Jorgen Thorup attended the meeting of the ERN Working Group on Knowledge Generation’s working subgroup on Training and Education on behalf of eUROGEN.
The aim of this meeting, on 18 February in Brussels, was to exchange information on the current actions of training and education implemented by the Networks and the Member States in the field of rare or low prevalence complex diseases. It was also focused on identifying training needs, as well as potential means and tools to address them, with a particular focus on the e-training solutions, and an overall objective of structuring the work at the ERN community level in this field.
During the discussion, there was agreement that activities would benefit from close collaboration with scientific societies and UEMS sections (CME activities and training requirements).
European Patient Advisory Group (EPAG) representatives underlined the need for targeted training activities for patients, both concerning knowledge on to handle their own disease and empowerment skills for the representatives speaking on behalf of the patients’ community. Serena Bartezatti, one of eUROGEN’s EPAG representatives, stressed the importance of educational programs in rare diseases for primary healthcare doctors.
DG SANTE presented on the setting up of a general framework for eTraining and eLearning for ERNs, and the EU Open DG DEVCO’s experience on an eTraining environment (the Moodle IT environment) was demonstrated.
It was clear that creating a professional eLearning session is time-consuming and needs resources. The well-established EU programs Marie Sklodowska-Curie and ERASMUS+ were presented as potential sources of financial support. However, the first one is very competitive and primarily for research and the second only for pre-graduates and PhD students.
eUROGEN is well prepared to use the modalities of choice among those that were presented. eUROGEN aims to work in close collaboration with the EAU, EBU, ESPU and EBPU to apply for financial support available within the EC system and to create a system for accrediting events and activities especially related to the rare diseases.
