On May 6 & 7, 2011, The FAET held its Annual Wound Ostomy and Continence Conference at the Lago Mar Resort in Fort Lauderdale. The FAET conference has become a favorite of WOCNs throughout the state of Florida because of the high quality of speakers, diversity of topics, the opportunity to network with colleagues. In addition the conference provides contact hours at a reasonable cost.
The 2011 conference theme was WOCN Practice: The Gold Standard. In keeping with this theme, a chest brimming with jewels, gold coins, tiaras, goblets and beads was displayed, reminiscent of the legend of gold washed up onto South Florida's beaches in the 1700's, therefore inspiring Fort Lauderdale to be known as the “Gold Coast”.
On Friday attendees had the opportunity of visit exhibitors while enjoying Hor D'oeuvres and cocktails with live music in the background.
The first speaker, Dr. John E. Roberts III, MD FASCRS FACS, Colorectal Surgeon got the program off to a great start with his presentation entitled “Stoma Complications”. Dr. Roberts' statement “Stomas do not belong there and want to go home” brought an interesting perspective. One of the participant's comments was “I loved his respect for WOC and our role”. Another comment stated: “Great sense of humor and thinking outside the box”.
Michael Gerald, a young inspiring ostomate in collaboration with Broward Ostomy Association Members performed an entertaining skit delivering the message that successful planning and management of ostomy surgery provides those who have undergone this particular type of surgery the opportunity to lead full, normal, and productive lives.
Our first lecture on Saturday was The Continence lecture by Dorothy Doughty which by general consensus was exceptional. Dorothy is without a doubt, one of the best contemporary speakers in our field.
Dr. Nancy Collins presented “Minimizing the Risk of Practice: What Practitioners Should Know about Law Suits and the Common Care Issues That Give Raise to Litigation”. Evaluator statements highlighted her effective presentation style and high level of energy and labeled it as an eye opening lecture.
According to the audience, the case study presentations were one of the favorite parts of the conference providing the opportunity to learn from our peers. Molly Brethour, Karen Durigan, Donna Lehman, Vivian Bartlett, Argelia Welber and Brandee Heath performed superbly. They showed their creativity, patient advocacy and professionalism. FAET members requested that Case Studies continue at future conferences.
Dr. Marie Williams, DPM in her lecture, showed her enthusiasm and passion for limb salvage and wound care.
The conference ended on a high note with Dr Juan Bravo, MD's lecture on HBO and indications for its use. The audience viewed him as a charismatic speaker and excellent source of information.
In addition to presentations by world-class speakers, this year's conference included an award ceremony honoring an influential community leader and this award was presented to Wendy Lueder, president of Broward Ostomy Association for her tireless commitment to Broward County WOCN's and patients. A beautiful necklace named “The Heart of Gold” was also given to Wendy to signify her heart of gold. Wendy stated that she will wear the necklace proudly.
Overall the 2011 FAET conference The Gold Standard was considered a great success. Some examples of the positive input written by the attendees is are as follows:
- Excellent program, well planned and executed
- Resort is beautiful- Can we come again?!!
- Good flow of topics
- Great location, great food, great vendors, great speakers and topics
- I can't believe how much I received from this conference for such a low monetary cost.
- As always there is room for improvement, some topics suggestions for the next conferences were:
- Fistula management, necrotizing faciitis, pelvic exenteration, continue case studies, biologic dressings ,wound healing at the cellular level, microclimate, palliative wound care when the goal is not healing, lymphedema, Suspected Deep Tissue Injury ( SDTI), dermatology, compression and Ankle Brachial Index (ABI), mentoring new WOCNs, sample pathways for professional development, care and treatment of complex cases such as leaking Gastrostomy Tube (GT) and Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) sites, foot and nail care, pressure redistribution, methods for pressure ulcer prevention and more advanced level.
- In summary, as written by one conference evaluator, WOCN Practice: The Gold Standard was the “Gold Standard indeed”!”
Amparo Cano, MSN, CWOCN
Patricia Paxton-Alan, MSN, ARNP-BC, CWOCN
Patricia Corvino, MSN, CWOCN
Argelia Welber, BSN, CWOCN
