It's a team effort

In recent years EACTS has become much more than an organisation for surgeons. The importance and value of non-surgical roles such as advanced nurse practitioners, physical therapists and surgical care practitioners in improving patient outcomes is now widely recognised. The recently established Allied Health Professionals Committee demonstrates how these roles have become an integral part of EACTS. Richard Van Valen, Chair of the committee, and committee member, Cristina Ruizsegria, explain.

The Allied Health Professionals Committee provides an important platform to support knowledge sharing and create more opportunities for nurses and other allied health professionals (AHPs) who want to develop their careers and expand their knowledge and expertise.

We are already seeing more and more nurses trained at a high academic level, but the rate of development varies across Europe. For some nurses, financial constraints and language can be a barrier to career development, limiting education and networking opportunities. This is why we are keen to explore innovative and flexible ways to deliver education and training programmes in areas such as post op management, ECGs and ultrasounds.

The EACTS Annual Meeting provides a fantastic learning environment as well as creating opportunities to network and make lifelong connections. We all recognise that cardiothoracic surgery requires a team effort in order to deliver the best possible patient outcomes, so we would encourage more surgeons to offer their surgical, clinical and out-patients teams the opportunity to attend the Annual Meeting.

The AHP Committee is busy planning our sessions for the 37th EACTS Annual Meeting which will explore, amongst other areas, the professional development of nurses, a current hot topic in nursing. These sessions are a fantastic platform to showcase the professionalism of allied health professionals and the quality of research work undertaken. AHPs have an opportunity to be part of this year’s scientific programme by submitting an abstract for presentation. In addition, we know that there is some great work taking place across Europe and we would like to share these interesting projects with delegates at the Annual Meeting as part of our sessions.

We would like more AHPs to join our committee, particularly colleagues from across Europe who bring energy and a desire to support our work and raise the profile of allied health professionals across a pan-European platform. If you are interested in joining the Allied Health Professionals Committee please apply via the EACTS User Area.

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS

Nurses and Allied Health Professionals are invited to submit their abstracts for the dedicated Nurses and Allied Health Professional session at this year’s Annual Meeting. Allied Health abstract submissions are open until 31 July 2023.

Papers examining any part of the patient journey will be considered. These may include aspects of quality, clinical care, research, case studies or roles and workforce issues.