| Within two
months the Fifth Conference of EPUAP will be in Le Mans France and Marco
Romanelli will take over as President. The past two years were characterized
by an ever increasing awareness of the problem of pressure ulcers in most
of the European countries and the United States. The conferences we held
in Amsterdam and Pisa were successful and the number of participants increased
steadily. In Le Mans we will have a joint meeting with the French pressure
ulcer organisation PERSE and the number of participants of this joint meeting
will exceed 1000. I am sure that the results will be good, although such
large numbers also bear the risk that personal contacts become more difficult
and personal contacts and respect for each other are mainstays of the EPUAP.
I think that especially the installation of working groups or if you wish
task forces was important. Within relatively short periods of time difficult
problems could be tackled and solved as far as possible. We now have a minimum
data set for new studies, the criteria to which pressure relieving devices
should perform have been extensively dealt with, a European prevalence study
was developed. In Le Mans the first results of a group working on risk assessment
will be presented and if I am allowed to lift up a corner of the veils,
the results will be at least staggering. It could well be that the use of
any risk assessment tool is not without risk. Next year we will start a
similar group working on wound dressings. In summary, I think the EPUAP
is healthy and bursting with energy and can be handed over to Marco in good
shape. This is due to the hard work of the EPUAP Trustees and members. Thanks
to you all.
Jeen Haalboom
President
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