Friday Gazette
International attendees add a new dimension
The 2018 AARC International Fellows.
International attendance at the AARC Congress has continued to grow over the years and 2018 was no exception. We welcomed a host of clinicians from other countries to the meeting this year, and their presence added immense value to the education and networking experiences we all took part in.
The Open Forum alone saw participation from 38 clinicians, who traveled far and wide to be here in Vegas to share the results of their studies —
- Ching-Yi Liu MSc RRT, Douliu, Taiwan
- Hui-Ling Lin MSc RRT RN FAARC, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Andrey Wirgues Sousa, São Paulo, Brazil
- Yi-Tang Tsai, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Yi-Hao Peng MSc, Taichung, Taiwan
- Miki Nakanishi MSc RN, Nishinomiya, Japan
- Edward Banguera, Cali, Colombia
- Karel Roubik PhD Kladno, Czech Republic
- Saad M. AlRabeeah PhD RRT RRT-SDS, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Chia-Chen Chu PhD RRT FAARC, Taichung, Taiwan
- Yassin Taher Ismaiel RRT Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Tetsuo Miyagawa PhD RRT, Yokohama, Japan
- Saeed Mardy Alghamdi MSc, Montréal, Canada
- Chung Jieh Wang, Taichung, Taiwan
- Ching-Hua Su, Taichung, Taiwan
- Abdullah A GazwanI MSc, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Tomomi Ichiba PhD, Mitakashi, Japan
- Gajendra P. Choudhary PhD, Indore, India
- KC Rajendra, Tasmania, Australia
- Hwei-Ling Chou, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
- Ivan G. Lee MSc RRT RRT-ACCS RRT-NPS RPSGT, Singapore, Singapore
- Thaynara L. Cagnini, Cascavel, Brazil
- Tetsuya Hasegawa, Yokosuka, Japan
- Chin-Jung Liu MSc RRT, Taichung City, Taiwan
- Szu-I Yu, Taichung, Taiwan
- Yu Jen Chang, Taichung City, Taiwan
- Satoshi Ishiyama, Yamagata, Japan
- Takamitsu Kubo, Sunto-gun Nagaizumi-cho, Japan
- Hui Sun Cho MSc, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Yen-Huey Chen PhD, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
- Li-Rong Chen, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Akira Shobo PhD, Fujimino, Japan
- Ping-Hui Liu MSc, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Abdullah A. Ghazwani MSc, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Yuenan Ni, Chengdu, China
- Chaisith Sivakorn MD, Bangkok, Thailand
- Camilo Corbellini PhD, Orbassano, Italy
- Juvel M Taculod MHA RRT RRT-NPS, Singapore
The Program itself benefited from international presenters as well. Sanja Stanojevic PhD, Eddy Fan MD PhD, and Thomas Piraino RRT, from Canada; and Martin Kneyber MD PhD FCCM, from The Netherlands, all delivered great talks aimed at informing the practice of respiratory care here in the U.S. and around the world.
And it goes without saying that our 2018 International Fellows expanded the horizons of us all. Everyone who got the chance to visit with these outstanding professionals walked away with a greater insight into how RTs here can work with RT professionals there to improve patient care. Thank-you to Sangit Kasaju, Neelum Singh, Liang Xu, and VIP Fellow Julie Essiam for traveling to our shores.
A big shout out must go to the generous sponsors who make the International Fellowship Program possible every year as well. Thank-you Drager, Teleflex, NBRC, AARC, and AARC House of Delegates for supporting the program in 2018.International Reception honors colleagues from abroad
Hassan Alorainy (center) received the 2018 Toshihiko Koga Award
International attendees gathered with AARC leaders and special guests at an International Reception yesterday evening. Our 2018 International Fellows, Sangit Kasaju, Neelum Singh, and Liang Xu, along with our VIP Fellow Julie Essiam, were honored, and the 2018 Toshihiko Koga, MD International Medal was presented to Hassan Alorainy BSRC RRT FAARC, for his support of the respiratory care profession in Saudi Arabia and his work with the International Council for Respiratory Care.
