EONS Newsletter January 2020

Happy New Year! EONS wishes you all the very best for 2020! This is a time when we often make resolutions about the things we would like to prioritise in the coming year. As cancer nurses in a fast-changing world and a challenging workplace, our professional development will be high on our lists. EONS offers its members fantastic opportunities to refresh and add to their skills and knowledge, and you’ll find many featured in this first EONS newsletter of 2020. Most importantly, ECND2020 and EONS13 in Madrid are two fabulous events that you simply must not miss! This year we are also pleased to announce two new EONS sessions at the ESMO Breast Cancer Meeting and European Lung Cancer Conference with the opportunity for local nurses to experience EONS’ sessions not only in English, but French and German too.

World Cancer Day on Tuesday 4 February, promoted by WHO, aims to save millions of preventable deaths by raising awareness and education about cancer and pressing governments and individuals across the world to act against the disease. The theme for 2020 is “I Am And I Will” and pledges to work together to reduce cancer risk factors, overcome barriers to early diagnosis, treatment and palliative care, and to improve cancer control and achieve global targets to reduce premature mortality from cancer. EONS will use this opportunity to raise awareness on RECaN (Recognising European Cancer Nursing), with messages from leading cancer nurses across EONS’ social media platforms. Add your voice on social media on 4 February and please use the hashtags #EONSCancerNurses  #WorldCancerDay #YON2020 #EUCancerPlan
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MAKE A SHORT VIDEO TO SHARE: Record a short video on your phone (15 to 30 seconds max.) in support of World Cancer Day and calling for the recognition of cancer nursing. Then upload it to https://bit.ly/367feJL or email it to working.groups@cancernurse.eu by Tuesday 28 January. We’ll share the best ones on World Cancer Day on 4 February, and/or use them in our ECND campaign on 18 May!

For GDPR compliance, please confirm that you are happy for us to share your video.

The EONS President Andreas Charalambous, President Elect Johan de Munter and COO Emma Woodford met the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, on 20 January to explain the valuable role cancer nurses play in prevention, research, treatment and survivorship in order to ensure that Europe’s new Cancer Plan includes cancer nursing. This comes in advance of a key moment in the European Parliament on 4 February – World Cancer Day – when Commissioner Kyriakides, with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, will launch the much-anticipated consultation on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.
 
Cancer has become a top priority among European policy makers this year, bringing some wonderful opportunities and new challenges for EONS. The EONS board and advocacy working group will be monitoring the consultation and preparing a response. Registrations for the event are still open, or you can watch via a live webstream

Following our excellent partnership with our friends at ESMO last year in Barcelona, we are delighted to be able to announce that we will again be joining with them for our conference this year – EONS13 in Madrid, Spain. For the first time, EONS will be offering a 90 Euro registration fee for students and young cancer nurses (under 35)! There will also be a limited bursary fund available for which EONS members from low and middle income countries will be able to apply. More information about these will be available soon!
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In 2020, we are very pleased to be able to offer access to two cancer nursing run sessions at more ESMO events.
 
In April, EONS’ President Andreas Charlambous and members Pascale Dielenseger and Manuela Eicher have put together two sessions on cancer nursing in lung cancer for the European Lung Cancer Conference,  in Geneva, Switzerland from 15-18 April 2020. Andreas’ session will focus on Supportive Care in the Era of Novel Therapies for Thoracic Cancers. Pascale and Manuela’s session, Supportive and Nursing Care for Patients with Lung Cancer: Perspectives from the French-speaking Community, will be presented in English but there will be ample opportunity for questions and discussions in French and English. Both sessions will be held on Friday 17 April. Register here with special rates for nurses.
  
At the ESMO Breast Cancer Conference, Berlin, Germany from 7-9 May 2020, Gabi Knötgen, EONS Board Member and Advocacy Working Group Member has organized a fantastic session on Needs-oriented Specialized Nursing for Breast Cancer Care Nurses. With excellent speakers from Germany and Switzerland, the presentations will be made in English, but participants should feel free to ask questions or hold discussions in German. This event will be on 9 May. Register here and don’t forget to use the nursing rate!

