2025 Nursing Conference Grant Winning Essays

The questions for this year’s application cycle were as follows: 

1. Please describe how you will share what you learn at this conference with colleagues. 

2. How will you incorporate what you learn from this educational offering into your practice? 

3. How will this conference advance your long-term career goals (beyond the attainment of continuing education hour requirements)? 

 

Essays were lightly edited for grammar, flow, and readability.  

 

Carlos Payne

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Essay 1:  Living and working in a rural area of Arizona, I often encounter situations where patients require multiple attempts for successful venipuncture due to challenging vascular access. Our facility also has a limited number of healthcare professionals trained to insert PICC lines, midlines, and ultrasound-guided IVs. I would like to become a resource and mentor for my colleagues, offering guidance and hands-on assistance when they face difficult vascular access cases. I will share the evidence-based best practices learned at the conference through mentorship. I am excited to share key outcomes and tips with my entire healthcare team, ensuring that the specialized knowledge gained at the conference benefits all of my peers and ultimately improves patient care.

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Essay 2: Earning this scholarship to attend the CVC Healthcare Class with Continuing Education Units for PICC Line, Midline, and Ultrasound Guided Peripheral IV CLASS is a significant opportunity for me to enhance my nursing practice. While I'm recognized for my proficiency in peripheral IV insertions, I still encounter challenging cases where I'm unsuccessful. This course will allow me to gain the skills and competence in PICC Line and Midline insertion, along with ultrasound-guided peripheral IV techniques, which are essential for healthcare. Upon completion, I plan to immediately integrate this learning into my practice by actively volunteering for PICC/Midline insertions, focusing on patient assessment, anatomical landmark identification, sterile technique, and post-insertion care. I will prioritize using ultrasound guidance for peripheral IVs, especially for patients with difficult venous access, using the foundational knowledge gained to improve success rates and patient comfort. The class's focus on common challenges and complications will also better equip me to identify, prevent, and manage issues like phlebitis, infiltration, and infection, ultimately ensuring safer patient outcomes.

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Essay 3: This conference will be instrumental in supporting my goal to master advanced vascular access techniques. Its comprehensive curriculum, which covers PICC/Midline insertion and ultrasound-guided peripheral IVs. It is designed to provide the foundational knowledge and practical experience for achieving proficiency and confidence. These courses, through a combination of hands-on, didactic, and simulated training, I will learn proper insertion techniques, understand indications for use, and gain crucial skills in complication prevention and management, as well as the accurate use of ultrasound for both PICCs/Midlines and peripheral IVs. Being trained by board-certified vascular access specialists will equip me with the latest evidence-based practices, which I can then share and utilize to educate others about vascular access devices, directly aligning with this aspect of my professional development.

 

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