General information

Name: Goedele Dewitte

Occupation: Nurse Consultant IBD

Observation period: 24–28 October, 2022

IBD location: St. Mark’s Hospital, Central Middlesex, London

Local Supervisor at St. Mark’s: Prof. Hart and ANP-IBD Nurse Madhoor Ramdeem

Supervisor at current IBD unit, Ghent University Hospital: Prof. Lobaton and Dr. Geldof

Goedele Dewitte © Goedele Dewitte

Background

St Mark's Hospital in London is the only hospital dedicated solely to gastrointestinal pathology. It includes a reference IBD unit, a world centre of excellence for endoscopy (Wolfson unit) and an intestinal failure/rehabilitation unit. Both the endoscopy and the intestinal rehabilitation unit work in harmony with the IBD unit to optimise the care for tertiary and complex IBD pathology.

This observational internship was intended to increase insight into the organisation of a tertiary, high-volume IBD reference centre from the nursing point of view.  

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.

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.