Interview with N-ECCO National Representative France

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

Not too much so far. Since ECCO 2020 in Vienna, we have started to create a list of all IBD Nurses in France and have tried to create a real community of French IBD Nurses to share knowledge and experiences of work as well as to improve the visibility of our nurses at the ECCO Congress.

What are the challenges for IBD nursing in your country, both on a personal and on an organisational level?

The challenge is to recognise the value of the IBD Nurse and to acknowledge that nursing is an essential element in the professional care of IBD patients. A further challenge is to increase the independence of IBD Nurses.

Are you aware of all the opportunities that N-ECCO can offer you?

I think I know all the opportunities but it’s really difficult to apply for them because of the current position of IBD Nurses and the obstacles posed by the organisation of our institutions. Plus, there is a real difficulty regarding the language barrier.

Is your role as N-ECCO National Representative clear and have you received enough assistance from N-ECCO in this role?

Not really in the beginning. I really understood my role at the last ECCO Congress when I had the chance to participate in the N-ECCO National Representatives meeting.

Then I learned about all the opportunities that N-ECCO has to offer.

How would you like to see N-ECCO develop?

It would be very helpful to French nurses to have some help with the language.

I think N-ECCO is the best way to develop a French IBD Nurse group because it gives us insights into what is happening in other countries and consequently helps us in setting goals.

What plans do you have in your role as National Representative to promote ECCO to other nurses in your country (including the N-ECCO School, Research Forum and Network Meeting)?

I really want to succeed in creating a French IBD Nurse community because I am sure that this would help us to gain proper recognition from the medical community. I would like to see more nurses attending ECCO Congress. Also, I am sure that, step by step, we could motivate nurses to initiate and participate in more research projects.

What barriers or problems do you perceive in doing this?

First, real support is needed from the medical community, and second, as already mentioned, there is the language barrier.

The N-ECCO Travel Award offers nurses an excellent opportunity to learn and share best practice. How do you plan to promote this to nurses in your country?

Unfortunately, I think this is not at all possible for the moment. Our institutions and our role in the clinical activities do not permit this type of exchange.

Do you use the N-ECCO Consensus Statements in your country? If ‘yes’, how do you use them? If ‘no’, why don’t you use them?

The Consensus Statements are exactly the type of information I would like to share with all the French IBD Nurses to try to achieve a consensus in France.