“The European Respiratory Society (ERS) is committed to delivering high quality, effective and desirable continued professional development (CPD) opportunities to its members. To honour this commitment, the Education Council has been evaluating current needs and opportunities and has been considering how current structures can be developed and improved.
“On 22–23 June, I chaired an ERS Education Research Seminar in Frankfurt, alongside my colleague and Education Council Chair Elect Daiana Stolz. The event was attended by ERS officers and key opinion leaders as well as educationalists and was a platform for us to address and discuss the full range of associated factors including curriculum and personal development, educational activities, assessments and the role of ERS in delivering education moving forward.
“Discussion groups were organised as part of the days’ events and the Seminar allowed for input from key opinion leaders with regards to a framework for trained specialists.
Outcomes
“The delivery of high standard medical education is a complex process with a clear value. ERS is committed to providing CPD as an essential element of improving practice performance and patient outcomes.
“A clear goal for ERS is to continue to develop the aims we initially set out with the HERMES project – to harmonise education in respiratory medicine for European specialists. We have an integral role to play in aligning education in this way; if ERS can succeed in offering respiratory specialists educational tracks which are internationally recognised, then we move one step closer to a process of offering training that may help to assess professional qualifications and improve quality of care for patients across Europe.
‘The reality of the future of healthcare is the inevitable need to work without borders’ – Wass & Southgate, 2017
The next steps
“I would like to invite all ERS members to attend the Educational Forum at the ERS International Congress in Milan where we will discuss how we aim to deliver on our commitments and highlight the next steps in harmonising education across Europe.”
- Read about the Educational Forum and add it to your agenda