Prof. Dafin Muresanu Chair, EAN Communication Committee
Dear Readers,
In this article, our goal is to provide a glimpse into the excellent collaboration and cooperation our organization has had with the European Federation of Neurorehabilitation Societies (EFNR).
As you may know, our Academy’s mission is to support the development of excellence in the field of neurology in Europe and across the globe. Our resolve is to foster a collaborative environment, in order to achieve the best quality of care and improved patient outcomes. The inception of our collaboration was sparked by the need to expand our network of partners. Over the years, several professional and scientific societies have joined our journey.
The common path of EAN and EFNR began in 2017 at the EAN Congress in Amsterdam. After several months of exploratory discussions and constructive groundwork, the EAN President – Professor Dr. Günther Deuschl, together with the EFNR President at that time – Professor Dr. Leopold Saltuari, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organizations. This milestone agreement is structured around three major pillars: improvement of clinical practice, education of future generations and collaboration within the community.
The first pillar reflects our continuous endeavor to improve medical practice and patient care by the development of evidence-based clinical guidelines. In 2017, during a meeting of the EAN Neurorehabilitation Scientific Panel, prof. Dafin Mureșanu (co-chair) announced the successful submission of the “Pharmacological Support in Early Motor Rehabilitation after Stroke” guideline development protocol to the EAN Guideline Production Group. The protocol was acknowledged as one of the most promising and challenging ones to that date, with strict adherence to the GRADE Working Group standards.
Prof. Dr. Volker Hömberg.
Vice-President of the European Federation of Neurorehabilitation Societies (EFNR) and Secretary General of World Federation of Neurorehabilitation Societies (WFNR).
This guideline production Task Force is comprised of Prof. Dafin Mureșanu (Task Force Chair), Prof. Johannes Vester (Task Force Chair), prof. Volker Hömberg (Vice-President EFNR), prof. Heinrich Binder (Founding President EFNR), Prof. Maura Pugliatti (Neuroepidemiology SP co-chair), Prof. Ettore Beghi (Neuroepidemiology SP co-chair), Prof. Leopold Sal
tuari (President EFNR), Prof. Natan Bornstein (Stroke SP co-chair), Prof. Karin Diserens (Executive Board EFNR), Prof. Andreas Bender (Neurorehabilitation SP), Prof. Stanislav Groppa (Stroke SP), Prof. Vitalie Lisnic (Neuroepidemiology SP) and Codruța Bîrle (RoNeuro Institute, Romania).
After two years of hard work, at the 5th EAN Congress in Oslo, the guideline development team presented the final progress report for this endeavor. In the fall of 2019, the “Pharmacological Support in Early Motor Rehabilitation after Stroke guideline will be submitted to the EAN Board and Guideline Production Group for evaluation.
The second pillar of our collaboration is focused on our commitment to invest in the medical education of healthcare professionals, by developing learning environments and formats such as Spring and Autumn Schools or Regional Teaching Courses. EAN and EFNR have many active collaborations for various complex scientific programs within the organizations’ current framework. For the past three years, EAN has endorsed EFNR’s European Teaching Course on Neurorehabilitation, an international event that serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas and communication of the latest scientific developments in the fields of neurorehabilitation and neuroscience. This year, the Teaching Course on Neurorehabilitation brought together over 150 experts and trainees from 7 countries. Another example is the Neurorehabilitation Day, which was planned during the 2019 EAN Spring School. A novelty within the main program, this event promoted extensive work sessions between participants, in line with the new scientific and clinical paradigms worldwide.
Prof. Dafin Muresanu
Chair of the EAN Communication Committee
Finally, the third pillar stands for the active collaboration within common sessions in each of our organizations’ main events and congresses. As a result, the EFNR hosted an EAN session in 2017 at their congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, and will host another one in 2019 (9-12 October, Budapest, Hungary). This highlights the potential of such collaborations to bring forward the best possible educational and scientific outcomes, in a mutually beneficial and synergistic approach.
As recently proven, EAN and EFNR will continue to come together in order to meet patient needs and to bridge the gap between science and education in the medical community. Join us on our journey!
