District 1

District 1 held a successful NYSPANA State Conference in Long Island on November 9th, 2019 at the Hilton Hotel. Well over 100 Perianesthesia Nurses attended this education packed day with several speakers covering topics such as robotic bariatric procedures, neurovascular diseases with neurosurgery interventions, mental health need prevalence amongst our younger population, non-surgical procedures in sports medicine, neurofeedback with brainwave dysregulation, Chinese Herbology, and an impactful presentation from a nurse who shared her journey of peripartum cardiomyopathy resulting in her having to acquire a Left Ventricular Assist Device, placement on the heart transplant list, to experiencing a spontaneous recovery.

A common theme among some of the presentations was the anxiety and stress that is being plagued by our society at this time. With the inundation of 24-hour news cycles, laptops, cell phones, and social media, we have become overwhelmed with sadness and anger. Taking the time to be one’s best self requires intervention that nursing practice has certainly preached, but not practiced for themselves. Self-care including meditation, guided imagery, essential oils, and other relaxation techniques are considered adjunct therapies to traditional Western Medicine Practice.

In our Perianesthesia practice, the use of essential oils has been re-introduced not only as an adjunct to traditional use of benzodiazepines to treat anxiety or intravenous antiemetics to treat post-operative nausea and vomiting. Their use has shown to reduce even eliminate drug use that have their own side effects such as drowsiness which affects patient outcomes that lead to increased lengths of stay in PACU and decreased patient satisfaction. Though not with their own potential interactions, through nursing research, aromatherapy and essential oils have demonstrated efficacy in peer-reviewed journals.

ASPAN and NYSPANA strive to bring their members the best evidenced-based educational programs through webinars, state conferences, and National Conference. We hope to see many of you in April for ASPAN’s National Conference in Denver Colorado, April 26-30, 2020. Please check www.aspan.org for more details. We also invite you to save the date for the next NYSPANA State Conference: October 24th, 2020, at Woodcliff Hotel & Spa – Pittsford, New York. More details to come on our website, www.nyspana.net

Respectfully Submitted,

Beth Weslow

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