First of all I would like to salute all the ISPRM members and express my gratitude for beeing elected for this charge. I will try to continue the excellent work of my predecessors Daniel Wever and Christoph Gutenbrünner whom I thank for their precious collaboration.
In this report I will refer the most significant events concerning Rehabilitation in Europe as well as the more relevant activities of the three main European PRM bodies which are:
- The European Academy of PRM
- The “Union Européènne des Médecins Spécialistes -UEMS (PRM Section and Board)
- The European Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine - ESPRM.
(Their main vocations and roles have already been described in previous reports so I won’t repeat this again. If someone needs some additional information about these organizations please contact me).
In this present report I will only refer the relevant issues that took place after our last meeting in Bruges (June 2008), since the past Vice President Christoph Gutenbrünner reported there the previous relevant facts and activities.
In the month of June, from the 24th till the 26th, took place in Porto (Portugal) the Congress of the International Society of Medical Hydrology, which I had the special honor of chairing. This Congress deserves a reference because in many European countries Medical Hydrology is included in PRM. Besides this in many Balneology Medical Institutions there are Rehabilitation Services and facilities offering both “In Patient” and/ or “Out Patient” Rehab. Programs.
Medical Hydrology has now good Evidence Based scientific support and within the PRM Section of the UEMS there is a Working Group in the Professional Practice Committee that was established in 2004 during the Hanover General Assembly.
It was decided at that time to work in cooperation with the International Society of Medical Hydrology –ISMH, in which Executive Board are prestigious PRM doctors, such as its president Tamás Bender or its Vice President Christoph Gutenbrünner.
Since that year of 2004 many developments had been achieved and currently most of the International Congresses of PRM include sessions on the topic “Medical Hydrology or Medical Balneology”).
Many of our specialist doctors are committed to this practice and we assist today of a growing cooperation within this field with South America Countries, Japan and also with some centers in USA and Canada.
In the ICF Model Medical Hydrology is also under development beeing included in the same concept of the “Health Resort Medicine” enhancing the relevance of the contextual factors in all the recovering process of health.
The 2008 ISMH Porto Congress received:
• near 300 participants with
• 191 abstracts, from 32 countries
• 15 Sessions, beeing 4 of them parallel
• 1 satellite symposium, 1 Workshop
• one consensus meeting
• three General Assemblies (ISMH, Portugal, France)
• one university degree examination (Spain)
The Congress was considered a success by all the participants and a Procedures Book will be published till the end of 2008. A CD version will be also available. All the ISPRM members who are interested in this field may visit the ISMH website www.ismh-direct.net or contact me by the email pedrocantista@netcabo.pt
The months of July and August (usually holydays months in Europe) didn’t have significant activity. During this time however one action deserves a special report.
I am referring the PRM European School of Marseille an initiative that is lead by Prof.
Alain Delarque current president of the UEMS PRM Section and supported by the European Board and Academy. The organizing committee is composed of clinicians and scientists and every year several distinguished PRM expertise are invited to teach a special course to a group of residents selected from all over Europe. This action is an excellent example of how international cooperation can be effective in terms of PRM Education.
In September (from the 4th till the 7th) took place in Riga (Latvia) the General Assembly of the UEMS PRM Section and Board as well as the ESPRM Executive Board Meeting.
Starting by the ESPRM Executive Board meeting I would like to remember that its Executive Meeting is currently formed by the following members:
Prof Alessandro Giustini (President)
Prof Henk Stam (Past-President)
Prof Ilena Ilieva (Secretary General)
Prof Christoph Gutenbrünner (Treasurer)
Prof. Alain Delarque (Responsible for “Internal Affairs”, relationship with UEMS)
Dr. Pedro Cantista (Responsible for “External Affairs”, namely ISPRM relationship)
Prof. Alvydas Juocevicius
Prof. Sasa Moslavac
The main points of this meeting were the preparation of the next 17th European Congress which will take place in Venice from 23-27 May, 2010.
