Public Awareness

Feb 26, 2017 (Re-posted from the February 2017 issue of Vascular Specialist)

The SVS and Society for Vascular Nursing have issued a joint statement encouraging vascular surgery teams to actively assist smokers with quitting smoking before surgery. 

Studies show that patients who quit or don’t smoke have a much lower risk of wound complications than those who smoke, and their time on a ventilator can be half as long after surgery.

“We need to find the best ways to help our patients quit smoking before surgery,” said Dr. R. Clement Darling III, SVS president-elect. “Given how important quitting smoking can be for our patients and the vascular care we provide, the SVS believes that vascular surgeons have a unique and important responsibility to patients to provide smoking cessation assistance before surgery." 

“Ensuring that every vascular surgery patient has access to cessation assistance is an important role for surgical support teams,” said SVS President Marie Rossi, RN. “Our organization joins the SVS in urging all surgical teams to develop processes to ensure that patients have the best chance at healthy outcomes.”

SVS in the News
Public awareness of SVS is an important component of SVS’ mission to support excellence and innovation in vascular health. 

Public relations activity has increased dramatically, with double the mentions in online publications in 2016 over the previous year, according to data from the Meltwater data tracking service. 

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