Emergency Nurses Association Announces Corporate Sponsors for Annual Conference

DES PLAINES, Ill., Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) today announced the corporate sponsors for the ENA Annual Conference to be held in Tampa on September 20-24, 2011.

This year's Strategic Sponsors are Stryker and Vidacare; the Strategic Supporters are GE Healthcare and Hill-Rom; and the Annual Conference Supporters are American Heart Association, FreemanWhite ED Design Team, Gebauer Company, Genentech Inc., Philips Healthcare and Physio-Control Inc.

"Emergency nurses are faced with ever increasing challenges. More patients, fewer hospital beds, an ever present risk of violence all of these things make the work of emergency nurses increasingly difficult," said ENA President AnnMarie Papa, DNP, RN, CEN, NE-BC, FAEN.  "As emergency nursing leaders, Emergency Nurses Association members are meeting in Tampa to not only discuss the future of patient care, but also to enhance our skills to help us stay on top of our game as we provide the best possible care for our patients."

This year's conference, with the theme Expand your Horizon, will provide attendees with not only industry-leading, evidence-based education, but also the opportunity to share common challenges and best practices with other emergency nurses. Leading experts and educators will give in-depth reviews of national issues facing emergency care professionals, educational sessions on patient care and practice issues. The conference also includes an exhibit hall featuring a plethora of suppliers of products and services for the emergency care environment.

About the ENA 2011 Strategic Sponsors:

Stryker Medical designs, manufactures, sells and services specialty patient care and handling equipment for health care providers. Stryker Medical's innovative and easy-to-use products include stretchers, lateral transfer devices, temperature management solutions, support surfaces and furniture as well as ambulance cots and evacuation chairs for the emergency medical services industry. For more information, please visit www.stryker.com/medical.

Vidacare Corporation's EZ-IO® Vascular Access System provides immediate vascular access for the delivery of essential fluids using the intraosseous (inside the bone) space when traditional IVs are difficult. The EZ-IO® is recognized as the technology standard for intraosseous access and has been inserted in over 350,000 patients worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vidacare.com.

About the 2011 ENA Strategic Supporters:

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. GE has made a commitment to Healthymagination, which will change the way we approach healthcare. Healthymagination is about better health for more people everywhere. GE plans to develop innovations that will lower healthcare cost, increase access, and improve quality by 15%. For more information, visit www.gehealthcare.com.

Hill Rom has set the standard for high performing, intelligent bed systems and has more than a million hospital beds of all types in use around the world. Hill-Rom is also a leading manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and services for the healthcare industry, including patient support systems, non-invasive therapeutic products, medical equipment rentals and information technology solutions. For more information, visit www.hill-rom.com.

About the 2011 ENA Annual Conference Supporters:

American Heart Association is a national, not for profit organization committed to reducing death and disability from cardiopulmonary emergencies. We continue to improve the quality of healthcare through research, training, and education.  Go to our web site at www.heart.org/cpr to learn more.

FreemanWhite has more ED experience than any other firm in the country, and our specialized ED design team provides unparalleled expertise in ED operations, planning and design. Using a holistic planning approach that integrates your clinical team into the design process, we focus on operations, facilities and technology to deliver the best ED design solution.   With a focus on lean processes, FreemanWhite specializes in developing the most efficient EDs possible. Our ED Team is comprised of emergency care professionals, process improvement specialists, architectural designers and equipment planners with international experience. For more information, visit www.freemanwhite.com.

Gebauer Company is an internationally recognized medical device manufacturer dedicated to providing Patient Comfort Solutions™. Gebauer's Pain Ease® topical anesthetic skin refrigerant is the only topical anesthetic cleared for use on minor open wounds, such as incision and drainage of small abscesses. Helps control the pain and discomfort of IV placement, venipuncture, and injections. Non-flammable. Rx only. For more information, visit www.gebauer.com.

Genentech Inc. Considered the founder of the biotechnology industry, Genentech has been delivering on the promise of biotechnology for more than 35 years, using human genetic information to discover, develop, manufacture and commercialize medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. Today, Genentech is among the world's leading biotech companies, with multiple products on the market and a promising development pipeline. For more information, visit www.gene.com.

Philips Healthcare is one of the world's leading health care technology companies. Philips is committed to simplifying healthcare through combining clinical expertise with human insights to ultimately help to improve the quality of people's lives. The focus is to deliver value throughout the complete cycle of care: from disease prevention to screening and diagnosis through to treatment and health management. For more information, visit www.philips.com/healthcare.

Physio-Control, Inc. has been developing technologies and designing devices that are legendary among first response professionals for over 50 years. The LIFEPAK® defibrillator/monitors and automated external defibrillators set the standard for quality and reliability and are used by more emergency medical services than any other brand. Physio-Control continues to lead the industry through innovation and advanced technology. For more information, visit www.physio-control.com.

For more information about the ENA Annual Conference, visit the ENA website at www.ena.org.

ENA is the only professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing and emergency care through advocacy, expertise, innovation and leadership.  Founded in 1970, ENA serves as the voice of 39,000 members and their patients through research, publications, professional development, injury prevention and patient education. Additional information is available at ENA's website www.ena.org.

SOURCE Emergency Nurses Association