team,” said Racquel Pineda, RN, who shared this milestone anniversary with us. “We have a total of six VAT nurses and two VAT technicians. Our goals are to assess and identify the vascular needs of the patients, care and manage the vascular access device, and meet the education and training needs of nurses on how to place peripheral inserted catheters.”
Please join us in celebrating and thanking our Cooper VAT members: Dina Conway, RN; Anthony DiAmore, RN; Lisa Malone, RN; Gina Marshall, RN; Racquel Pineda, RN; Katie Schmidt, RN; Jaye Lopresti, CCT; and Louise Faulk, CCT.