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You're invited to join nursing professionals from around the world at the 3rd Annual International Pediatric Cardiac Nursing Symposium Nov. 9 to 11, 2006.

This symposium is dedicated to advancing the nursing care of infants, children and adults with congenital and acquired heart disease. The program features nursing experts and other accomplished professionals from around the world presenting topics related to nursing practice across the continuum of care, including outpatient settings, acute care units, ICU, Cath Lab, OR and neonatal areas.

In addition, the symposium provides opportunities for meeting and comparing practices with other nursing colleagues at the local, national and international level.

This year, the symposium’s location – the Hilton Americas-Houston – is “deep in the heart” of downtown Houston with easy accessibility to a variety of restaurants, clubs, sports venues and cultural activities.

Course objectives

Upon completion of the symposium, participants will have the information and experience to:

• Incorporate current advances in congenital heart care into their clinical practice.

• Analyze current controversies in the care of individuals with congenital heart disease.

• Identify opportunities for further research in the care of infants, children and adults with congenital heart disease.

Program highlights

Pre-Conference Pathology Lab
Faculty from the Texas Children’s Hospital Pathology Department will provide a review of anatomy and physiology of congenital and acquired heart disease using actual heart specimens. Discussion topics will include pathologic processes and pre and post-operative anatomy.

Mini-symposia
Small group sessions focusing on themes including:

• Heart failure

• Interventional cardiac catheterization

• Coordinating care during a disaster

• Nurses making an impact

• What goes on inside the OR (featuring a “wet lab” with a cardiopulmonary bypass machine and ventricular assist devices)

• Cardiac diagnostic test interpretation

• Advanced cardiac assessment

• Surgical care issues (including the use of blood products in pediatric cardiac surgery and surgical emergencies in the ICU)

Poster presentations
Peer-reviewed abstracts focusing on leadership, research, education, and clinical practice will be presented by nurses from around the world. Two winners will be selected to orally present their poster on the final day of the symposium, and the two winning abstracts will be published in the new journal Congenital Heart Disease: Clinical Studies from Fetus to Adulthood. See the call for abstracts

Special interactive seminars
Two sessions will focus on specific controversies in the care of neonatal and adult congenital heart patients. Symposium attendees will participate in the discussion through use of an automated audience response system. A panel of international experts will explore cultural variations in practice.

General sessions
These sessions will present topics of interest to a wide variety of nurses caring for patients with congenital and acquired heart disease regardless of practice setting. Included is The Virginia H. McFarland Lecture Series, this year featuring an international nursing expert who will discuss how to optimize outcomes of patients with heart failure in an outpatient setting. See the full program