Respiratory Care Education Annual call for papers
The AARC will publish Volume 28 of the Respiratory Care Education Annual (ISSN 2372-0735) in the fall of 2019. This refereed journal is committed to providing a forum for research and theory in respiratory care education and is listed in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Ulrich’s Periodical Database.
The AARC Education Section invites educators to submit papers for consideration. Preference will be given to papers that emphasize original research, applied research, or evaluation of an educational method. Other topics that may be considered include interpretive reviews of literature, educational case studies, and point-of-view essays. Submissions will be reviewed based on originality, significance and contribution, soundness of scholarship (design, instrumentation, data analysis), generalizability to the education community, and overall quality of the paper.
Papers should be approximately 6–10 pages in length and must follow the guidelines as established by Respiratory Care. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. General guidelines for the manuscript, preparing the manuscript, text formatting, and reference formatting are available.
For more information, contact Dr. Kathy Myers Moss, editor, or Dr. Shawna Strickland at (972) 243-2272. Please send all manuscripts to the Editorial Board via the Respiratory Care Education Annual manuscript submission form. The annual call for papers will be published in the AARConnect Education Specialty Section community and in AARC Times.
The 2019 submission deadline for the Respiratory Care Education Annual is February 28, 2019.
Closing Ceremony: Owning Patient Safety — Our Time, Our Responsibility!
AARC Congress 2018 Closing Ceremony speakers.
Patient safety is the responsibility of each and every one of us, and this year’s Closing Ceremony drove that fact home as Master of Ceremonies Patrick Dunne MEd RRT FAARC took attendees on a journey with the families of two young people who had their whole lives in front of them until they ended up in the hospital, one due to an automobile accident and the other for a routine surgery. Complications ensued in both of these cases and these young lives, so full of promise just days before, were suddenly cut short.
This emotional session covered the factors that may have contributed to their deaths, what could have been done differently to safeguard their survival, and what we, as respiratory therapists, can do to help ensure incidents like these never happen again.
Mark your calendar for June 1, 2019
The Open Forum is always full of hands on information for respiratory therapists, and many of the presenters first got the bug to conduct original research by attending an Open Forum session. If you’re standing in those shoes now, start brainstorming a question you’d like to answer, then find a mentor (the Research Community on AARConnect is a good place to look), and start your project when you get back home. The deadline to submit an abstract to the 2019 Forum is June 1. For more information, visit rcjournal.com.
Sunny Florida awaits!
Looking for a way to team some great continuing education up with a fabulous family vacation next summer?
For managers and educators in respiratory care, the answer is easy: just attend the Summer Forum in Ft. Lauderdale, FL! The Forum is scheduled for July 20–22, making it perfect for that summer getaway you and your family will be wanting.
What’s there to do in Ft. Lauderdale? Lay on a beach, engage in some water sports, go fishing, visit the Everglades, stroll down the Beachfront Promenade, check out the restaurants and shops along Las Olas Boulevard, visit the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District, see alligators, bobcats, black bears and of course flamingos at the Flamingo Gardens, explore the colorful murals in the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project, and more.
The past three Summer Forums have broken attendance records, and we expect the same will be true in 2019. So make plans now to attend this mid-year meeting and get ready to learn from thought leaders in education and management while enjoying some summer fun at the same time.
New Orleans is up next
AARC Congress 2018 delivered on everything RTs need to move their departments, their programs, and their own careers forward in 2019.
We’ll do it all again next year in beautiful New Orleans, LA.
This city that suffered so much after Hurricane Katrina is now back and better than ever before, and the weather will be great when we roll into town Nov. 9-12.
Known around the world for its rich history, laid back atmosphere, warm hospitality, great music scene, and fabulous food, New Orleans offers visitors everything they could ever want in a convention destination.
So put AARC Congress 2019 on your calendar now and get ready to “let the good times roll” next November.
Time to weigh in on 2019 Congress
Planning the AARC Congress is a year-long affair, and programmers are already thinking about 2019. If you have a great idea for a speaker or topic, use our “RFP 2.0” application process to issue your request for proposal. But don’t delay! All RFPs are due by Dec. 17, 2018. The Program Committee is excited to begin the planning process and your input is essential to ensuring the 2019 Congress meets the needs of respiratory therapists and other clinicians engaged in caring for patients with respiratory conditions.
