Posts from Sabine Valenta

Tuesday March 23, 2019

The third day started very existingly with an interview about our #SMILeproject, conducted by the Video Journal of Hematological Oncology (VJHemOnc)!

Afterwards, we joined the Nurses group session about “Decision making”. Dr. Steve Marshall gave a great talk about “Shared decision making of treatment options” by focusing on palliative care. Early palliative care support can enhance QoL and reduce costs. This presentation was followed by an impressive talk from Laura Platon about Indications for intensive care. Finally, Dr. Barry Quinn presented “How to change from active to palliative care” and highlighted that palliation and supported care is the core of daily nursing, especially in HSCT survivors.

After lunch, we attended the Joint WBMT Session - Efficiency and effectiveness of new models for transplant care delivery and heard impressive presentations about “Telemedicine solutions for remote consultations from a distance (e.g. Nepal)”  as well as about “Economic Challenges in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation”, presented by Prof. Weisdorf.

In the afternoon, it was very existing to meet all the other Young Ambassadors and to exchange experiences and future plans. Finally, we attended the poster presentations and get great input about new evidence and expert knowledge in the field of HSCT.

Monday March 25, 2019

The second day started with the Nurses Program Opening Session, 09:00-10:30 am. John Murray welcomed us and Simone van der Linden introduced the EBMT NG Scientific Committee abstract and finalist selection. Eugenia Trigoso presented the Global Education Committee as well as impressive Nurses Training Courses from Brasil. Dr. Majhail gave a great and impressive talk about Why and How to use Social Media. Dr. Hélène Schoemans as keynote speaker remarkably presented the importance of Long-term survivorship after HSCT and highlighted the burden of late effects for survivors after HSCT.

At the Nurses symposium - The Bone Marrow Transplant Patient Pathway - Mallinckrodt Industry Symposium Luca Pierelli and Francoise Kerache introduced Principles and Practice of ECP. Further, Leonardo Magro presented an in-depth talk about Scleral Lenses and their use in GvHD, followed by an impressive presentation about Quality of life outcomes across the BMT patient pathway presented by Bronwen Shaw.

 After lunch time, Dr. Alex King, Dr. Anna Barata and Dr. Angela Scherwath greatly presented input about screening and long-term survivorship during the PsychGroup Session.

Finally, I have attended the nurses’ group oral session and have had the great opportunity to present our submitted abstract, the contextual analysis of the #SMILeproject. In the evening, it has been amazing to attend the poster guiding sessions and to network with colleagues and experts from all over the world.

Sunday March 24, 2019

Today, the #EBMT2019 started for me with impressive presentations at the Nursing Education Day, 08:30-10:00 am! First, Hilda Mekelenkamp gave a great talk about nursing challenges of caring patients with inborn errors. Guiding parents and patients, education, support of self-management tasks and shared decision-making are key components. Further, Anna Barata greatly presented the challenges of caregivers providing care for HSCT survivors and highlighted their burden during the diseases trajectory. Caregivers are often left alone and their QoL is significantly reduced during the disease trajectory. Psychosocial care and support are key components in the clinical practice. Finally, Jan Sörensen introduced principles and challenges of Apheresis in children.

After a small coffee break, we had the great opportunity to get newest insights on “GvHD – latest hot topics” introduced by Prof. Mohamad Mohty, 10:30-12:00 am! First, great and in-depth talk about new evidence of acute GvHD biomarkers. Dr. James Ferrara presented clinical cases in order to explain biomarkers at GvHD onset, steroid resistance, treatment solutions, and biomarkers after steroid treatment and clinical response. Second, Prof. Ali Bazarbachi talked about Allogenic transplant for FLT3-ITD mutated AML, followed by Prof. Mohamad Mohty’s presentation about “post-Cy” toxities in the setting of haploidentical transplantation. Finally, Dr. Savani stressed out “Quality of Life and nutritional support in the context of GvHD.

The day continued with Nursing Education Day: Challenges throughout all ages, 12:30-2:00 pm! Angela Florridia presented the Home Care service for HSCT residence in Genoa metropolitan area in Italy. Next to home care service, caregivers receive training sessions. Angela Florridia also presented cases to explain the home care service – very interesting to hear about facilitators and barriers of implementing a home care service for HSCT survivors! Next, Dr. Antoine highlighted the importance of a comprehensive geriatric assessment in elderly to provide best support and treatment for this population! Finally, Dr. Gesine Bug gave a great overview of physical and psychological late effects after HSCT.

One of the today`s highlight was to attend the CAR T Cells symposium: Understand the past and improving the future introduced by Prof. Dr. Schmitz (Germany), from 02:30-04:00 pm! Dr. Benjamin gave a great and comprehensible overview about the CAR T cell journey and evolution, followed by Dr. Locke talking about ongoing evidence about CAR T cell therapy. Prof. Dr. Thieblemont presented inclusion criteria for receiving CAR T cells as well as cases and experiences with CAR T Cell therapy. Selection of patients is key point as well as real-world experiences and the involved multidisciplinary team. Finally, Prof. Dr. Schmitz talked about the future of CAR T cell therapy.

Finally, the first day was completed by the Opening Ceremony with an impressive and important keynote lecture with respect to “Loss of Biodiversity” presented by Prof. Mosbrugger.

March 11, 2019

The EBMT Annual Meeting provides a great opportunity for me to learn from different, interdisciplinary educational sessions, to visit the plenary sessions as well as to meet with colleagues and experts from all over the world and share experiences.

In order to get ready for the EBMT Annual Meeting 2019 in Frankfurt (Germany), I have started to browse the program planner and organised the sessions I want to attend. With its functionality to select and save different topics and types of sessions, the program planner is a tremendous help in preparing for the Annual Meeting.

First, there are several educational sessions I am eager to attend. The “Nurses Education Day” provides a great opportunity to get input on nursing challenges throughout the ages. Further educational sessions, such as “Challenges in adult AML”, “ALL - Treatment and transplantation concepts” as well as educational sessions about aGvHD and cGvHD will provide a deeper understanding about the current state-of-the art in the field.

Second, I am looking forward to attending the statistical course, since survival analysis is one important analytical techniques for my own research and thus I expect that this course will largely enhance and deepen my knowledge in this field.

Third, another important session I am excited about, especially as being one of the Young Ambassadors, is the social media session. Since communicating research outputs to other scientists, expert professionals as well as a general audience has become an equally important aspect of the whole research process, and social media being at the centre of this development, this will be extremely helpful for my future work.

Further, I plan to attend several workshops, such as inputs about “Psycho-oncological interventions”, a sessions about “How to get your manuscript published” as well as different nurses’ group sessions (e.g. decision making, psychosocial support, disease update).

Last but not least, as one of the abstract finalists, I will prepare my own oral presentation. Next to all the sessions and educational inputs, I am really looking forward to meeting with colleagues from all over the world and to having interdisciplinary exchange at the upcoming EBMT Annual Meeting 2019 in Frankfurt!