EONS education projects are specifically designed to help cancer nurses to stay up to date with the latest evidence-based knowledge and skills across a wide range of clinical subject areas. By providing access to cutting-edge education and training, cancer nurses are better equipped to care for their patients with the most advanced and effective treatments available. This also contributes to improved patient outcomes and safer patient care.
ABC4Nurses
EONS’ current project, entitled ABC4Nurses, offers a fit-for-practice, comprehensive, inclusive, and scalable online education programme, teaching European nurses specialist knowledge and skills in advanced breast cancer (ABC) care.
The project was comprise of four parts:
In Part 1, a systematic review was conducted to confirm the need for a new, bespoke educational programme for nurses in ABC.
The systematic review findings were published in the Nurse Education Today in July 2022. It is available open access to read online here: Advanced breast cancer education for cancer nurses: A systematic review.
Authors: Drury, A., Dowling, M., Diez de Los Rios la Serna, C., Erdem, S., Aroyo, V., Wiseman, T., Bagcivan, G. (2022).
In Part 2, a modified three-round Delphi approach was used to gain consensus on the content of the educational programme for nurses in ABC. The Delphi study results were published in the Nurse Education Today in May 2023 and are available open access.
Drury, A., Diez de Los Rios, C., Bağçivan, G., Dowling, M., Kotronoulas, G., Shewbridge, A., Sheehan, S., Erdem, S., Aroyo, V. & Wiseman, T. (2023) Consensus Views on an Advanced Breast Cancer Education Curriculum for Cancer Nurses: A Delphi Study. Nurse Education Today. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105757
In Part 3, a blended learning programme to support cancer nurses to develop their knowledge and skills in the care of people with ABC has been developed. It is available in four languages: English, Czech, Spanish and Turkish.
The course consists of six modules and is designed by top cancer experts to actively encourage your engagement with the learning. They feature case studies, questions, videos and interactive activities which give you lots of opportunities to check your understanding of what’s been covered and how you can apply it in your own practice. You will get feedback on your learning in each module. At the end of the course, you’ll be invited to take a multiple-choice quiz which will track your progress. After completing the 120-contact-hour programme, you will receive a Certification of Completion.
REGISTER HERE
IMPORTANT NOTICE: EONS is building a new platform to host our educational offerings. ABC4Nurses will migrate to this platform from early 2024. Therefore, new registrations to access the programme will be paused as of 1 December 2023 until our new platform is available.
In Part 4, the programme implementation and evaluation was undertaken. A brief report on the development and implementation of the ABC4Nurses education program was published open access in the Journal of Cancer Education in June 2023.
Dowling, M., Shewbridge, A., Ryan, C. et al. Development and Implementation of an Online Education Program on Advanced Breast Cancer for European Cancer Nurses: ABC4Nurses Project: a Brief Report. J Canc Educ (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-023-02319-3
Task group representatives at ABC7
Amanda Drury, EONS, Theresa Wiseman, project poster presenter and Violet Aroyo from EuropaDonna Turkey
A poster entitled “ABC4Nurses: A co-design project to develop, deliver and evaluate an online education programme for nursing caring for people with Advanced Breast Cancer” presented during the ABC7 conference on November 9-11, 2023 in Lisbon was selected as best poster!
Project timelines: July 01, 2021 – September 30, 2023.
This project was lead by Dr Amanda Drury (University College, Dublin, Ireland) and Professor Theresa Wiseman (Royal Marsden, UK), together with co-investigators, Ms Celia Diez de Los Rios (EONS), Dr Gulcan Bagcivan (Koc University, Turkey), Dr Grigorios Kotronoulas (University of Glasgow, UK), Dr Maura Dowling (National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland), Dr Amanda Shewbridge (Guys Cancer Academy, UK), Ms Sema Erdem (Europa Donna, Turkey) and Ms Violet Aroyo (Europa Donna, Turkey).
EONS would like to thank Pfizer for their support through a quality of care improvement grant.
Early breast cancer – webinar mini-series
EONS developed a webinar mini-series for the European cancer nursing community to support them in their care of people with early breast cancer (EBC). This mini-series provided an up-to-date, evidence-based overview of the knowledge and skills required to care for people with EBC. In particular, it covered breast cancer as a disease, pathophysiology, treatment and side effects management, including emerging situations. The last section discusses the impact of EBC on people and their families and how to live well during and after treatment.
The webinars are translated into Georgian, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Turkish. The complete webinar mini-series (divided into parts) can be accessed on the EONS YouTube channel or by clicking here
We have added testimonials from three patients who shared their experience of living with early breast cancer, getting through treatment and what’s life like beyond this. This is split into two parts.
Part 1 discusses how people experience early breast cancer, treatment and living with early breast cancer: diagnosis and initial treatment, while Part 2 discusses recovery and lives after breast cancer. The video subtitles are translated into Georgian, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Turkish.
We would like to thank Clare, Didem and Tony for sharing their story.
EONS Task Group Members:
- Theresa Wiseman, Chair, UK
- Merel van Klinken, co-Chair, NL
- Celia Diez de los Rios, Cancer Nurse Expert, ESP
- Amanda Shewbridge, Cancer Nurse Expert, NL
EONS would like to thank the AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Novartis for their support through a restricted educational grant.
Nutrition in cancer – “NutriCaNurse”
“NutriCaNurse” is a short name for the latest EONS education project – an education webinar for cancer nurses. The main aim is to provide guidance regarding the knowledge, skills and competencies in nutrition for nurses who care for people affected by cancer. There will be three outputs from this project:
- The Webinar on Nutrition in Cancer was released in November 2020. It covered issues around cancer and malnutrition and describes the main causes and mechanisms associated with nutritional problems in cancer patients. There is a focus on the different tools used to evaluate risk, the treatments and care interventions available, and on educating patients about this important part of their recovery.
