Wladzia Czuber-Dochan  © ECCO

Marie Andersson © ECCO

It is that time of year when we write to tell you, with great pleasure, about the N-ECCO Activities scheduled for the 19^th Congress of ECCO, to be held on February 21–24, 2024, in Stockholm, Sweden. As in previous years, the N-ECCO Committee has worked hard to put together a broad programme covering clinical, educational and research topics.

Simona Radice © ECCO

Ana Ibarra © ECCO

There are plenty of reasons why, as an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Nurse, you should consider applying for this position, the first and foremost being to make a difference to the IBD nursing service across Europe and ultimately change the lives of patients with IBD.

N-ECCO School © ECCO

At the 19^th Congress of ECCO in Stockholm, the Nurses of ECCO (N-ECCO) will host the educational activity for IBD Nurses, N-ECCO School, for the 15^th time. ECCO intends to give nurses, who might be still in training and have an interest in IBD, the possibility to attend an IBD-focused course. The ultimate aim of this programme is to improve nurse education throughout Europe.

N-ECCO Chair, Wladyslawa Czuber-Dochan, opened the 17^th N-ECCO Network Meeting by welcoming 257 nurses  from around the world. This was the first face-to-face Congress following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The programme opened with a session on “Education and preparation for the clinical role of the IBD Nurse”. Wladyslawa Czuber-Dochan, from London, UK, delivered a very informative presentation on IBD Nurse preparation, qualifications and scope of practice and new developments in terms of the Framework for Professional Practice for nurses working in IBD. Susanna Jäghult, from Stockholm, Sweden, then provided an update on the IBD Nurse Curriculum, an initiative undertaken by the N-ECCO Committee Members. The IBD Nurse Curriculum has now been completed and is available via the e-CCO learning platform. The third presentation covered innovative ways of working as an IBD Nurse and was delivered as a tandem talk by Revital Barkan, from Bat Hefer, Israel, and Kay Greveson, from London, UK. The fourth presentation in this session provided an update on the E-QUALITY project, delivered as a tandem talk by Gionata Fiorino, from Milan, Italy, and Susanna Jäghult.

Miriam Ganon © ECCO

The N-ECCO School ran for the first time in 2010. Its aim is to deliver knowledge on basic aspects of IBD in a clear and precise manner in order to enable nurses and those with an interest in the subject to provide better support to IBD patients throughout Europe and beyond. In addition, the N-ECCO School has come to serve as a great networking opportunity for both nurses and dietitians, allowing them to share experiences and plans for furtherance of their careers and demonstrating the importance of the MDT approach to IBD care.

Susanna Jäghult © ECCO

Marie Andersson © ECCO

The e-CCO Learning Platform is fantastic and a real goldmine! The number of activities is enormous, all of them of high quality. The N-ECCO Committee has started to discuss how this goldmine can best be made available to IBD Nurses around Europe.

W. Czuber-Dochan © ECCO

Miriam Ganon © ECCO

Ana Ibarra © ECCO

It is the time of year when we write to you with great pleasure to tell you about the N-ECCO Activities planned for the ECCO’23 Congress, to be held in Copenhagen on March 1–4, 2023. As in previous years, the N-ECCO Committee has worked hard to put together a wide range of activities covering clinical, educational and research topics.

We are delighted to announce that this year we will run the 2nd cycle of the IBD Nurse Education Programme. The programme will take place in Hungary, and we are currently at the exciting stage of recruiting and selecting nurses to the programme. The primary aim of the programme is to increase the skills, knowledge and competences of nurses who are new to IBD and to help them in their role of delivering high-quality care to patients.  

N-ECCO School © ECCO

At the 18^th Congress of ECCO in Copenhagen, the Nurses of ECCO (N-ECCO) will host the educational activity for IBD Nurses, N-ECCO School, for the 14^th time. ECCO intends to give nurses, who might be still in training and have an interest in IBD, the possibility to attend an IBD-focused course. The ultimate aim of this programme is to improve nurse education throughout Europe.

Ana Ibarra  © ECCO

On the evening of Wednesday, February 16, nurses from several countries across Europe participated in our yearly N-ECCO National Representatives Meeting.

As N-ECCO Committee Member responsible for the National Representatives, I welcomed the attendees. An exchange of nurses every 2–3 years is greatly encouraged by N-ECCO, but many countries nevertheless retain the same National Representatives for more than 3 years. New people tend to mean new ideas, although some countries have different service setups and getting new representatives is sometimes difficult.