The American Board of Perianesthesia Nursing Certification, Inc. (ABPANC) is pleased to announce the recipients of several prestigious awards presented during the CPAN/CAPA Celebration Luncheon held on April 28, 2023 in Aurora, Colorado in conjunction with the ASPAN National Conference.

The Annual CPAN/CAPA Celebration Luncheon recognizes and celebrates nurses who have achieved the Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse (CPAN®) and Certified Ambulatory Perianesthesia Nurse (CAPA®) designations. These national professional certification programs are designed for registered nurses caring for patients who have experienced sedation, analgesia and anesthesia in a hospital or ambulatory care facility. ABPANC currently certifies more than 12,800 perianesthesia nurses who have earned the CPAN and/or CAPA credentials.

2023 Shining Star Award Recipients

ABPANC’s Shining Star Award publicly recognizes ASPAN Components for supporting and encouraging CPAN and CAPA certification at the local level.

2023 Certification Achievement Award Winners

Certification Achievement Awards are given to hospitals in which more than 75% of eligible perianesthesia nurses hold CPAN and/or CAPA certifications.

100% Certification Achievement

• The Reading Hospital SurgiCenter at Spring Ridge – Wyomissing, Penn.

75% Or Higher Certification Achievement

• Chesapeake Regional Healthcare Post Anesthesia Care Unit – Chesapeake, Va.
• Houston Methodist Hospital Dunn 6 PACU – Houston, Texas
• Houston Methodist Hospital OPC 18 PACU – Houston, Texas
• Inova Fairfax Medical Campus Professional Services Building Surgery Center, Pre-Op/PACU – Falls Church, Va.
• Lahey Health LOCD Surgical Services – Danvers, Mass.

2023 President’s Award

The President’s Award was established in 2019 to recognize a CPAN or CAPA nurse who best represents the values of perianesthesia nursing certification; a nurse who demonstrates extraordinary commitment and passion to perianesthesia nursing certification should be recognized and celebrated.

The recipient of the 2023 President’s Award is Vasso “Vicki” Yfantis, MSN, RN, CRNP, CPAN, CAPA, of Suburban Hospital- Johns Hopkins Medicine in Bethesda, Md.

ABPANC President Katie Houle, MSN, RN, CPAN, bestowed the 2023 President’s Award to Vicki in recognition of Vicki’s leadership by serving as chair for the both the CPAN and CAPA Practice Exam Task Forces in 2022.

2023 ABPANC Advocacy Award Recipient

Every year, ABPANC recognizes a CPAN or CAPA certified nurse who exemplifies leadership as a patient advocate with its highest honor, the Advocacy Award. The 2023 recipient is Valerie Boatwright, ADN, RN, CAPA, of the University of New Mexico Hospital.

With 32 years of PACU experience, Valerie personalizes patient care, engages with patients and caregivers and empowers them to tackle the often-unfamiliar challenges that lay ahead. Valerie has spent untold hours coordinating care across the health care system, tracking down pharmacies that carry needed medicines, and problem solving for patient families.

Valerie is an advocate of healthcare equity and led the way for language interpretation in her unit. Valerie successfully advocated for an additional video monitor for language interpretation and discharge planning, ensuring that the instructions provided are representative of the needs of the individual patient.

But her advocacy doesn’t stop with patients. She is also a champion of education. Valerie has been an active member of her organization’s Shared Governance and process improvement groups, and a volunteer with ASPAN, her local ASPAN Component and ABPANC.

Congratulations to all the award recipients!