Nursing Endocrinology’s Future

For a group that has only been running two years, the ESE Nurses Working Group certainly are a dynamic bunch. Much of this is due to the figurehead of this group Sofia Llahana. Like the swan, Sofia’s graceful and calm persona conceals the fact that beneath the water her feet are propelling her and her colleagues forwards at a rapid pace.

Initially a suggestion by Professor Pia Burman (Sweden) of the ESE Clinical Committee to host a nurses’ symposium at ICE/ECE 2012 in Florence, the successful venture resulted in the official formation of the ESE Nurses’ Working Group at ECE 2013 in Copenhagen, testament to the value that Congresses such as these still hold in today’s world of electronic communication.

Patient speakers have been a novel feature of these symposia, but for ECE 2014 the Nurses went that much further and invited patient groups from across Europe to take part.

“It’s a very multidisciplinary approach” Sofia says, as she informs me of the future direction of the Nurses’ Working Group. “I’m very much looking forward to European Hormone Day” (a resolution currently being put together by the new European Council of Affiliated Societies) “and with the clinical guidelines being put together by the Clinical Committee we’ll be involving patient representatives in their construction, with the Nurses’ group developing patient information resources.” This is true two-way patient engagement and is to be applauded.

Feedback from the Nurses’ Networking Session was excellent, and following the report from the new Polish Endocrine Nurses Society, which has grown to 50 members in only six months, delegates from Lithuania and Russia both expressed an interest in setting up their own networks. Should Nurses from any other countries wish to do the same the Working Group would be happy to provide help. Contact details are available from their website.

So why become an Endocrine Nurse? Sofia says that it is the diversity of the conditions and of the patients that attracted her. Some are patients their whole lives, and the reward is in witnessing a rebellious teenager develop into a healthy adult with children of their own. 

The ESE Nurses Working Group comprises (from left to right in image above):

• Phillip Yeoh, Consultant Nurse in Endocrinology, UK;
• Cecilia Follin, Nurse Practitioner in Endocrinology, Sweden;
• Elisabeth Rutten, Independent Nurse Advisor, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Belgium;  
• Sofia Llahana, Consultant Nurse in Endocrinology and Chair of ESE Nurses Working Group, UK;
• Judith van Eck, Nurse Practitioner in Endocrinology, The Netherlands;
• Meg Keil, Nurse Practitioner at NIH, USA.