Skeletal Care Academy 2010

The Skeletal Care Academy (SCA) is an educational programme developed to ensure that patients with cancer-related bone disease receive the highest standards of multi-professional care, allowing them to enjoy fuller, healthier lives. The initiative started in 2008 in recognition of an area of care which, despite receiving very little attention, has greatly impacted the quality of life of cancer patients.

After two successful international meetings attended by oncologists, haematologists and urologists, the SCA steering committee (composed of a distinguished panel of European physicians) recommended that the programme broaden its educational scope to reach a multi-professional audience that includes specialist nurses and patient advocates. The aim is to build a multi-professional network to deliver excellence in cancer bone health education internationally.

At the core of the SCA programme is the annual international, multi-disciplinary ‘train the trainer’ meeting on March 12 to 13, 2010 in Paris (programme details are available at www.skeletalcareacademy.com). The meeting, with support from Amgen, is hosted by the Central European Cooperative Oncology Group (CECOG) in partnership with the EAUN and other professional societies.

For the train-the-trainer course on bone health (developed by nurses from the uro-oncology steering committee) EONS, EMBT and the EAUN have each invited three nurses from urology and oncology who are involved with bone health. The invited participants are from Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, UK and German speaking countries. All together it involves around 50 nurses working with bone health.

The training will be piloted in the aforementioned five countries by the nurses who were invited to the meeting in Paris. This event will involve multidisciplinary plenary sessions and specialist workshops to ensure that all will benefit from working together with their peers. The programme will then be presented in so-called echo seminars to the rest of Europe after the pilot has been evaluated.

The modules focus on the challenges faced by nurses in the assessment, management and support of patients with cancer-related bone disease. After the meeting course contents from the modules and additional study materials will be made available online.

Prostate cancer will be highlighted in the modules since bone health in these patients is often a secondary concern due to the high prevalence of bone metastases and the use of hormone ablation therapies that can lead to bone loss and fracture.

Besides the nurse education programme, there will be specialist workshops for physicians and patient advocates and ‘open academy’ sessions that will allow participants to closely examine specialist subjects and refresh their skills. Following the meeting, all attendees will be encouraged to join the SCA network of excellence to disseminate bone health education in their own regions.

With this project the EAUN is again in the forefront of new initiatives and is committed to make this multi professional and multi-disciplinary course a great success.

Website: www.skeletalcareacademy.com

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Europa Uomo

The European Prostate Cancer Coalition, Europa Uomo, is an advocacy movement for the fight against prostate cancer. In a recent call to action the EAUN Board was asked to undersign the request for support of UOMO in the struggle for prevention of deaths by prostate cancer in Europe. Preceded by the EAU Executive, the Board of the EAUN has agreed to commit to what is stated underneath. The Board feels that the goals of nurses often converge with the goals as stated above. We therefore are happy to support the call out of Europa Uomo.

The cooperation with Europa Uomo is also apparent in the EAUN workshop “Nursing tools for patient instruction on prostate cancer” that takes place on Sunday in the EAUN Meeting in Barcelona, April 2010, in which Prof. Louis Denis, Secretary of Europa Uomo will speak in the part on Patient perspective, much to the pleasure of the EAUN Board.

Willem De Blok
EAUN Board member

We, the undersigned, recognise that only a comprehensive strategy will ensure that men at risk are diagnosed earlier and receive optimal treatment with holistic care on an individual basis.

Hence, we call for the commitment and action necessary for men to have timely access to the right treatment. Specifically, we call on:

• Governments to recognise the morbidity and mortality burdens of prostate cancer.
• Governments to commit to sustainable support for basic and clinical research for new biomarkers and for clinical trials comparing different treatments.
• Health professionals to educate their patients about the risk factors for prostate cancer, such as family history, ensuring those at risk are given appropriate information.
• Physicians to tailor treatment to the individual patient through appropriate use of PSA testing to avoid over- or under-treatment
• Society to build partnerships which help reduce the burden of disease, to identify common actions and overcome the existing inequalities around access to treatment.

We commit to achieving these aims, working with all relevant partners to communicate these messages to appropriate policy makers and healthcare professionals.

Website: www.europa-uomo.org