Europe, a new challenge for the EPUAP

A few weeks ago ten new countries joined the European Union. One of these was Hungary and many EPUAP members will fondly remember the great success of the EPUAP Budapest meeting in 2002 and the enthusiasm of our Hungarian hosts. The recent political event and our experience of an enlarged and successful Europe lead me to a vision, which could also be a true challenge. Do we not have the responsibility, as EPUAP, to welcome all the new countries? The first step is to establish some formal links through an active partnership between ‘old’ and ‘new’ European members. We could then assess the health impact of pressure ulcers in these countries, using some well-known standards. We also have to compare our guidelines, our educational programmes and our research skills in this pressure ulcer managements field. This approach seems fundamental to me and there is no doubt that it will be a unique opportunity to learn from each other. We certainly will improve our daily practice, as clinicians, teachers and researchers. We could then summarize our findings, revise our guidelines in order to form new consensus based guidelines, and finally disseminate these. We could also define a pan-European research programme led by a EPUAP committee responsible for the promotion and evaluation of the scientific programme.

But let us consider taking this one step further. The EPUAP, due to its human, technical and scientific experience, has a role to play in persuading Europe (European Union health administration) to adopt a political view that prioritises pressure ulcer management and to release the funds necessary to better prevent and treat pressure ulcers.

Also, in my opinion, it is the EPUAP’s responsibility to help ensure fair and equal treatment regarding pressure ulcer management throughout all European countries, regardless of their wealth. I see no reason that an aging patient in Poland or Lithuania would not have the equal right to the protocols and guidelines for pressure ulcer management as the French, English or Italian patients.

Denis Colin
President