The names of the scientific committee members were already proposed as well as the topics, seminars, workshops, prizes and awards. To see more details you can visit the website www.cesprm2010.eu .
The title chosen for this congress is "European rehabilitation: quality, evidence, efficacy and effectiveness". Prof Alessandro Giustini will chair this event.
The Executive Board also discussed ESPRM cooperation with other International Societies Congresses, namely the next ISPRM one in Istanbul (June 13-17 2009).
Other issues that worth to be mentioned concerns the ESPRM strategic activities (Good Clinical Practice, Guidelines, Risk Management, Staff Management, Consumers Involvement, Health Technology Assessment, ICF development). A task force was constituted with the mission of collecting, organizing and updating PRM relevant documents and publications in order to achieve the referred goals.
In the UEMS PRM Section and Board General Assembly, chaired by Prof. Alain Delarque, many and very important points were discussed and a significant number of decisions were voted and approved as well. We had the privilege of having among us the UEMS Secretary General Dr. Bernard Maillet which work has beeing an excellent contribute for the relationship with the UEMS Council and the good relationship with other specialties. As special guest we have also with us Prof. Angela McNamara, from Ireland, an PRM European Board former President, who gave us an unforgettable speech about her own experience as patient allowing a “both sides perspective” of a serious condition and its Rehabilitation specific care interventions. Our colleague and friend Angela deserves a special tribute and (for sure!) her knowledge, wise thoughts and courage to share her experience may be a pedagogic example for us all, teaching how to perform rehab interventions in acute care units. We all do expect a publication in a near future…
As described before by my antecessor Prof. Christoph Gutenbrünner in his previous report, in these UEMS PRM Section and Board meetings we start in the first day by a plenary session. On the second day three committees (Clinical Practice, Professional Practice and Board) meet separately in different workshops preparing documents to be discussed and voted in the third day, during a new plenary session.
In this September 2008 assembly we underline all the work done in The Clinical Affairs Committee and in the Board regarding the European Certification Rules for Rehab Programs, PRM trainers and specialists (by examination or equivalence, depending of the time of clinical practice or experience).
Also within the Board activity we highlight the proposals of updating the “National Delegates Duties”, prepared by Profs. Fitnat Dincer and Crt Marincek.
This year the “European Examination” will take place as usual in the last week of November. Prof. Xanthi Michail will cease functions as President of the Board and be replaced by Prof Franco Franchignoni. During this Assembly Prof. Jean Michel Viton was elected Vice president of the Board.
Within the Professional Practice committee some important issues were discussed as well. One important concern of our section is the definition of the “PRM field of competence”. A “draft paper” coordinated by Profs. Christoph Gutenbrünner, Alain Delarque and Francis Le Moine and with the contribution of several other authors is now beeing developed. We expected to see a UEMS “position paper” on this subject published within the next few months.
Also within this committee the Balneology Working Group (that I chair) we discussed a strategic working plan, subsequently voted and approved by the PRM Section during the plenary session.
Other important debate in the Professional Practice Committee is the PRM doctor’s activity in the so-called “Manual Medicine”. Prof. Ulrich Smolensky prepared a presentation about the situation of this modality within Europe and what could be the PRM policy regarding this subject.
We would like to mention here the great work of cooperation among all participants in the UEMS PRM Section and Board meeting and leave here a special word for those belonging to the “new coming countries” of the Eastern Europe (at this time almost all the European countries take place in this UEMS Assembly).
Finally let me express a very special thank to the magnificent work of our colleagues from Latvia Profs. Anita and Aivars Vetra for excellent organization of this meeting and for the way as we were received, with afantastic hospitality.
To conclude this report I refer the next 7th Mediterranean Congress of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine taking place in Portoroz - Portorose, Slovenia, in next September 18-21, being Prof. Crt Marincek its chairman.
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