And the Winners Are …
The Sputum Bowl champions from Colorado.
Our first-ever students-only Sputum Bowl® wrapped up Thursday afternoon in a Finals competition that had everyone on the edge of their seats. These great teams came out on top —
First place: Pima Medical Institute - Colorado
Second place: Collin College - Texas - Renegade Team
Congratulations to all the RT students who took part in the Bowl this year. You are all winners for stepping up to compete in this time-honored tradition at the AARC Congress.
The Sputum Bowl® was sponsored by Medtronic.
Prizes, prizes, and more prizes
Congress attendees gathered at the AARC Booth.
Congress-goers gathered around the AARC Booth on Thursday to see who would go home with some great prizes. Here’s who won and what they’ll take away from Vegas –
- Complimentary AARC Congress 2019 Registration: Ivy Ruiz
- Complimentary Summer Forum 2019 Registration: Karyn Korman RRT
- One Year Digital AARC Membership: Leilani Yambao BS RRT
Several attendees received Amazon gift cards and an RC Week grab bag as well!
Thank you official sponsors!
Many of the great programs and events at AARC Congress 2018 were made possible by generous sponsorships from the respiratory care industry. A big thank you goes to these sponsors in 2018:
Ventec
Fisher & Paykel
Boehringer Ingelheim
Access TCA
Draeger
Genentech Pharmaceuticals
Academy for Continued Healthcare Learning
Teleflex
Monaghan Medical
Getinge
Hollister
The Faces Foundation
Masimo
Mallinckrodt
GE Healthcare
Intersurgical
Pulmonary Wellness
Sunovion
Gilead
GSK
Vertex
Actelion
Vapotherm
Medtronic
Attendees Choose Best of Show!
This year the AARC selected what it determined to be the top 8 Exhibit Hall booths in the small and large booth categories and then sent out a push notification on the AARC Mobile app asking attendees to choose the final winners. We’re pleased to announce that these booths made the grade —
Over 200 Square Feet
Best in Show — Hamilton Medical
2nd Place — Philips
3rd Place — Medtronic and Hill-Rom (tie)
200 Square Feet & Under
Best in Show — Mallinckrodt
2nd Place — Percussionaire
3rd Place — Flexicare
2018 Respiratory Patient Advocacy Award Goes to Tonya Loftin RRT
The second annual Respiratory Patient Advocacy Award, co-sponsored by the AARC and The FACES Foundation, went to Tonya Loftin RRT for her dedication to providing high quality care to high technology patients.
As director of population health outcomes for the consulting firm, Eventa Group, Loftin is responsible for overseeing quality of care and utilization for Medicaid patients in Middle Tennessee who are ventilator-dependent or have a tracheostomy. In addition to visiting certified long-term ventilator units in the region, where she acts as a champion for high quality care and serves as a conduit between the facilities, the patients, and the payers, she sees patients in their homes to help ensure they are receiving the durable medical equipment they need to manage their conditions.
The sites included in the program are audited on a quarterly basis to ensure they are meeting best practice, safety, and regulatory standards. Outcomes recorded in these sites are among the best in the state and in the nation. Overall, the program has saved the state $20 million over the past three years while significantly improving quality of care.
The success seen with ventilator-dependent and tracheostomy patients is now being extended to those with COPD via a 100% respiratory therapist driven Medicaid-supported Population Health Outcomes program overseen by Loftin as well. The program will cover the entire state of Tennessee and is expected to reach more than 10,000 people when it is fully implemented.
Loftin is well-known in her state as a crusader for providing the most advanced alternative technology available to her vulnerable populations, many of whom are among the most neglected individuals in society, including the homeless. She has often worked to find permanent shelter for them so they can benefit from nocturnal oxygen therapy, aerosol delivery, and other respiratory technologies.
Loftin was honored with the Respiratory Patient Advocacy Award at the Respiratory Patient Advocacy Summit that took place on Monday.