Patient participation on scientist panels/sub-committees, a large patient corner in the exhibition centre, a joint awareness session and attendance at the Training, Education and Liaison Committees – EFNA’s participation at the Joint Congress of Neurology reaches a new high!

As the new European Academy of Neurology comes into being, EFNA is pleased to announce that it enjoyed its most active and meaningful patient involvement at the recent joint congress of the EFNS* and ENS* in Istanbul.

Patient Corner
Ten EFNA member organisations exhibited at the Patient Corner over four days – an opportunity to promote awareness of their individual patient organisations and disease areas.

Delegates took part in the EFNA Awareness Quiz; comprising 50 questions from across ten disease areas. The winner was Dr Hilal with a high score of 32/50. Congratulations!

Patient Participation on Scientist Panels and Committees
In advance of the Congress, EFNA worked with the EFNS* to match our patient organisation members with the relevant scientist panels/sub-committees. Fifteen relevant panels were identified and thirteen positive responses received from the panel Chairs. Ultimately, ten panels had a patient representative, arising from which further collaboration will take place within the new European Academy of Neurology. We are currently surveying the patient representatives about their experience and will use the responses to build on this positive start.

EFNA also participated in the Training, Education and Liaison Committees which met in Istanbul to provide the patient perspective, and will follow-up on the various opportunities which arose. Keep checking back for updates!

EFNA attended the Assembly of Delegates too, which saw the election of the new Board of the European Academy of Neurology. Further details can be found here.

Awareness Session: Brain Disorders – The Communication Challenge
At the Joint Congress of European Neurology, EFNA organised an Awareness Session on ‘Brain Disorders: The Communication Challenge’. This session took the format of an interactive workshop focussing on how the neurologist can overcome the obstacles to effective communication during consultation. It included role-plays and the presentation a disease specific case-study, in Traumatic Brain Injury, from both the physician and patient perspective.

A report from this session, including the recommendations which emerged, can be found in the News/Events Section of the website. You can also read of EFNA’s future plans to take this project forward there.

General Assembly
The EFNA General Assembly took place in Istanbul. The Annual Report from 2013 and the Operational Plan for 2014 were approved. You can check out the reports here on the website.

 

* EFNS – European Federation of Neurological Societies

* ENS – European Neurological Society

These organisations have now come together to form the European Academy of Neurology. The two individual groups will now cease to operate.