The call is now open for applications for the 2^nd EONS Eastern Europe and Balkan Region Masterclass in Oncology Nursing, in Belgrade from 3-5 September 2020. The masterclass is specifically designed to meet the educational needs of cancer nurses from Eastern Europe and the Balkan region. Three intensive days of full immersion in up-to-date cancer nursing will create a collective spirit of teaching and learning to improving clinical skills and patient care.
+ For more information and to apply

The call for applications for the 3rd EONS PhD Research Workshop – from 27-29 May 2020, at the Institut Català d'Oncologia, in Barcelona, Spain – is now open. This exciting workshop is designed for cancer nurses  at any stage of their doctoral studies who would like to network with other PhD students and improve their knowledge, confidence and expertise in cancer nursing research, as applied to their PhD. Successful applicants are requested to pay a registration fee of 100€ but travel (economy rate, public transport) will be refunded and participants will be offered 2 nights’ accommodation. Deadline for applications is 24 January 2020. 
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EONS Advocacy Working Group member Matt Fowler has recently returned from his first trip to Gaza with his friend and fellow cancer nurse from Scotland Gerry O’Hare and consultant oncologist Dr Abdulla Alhasso. The trio were invited by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) UK to help deliver a two-day scientific programme for cancer professionals working in Gaza. The programme was well attended by doctors, nurses and other key members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team providing cancer care in Gaza. Matt and Gerry discussed the potential for advancing nursing practice in Gaza as well as the importance of assessment in chemotherapy nursing. As Matt has a particular interest in occupational safety for chemotherapy nurses he was able to survey some of the chemotherapy nurses and has plans to return with Gerry later on this year to further support cancer nursing teams in Gaza.

The brand new issue of the EONS Magazine is packed with interesting articles reporting on some of the key events and speeches at our EONS12 Conference in Barcelona. You can find out about the plans our new EONS President, Andreas Charalambous, has for the next two years and read an inspiring interview with the recipient of the 2019 EONS Achievement Award, Elisabeth Patiraki. There are lots of other articles that will help inform and develop your cancer nursing practice and inspire you to keep your passion for your work.
Read the EONS Magazine now https://bit.ly/2DBvxml

One grant of 2500€  is available for the 2020 EONS Research Travel Grant. Both novice and established researchers will be considered. The grant funds one or two visits to the host institution (including travel at economy fare, accommodation and expenses). The focus of the grant is to build capacity and capability through a period of close working with experienced clinical and/or academic researchers in another country. The deadline to apply is 29 May 2020. Find out more

EONS is in the process of refreshing and modernising its website – www.cancernurse.eu The current site will undergo redevelopment over the coming few months. During this major design and build work, the site will not be updated with new information as often as usual, so please bear with us during this time as we put all our efforts into creating a wonderful new platform for all EONS members and the wider cancer nursing world.

New novel tobacco and nicotine products are “harmful” according to a new report released from the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), who represent national medical associations across Europe. A recent report says that the CPME is “highly concerned about the health risks of emerging novel tobacco and nicotine products”, highlighting that they fall into “dangerous regulatory gaps”. While the report specifies that tobacco remains “the single most lethal human product and single largest avoidable cause of premature death and disability worldwide”, it also highlights that the “typical use of electronic cigarettes produces an aerosol that includes toxic substances that have known health effects, resulting in a range of significant pathological changes”. Find out more

The European Commission recently published the State of Health in the EU 2019  report which aims at making health system information, expertise and best practices easily accessible to policymakers and policy influencers. The report may be of interest to you if you are curious about the overall state of health in your country and/or how it is doing compared to others.

On December 10, high level cancer experts from across Europe gathered in Brussels to join forces for a united call to the European Union to set a common goal to eliminate HPV-caused cancers in Europe. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 311 000 women died from cervical cancer  in 2018; more than 85% of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Even though HPV-caused cancers can be prevented by vaccination, most European countries do not either offer HPV tests or vaccinate both boys and girls despite evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccine. The European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) is fully supportive of the idea that all national cancer plans should include actions towards achieving population-based and gender-neutral HPV vaccinations to reduce cervical, oropharyngeal, anal, penile and other cancers.