For trauma patients faced with limb loss, the old axiom about necessity and invention has never seemed more true.

Four years after the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, medical professionals are combining what they have learned from that tragedy with new expertise in treating trauma patients, from saving limbs to improving the lives of amputees.

Dr. Jeffrey Kalish has been at the forefront of this endeavor. A vascular surgeon at Boston Medical Center, he was amid the horror as many of the most critically injured Marathon trauma patients arrived.

Single sign-on simplifies access to SVS & JVS sites

How many sticky notes do YOU have on or near your computer to remind you of your various passwords?

It's probably more than a few.

To make our members' lives a bit easier when it comes to accessing your SVS benefits, you now can use your SVS Member Log-in information to access your JVS subscription as well.

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SVS PSO AIMS FOR 100 PERCENT COMPLIANCE AMONG PARTICIPATING CENTERS

Adjusting for Aortic Size Index reduces gender differences in outcomes; may be a better indicator threshold for female patients

CHICAGO, Illinois, April 1, 2017 – Following repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), women appear to have worse outcomes than men in terms of mortality and morbidity.

Aortic aneurysm rupture remains a significant cause for morbidity and mortality. With increasing awareness of the disease, as well as continued screening programs, the medical community can limit its impact.

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.

The SVS Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) is launching two national initiatives aimed at improving patient care with a data-driven approach.

They are:•    Reminding vascular surgeons to prescribe anti-platelet agents and statins to vascular patients to improve long-term outcomes, led by Dr. Randall R. DeMartino, co-chair of the Vascular Medicine Registry.  •    Promoting follow-up imaging at one year for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) patients, led by Dr. Salvatore Scali, EVAR registry chair. 

As of Jan. 20, the United States has a new president, Donald J. Trump.

Big changes occur with every change in administration; in 2017, uncertainty hovers over the future of the Affordable Care Act and its provisions. Shortly before Inauguration Day, both the United States Senate and House of Representatives approved a resolution aimed at the act’s eventual repeal. As of this writing, no definitive information exists as to replacement legislation, if any, when it may be approved and the legislation’s provisions.  

SVS members, encourage all vascular nurses and vascular technologists to attend the Society for Vascular Nursing’s (SVN) 35th Annual Convention, to benefit vascular nurses, nurse practitioners, vascular technologists, cardiovascular nurses, physician assistants and nurses/techs working in cath labs, angio suites or endovascular operating rooms.  

The SVS’ Wound, Ischemia and foot infection (Wifi) classification system was proposed to predict one-year amputation risk and potential benefit from revascularization. A new study of the system supports its ability to predict major amputation, but finds the novel Wifi mean and composite scores predict amputation, Renal Artery Stenosis events and mortality more consistently than any other current Wifi scoring system. 

Education takes many forms, and for some learners, seeing beats hearing. Thus, SVS offers video presentations at the Vascular Annual Meeting.

Videos are a relatively recent – and very well-received – addition to VAM. Videos are included in plenary sessions and also have a whole session devoted to them: “How I Do It,” held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

These visual presentations tend to be “entertaining, visually stimulating and very clinical,” said Dr. Ben Jackson, chair of the VAM Video Committee, which oversees selection of the scientific video presentations.