Thursday, 26 September 2024
The 16th Educational Meeting of the EBMT Nurses Group with the Italian Nurses Group of GITMO took place on the 26th and 27th September 2024, in Naples. The programme was the culmination of more than a year of collaboration between the two groups and showcased the range of innovation and practice that HCT and cellular therapy nurses experience. The strong propensity for research and the willingness to work together in nursing education to improve patient care strategies were the driving force behind the meeting. We welcomed 120 delegates from almost 20 different countries and were delighted to support attendance for travel grant recipients from Chile and Cyprus, a limited number of free registrations and live translation for Italian speaking delegates. A multi professional faculty of 28 speakers , the majority of whom were nurses were invited from United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, and Italy were invited by the organizing committee.
The local organizers Stefano Botti and Simona Calza opened the meeting and presented a video message from GITMO President Dr. Massimo Martino before the EBMT Nurses Group President, Michelle Kenyon presented the institutional greetings. A medical lecture on the future of CAR-T cell therapy introduced the first scientific session where the speakers presented about advanced nursing practices caring for CAR-T patients. The role of research nurses in paediatric trials, quality of life during hospital stay, and advances in CAR-T long-term survivors were enlightening topics.
After the lunch, two educational sessions entitled “The wonderful world of apheresis” and “Whenever possible save the microbiome” allowed to discuss on stem cells and lymphocytes collection, and to present the most recent literature findings on microbiome modulation in HSCT and CAR-T settings. The management of cutaneous chronic GvHD was the topic of a multiprofessional session where a dermatologist, a nurse, and a physiotherapist provided a detailed overview on the various features of skin cGvHD, the role of nurses in its management, and the rehabilitation issues in the paediatric setting. The fifth session covered HCT-related dietary and nutritional issues, including presentations on neutropenic diet avoidance, the EBMT roadmap to nutritional care process improving, and a single centre experience on food fortification in allogeneic HSCT. “How to manage...” was the last one of the first day. Here, we learned about the radiotherapist’s knowledge and skills in paediatric TBI, risk management, and how to improve medication adherence in HCT patients.
The final activity on day one was the ‘meet the expert’ dinner which offered an additional, excellent opportunity for networking and knowledge sharing on specific topics over food and a glass of wine. The topics discussed were Nurse led late effects screening and vaccination, CMV - prevention and treatment, CAR-T - all you need to know about patient pathways, early and late effects, The changing landscape of Haemoglobinopathy treatment and care - transplant and gene therapy and cGvHD in hiding – vulvo-vaginal cGvHD nursing assessment and care.
Two participants describe the evening:
“It was instructive to meet other nurses who are specialised in the same field as us but with significantly more experience. Hearing how their clinics work motivated us and inspired us in our daily practice. We all follow the same guidelines and have the same goals, but it's exciting to see how it could look so different depending on which country you work in. We exchanged experiences with several nurses who had clinics much larger than ours. It was inspiring to see what opportunities their clinics had around research projects and new treatments. There were also several paediatric nurses around our discussion tables, which was valuable to make new contacts and exchange experiences in children's health care.
We were asked various questions to get started talking about the topic, which forced us into a deeper discussion about our work and experience connected to the topic. This contributed to a lot of new insights and confirmation that more clinics are struggling with the same challenges as we did in our ward. After the dinner, we felt fulfilled and proud to be a small part of a large network that makes a difference not only to the patient, but also internationally and for future treatment.” (Linda Esplana and Malin Olsson)
Friday, 27 September 2024
Day two began with presentations from the winners of the Nurses Group poster sessions prizes at the 50th Annual Meeting of the EBMT in Glasgow. The first highlighted the creation of a UK-wide GvHD patient support group and its value to the participants. Another presentation featured an APN-led clinic for paediatric sibling donors, which has seen great success. Then, an interesting educational session held on conditioning-related adverse events speaking about skin toxicities and hepatic sinusoidal damage. One project aimed to develop expert-based recommendations for preventing skin toxicity in paediatric patients. A Delphi study is ongoing, with final recommendations to be discussed at the 51st Annual Meeting of the EBMT in Florence, 2025. An update on veno-occlusive disease, a life-threatening complication, was also presented. Nurses are key in detecting early symptoms for timely treatment.
One participant reflected on the session:
“For me it was useful to know that the risk factors for VOD are changed and a new category (probable) was recently added. This because I had in mind an example of a patient that months ago received a late diagnosis of VOD (due to the lack of fulfilling all VOD criteria) and died for this complication.” (Chiara Visintini)
An interactive workshop by the Research Committee, on crafting effective survey designs and interview guides, followed by a session on conducting research and publishing successfully. The speakers taught in a simple and interacting way how to develop a survey and an interview guide. Answering and questioning to participants, helped the attention and the better understanding of how the nurses could collaborate in or carry out surveys or qualitative studies, to promote nursing research.
Letizia Galgano presented the venue of the 51st Annual Meeting of the EBMT that will be held in Florence, Italy.
The day ended with the presentation of the protocols of two Italian studies exploring the quality of life of patients after CAR-T and the working capacity of patients after HSCT, which will soon commence enrolment. Finally, an overview of the sexual function of the patients and their partners after HSCT and the presentation of the S-FAST study allowed us to know in more detail this important aspect of wellbeing. The final session of the meeting was dedicated to present the new research project protocols, research findings, and share the methods for research proposal to the EBMT Nurses Group.
“It was a good new occasion to talk to and meet other nurses before the Meeting starts and during the coffee break and to listen to presentation from non-Italian speakers, as some nurses belonging to the EBMT NG. In particular, different parts were for me interesting.” (Chiara Visintini)
Initial feedback confirms the success of this meeting, and our alliance continues in preparation for the 51st Annual Meeting of the EBMT and beyond! Look out for further news on the EBMT Nurses Group 17th Educational Meeting of the EBMT Nurses Group with the French Nurses Group of SFGM, taking place October 2nd and 3rd 2025 in Nantes, France.
Michelle Kenyon, EBMT Nurses Group President
Stefano Botti, Past President of the GITMO NG
Dr. Lynn Leppla, PhD, RN
University of Basel and Department of Public Health, Basel, Schweiz.
Chiara Visintini, PhD student, MNS, RN
Haematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Unit, Udine University Hospital, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Italy
Linda Esplana, paediatric nurse and HCT coordinator
Department of Paediatric oncology, The Queen Silvia Childrens Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Malin Olsson, paediatric nurse and HCT coordinator
Department of Paediatric oncology, The Queen Silvia Childrens Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.