The complete webinar can be accessed on the EONS YouTube channel – just click on the image below, or go to this link
(You can switch on English captions by clicking the small white icon “CC” on the bottom right of the video.)
2. Booklet – a practical guide for cancer nurses based on the webinar
You can download it now from the Further Information section of this page.
3. Article – an overview of the current status of knowledge, gaps and recommendations.
EONS Task Group Members:
- Virpi Sulosaari, Chair, Finland
- Sara Torcato Parreira, Cancer Nurse Expert, Portugal
This project was in collaboration with The European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD) & European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN).
EONS would like to thank the Medical Nutrition Industry (MNI) for their support through a restricted educational grant.
Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) webinar
Watch the video of the webinar
This live 90-minute webinar took place on 22 February 2021. It provided an overview of advanced breast cancer types, treatment options, usual sites of metastases and how to manage symptoms and continue to live well. Translated subtitles are available in French, Georgian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish (click on ‘Settings’ button to select).
The webinar provided all cancer nurses caring for people with advanced breast cancer (ABC) with a clear understanding of what the ABC entails and how to manage various psychosocial aspects faced by those affected. It also supported nurses in learning about the management of complex needs that ABC patients have, in order to maximally enhance the quality of life of those affected, while also enhancing optimal clinical outcomes.
The webinar has two parts:
- ABC (Hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative disease) overview (e.g. where is the spread, symptom management)
- Treatment options (including adverse effects and side effects management) and living well with ABC (e.g. symptom assessment and management, enhancing physical and emotional well-being)
EONS Task Group Members:
- Theresa Wiseman, Chair, UK
- Merel van Klinken, co-Chair, NL
- Celia Diez de los Rios, Cancer Nurse Expert, ESP
- Dimitris Protogiros, Cancer Nurse Expert, GR
EONS would like to thank the Eli Lilly and Novartis for their support through a restricted educational grant.
Cancer Therapy-Induced Nausea & Vomiting in Adults
This is an education initiative aimed at cancer nurses to help them better understand the mechanisms and effective management of cancer induced nausea and/or vomiting (N/V), including delayed onset. You can download it from this page. The booklet is available in Croatian, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish – click on the relevant link in the Further Information column of this page. Key points to remember and suggestions for practice change are included. The brochure serves as a teaching tool for nurses in clinical practice.
Task group members:
- Anita Margulies, co-chair, Switzerland
- Patrick Jahn, co-chair, Germany
- Anki Delin Eriksson, Sweden
- Sara Torcato Parreira, Portugal
- Cheryl Vidall, UK
Medical Advisor:
- Prof Dr Karin Jordan, Germany
EONS thanks Helsinn and TesaroBio for their support through a restricted educational grant.
Target
This edition of Target was updated in 2020. Target was developed to give nurses a better understanding of the characteristics associated with cancer development and how targeted therapies have improved patient outcomes by inhibiting or manipulating these oncogenic characteristics (Hanahan & Weinberg 2011). Emphasis on nursing practice and patient support throughout treatment remain the main focus of the Target programme.
The policy of multi-pharma support allows the content of the Target material to be not only generally applicable to all targeted therapies, but also neutral in its presentation. Nurses are involved with all drugs, all tumour entities, all patients and all health economic situations. It is the goal of EONS to give its member societies sufficient information and educational support to be able to meet the continually growing demands of the oncology health sector.
Offering a Target course through your society, interest group or institution, you will be giving nurses one of the best possible courses to understand this dynamically growing treatment area and will give them the knowledge to improve care and support for patients and their caregivers. This update has been made possible by Amgen, Bayer, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Takeda and MSD.
The updated materials are available to EONS individual or national society members who wish to organise a Target course in their own country.
Mobile Application on prostate cancer – “ProsCApp”
EONS’ first mobile application aims to assist cancer nurses in assessing and addressing the needs of patients diagnosed with prostate cancer according to the latest evidence-based assessment tools and management interventions. Emphasis is particularly placed on assessing and addressing the needs more frequently reported by patients which have been left unmet during their care. The app is available for download here and from the Further Information sidebar at the top of this page. Just follow the links to Apple’s AppStore and Google’s Play store.
*The ProsCApp is available in two further languages: Dutch and Greek.
This tool has been made possible by a restricted education grant from Amgen and Takeda.
TITAN
The EONS TITAN programme is a training and education initiative designed to improve nurses’ skills and knowledge when working with patients with cancer-related thrombocytopenia, anaemia and neutropenia. An updated programme (2018) is available to EONS individual or national society members who wish to organise a TITAN course in their own country. EONS is currently preparing an update of this programme.
The TITAN 2018 update provides comprehensive up-to-date information about the management of these cancer treatment-related complications and guidelines on patient education, and consists of:
- A pre-course book
- 7 slide power point presentations
- Guidelines for TITAN 2018 organisers
- Guidelines for creating a case study
- Pre-course test
- Programme sample
- Course evaluation form
Task group members:
- Erik van Muilekom, chair, The Netherlands
- Patrick Crombez, co-chair, Belgium
- Johan de Munter, Belgium
- Christine Schneider-Worliczek, Austria
- Arno Mank, The Netherlands
- Elisabeth Wallhult, Sweden
EONS would like to thank AMGEN, TAKEDA and TEVA Pharmaceuticals for their support through an unrestricted educational grant. This TITAN update is an EONS/EMBT joint project.
EONS Education Projects in the Pipeline
Coming soon…