In these challenging times for all healthcare professionals, IBD Nurses continue to be an important part of the multidisciplinary team in managing patients with IBD. Many nurses have multiple roles and responsibilities and provide a variety of services. The exact extent and depth of care and services provided vary from country to country, depending on the education levels, the local requirements of the patients and the gastroenterology team, and the professional regulations in the individual county.

Susanna Jäghult  © ECCO

Following the summary of the ECCO'21 Educational Programme N-ECCO have prepared for you, we are very excited and looking already ahead to the ECCO'22 Congress.

After a year during which most of the focus has been on COVID-19 and most of our meetings have been digital, we can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel and look forward to meeting face to face again. Unfortunately, we need to wait a bit longer and the ECCO Congress will this year be a virtual meeting. We have arranged a lot of very interesting sessions and I hope you all will sign up. But we have also been very active in planning for the ECCO Congress in 2022, which, I am very proud and happy to say, will be held in Stockholm, my home town. I hope to see you all there!

Clarisse Nogueira Maia © Clarisse Nogueira Maia

Portugal

N-ECCO National Representative:
Clarisse Nogueira Maia
Job Title: 
Nurse

What influenced your decision to apply for the role of N-ECCO National Representative for your country?

I have worked with IBD patients for a long time, delivering IV drug administration in an outpatient clinic.

What IBD nursing initiatives, N-ECCO network opportunities or developments in IBD care are happening in your country?

We have an annual meeting of the IBD Group to promote IBD in Portugal.

Ana Ibarra  © ECCO

Once again, N-ECCO is offering an outstanding range of clinical and educational opportunities for nurses attending the ECCO’21 Copenhagen Congress.

The programmes for each activity continue to be developed on the basis of the evaluation forms from the previous year in order to meet your needs. Thank you so much for providing your feedback, which helps us to improve all the N-ECCO Activities.

Virginie Cluzeau © Virginie Cluzeau

France

N-ECCO National Representative:
Virginie Cluzeau
Job Title: 
Clinical research and patient education IBD Nurse

What influenced your decision to apply for the role of N-ECCO National Representative for your country?

The nurse that I replaced as French representative 4 years ago explained what the position involved. I was really interested to know how it works for nurses in other countries, and I thought that taking up this role could be useful in improving the position of IBD Nurses in France.

Susanna Jäghult © ECCO

Wladzia Czuber-Dochan © ECCO

We know that all nurses constantly strive to enhance the standard of patient care, and this is also true for IBD services. The best way for nurses to improve patient care is by developing their knowledge and skills and applying them in clinical practice. Many nurses are actively involved in research and practice innovation projects that aim to improve patient care and quality of life. We believe that it is important to share with all nurses the information gained from such projects. The new discoveries made in your own practice may also be beneficial for colleagues and patients in other countries. N-ECCO offers a great opportunity for you to share your work with others, and we would like to invite you to tell us about the important work that you are doing in your clinic.

At the 16^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 12^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

Everyone would agree that IBD specialist nurses do an incredible amount of work to help patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Over the years we have learnt that patients with IBD require access to our services when they need them, rather than simply at their next scheduled appointment in the clinic. Patients also think that one of the most important things that IBD specialist nurses can provide is high-quality advice and information, especially when they feel unwell.

Petra Hartmann  © ECCO

ECCO offers Research Grants for IBD Nurses in order to promote innovative scientific research in the area of IBD Nursing across Europe. The N-ECCO Research Grant provides nurses with a great opportunity to gain economic support, and this year a total of EUR 20,000.- will be awarded.

The N-ECCO Research Grant aims to enhance the opportunities for IBD Nurses to become involved in international research projects across Europe. The goals are to enable IBD Nurses less experienced in research to engage in research activities, with mentoring by senior researchers; to promote IBD-related basic and clinical research; and to foster interaction and productive collaboration among European research groups working in the IBD field. 

Ana Ibarra  © ECCO

On the evening of Wednesday, February 12, 16 nurses from 11 countries across Europe participated in our yearly N-ECCO National Representatives Meeting.

As the N-ECCO Committee Member responsible for the National Representatives, I welcomed the attendees, and this was followed by a short round of introductions. 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.