An International Perspective

Angela Allen, RN, BSN, CRNI graduated from nursing school in 1981. She practiced as a Pediatric Intensive Care nurse for 15 years, and became an infusion nurse in 1997. Currently, she practices infusion nursing in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She is the current president of the INS Northern California chapter.

Vera Higa is the product manager for vascular access for BD Medical Systems, Brazil.

Silvana Torres, RN, is an infection control nurse and member of the Intravenous Nurses Society. She has authored articles and a text-book on Infection Control in hospitals. She serves as clinical director of the Brazilian Intravenous Newsletter, and Nursing Coordinator for BD Vascular Access Training Centre.

Katia C. Teixeira is a market analyst with BD Medical Systems, Brazil.

Tim Spencer is a Clinical Nurse Consultant in Central Venous Access and Parenteral Nutrition at Liverpool Hospital, Australia. He has been one of the leading nurses taking vascular access to the forefront in nursing and has had recognition for making vascular access a specialty within Australia. He is currently Vice President of the New South Wales Infusion Nurses Society, and held the position previously of Treasurer for 3 yrs. He has published several articles in local journals and has presented at local and international conferences, including attendances at INS and NAVAN over the last 8 years and was an expert panel member with Dr. Dennis Maki in July, 2000. He was recently acknowledged in the journal Nutrition for his involvement with two publications from Turkey.

Jim Lacy, RN, CRNI, is a former NAVAN board member, author, and educator. He has presented at regional and national conferences and meetings in the U.S. and internationally. Jim is currently Worldwide Manager, Customer Support for the Extended Dwell Catheter division of BD Medical Systems based in Sandy, Utah.