The ESC Congress is over for another year, and I leave feeling energised by the science and networking with colleagues as well as tired after a very busy few days. The Excel Centre in London hosted over 32,000 delegates attending sessions from early (Science at Breakfast started at 0730) to late (satellite sessions and dinners), with invited speaker and meet the experts sessions, abstracts (oral, moderated, best posters with discussants and rows of posters to peruse), debates and interactive sessions of all topics cardiovascular grouped thematically in 9 ‘villages’. The spotlight of the meeting was on the Environment and the Heart, and the ESC has also started a campaign in collaboration with the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR) and the European Heart Network (EHN), to make policymakers note the impact which environmental health risks such as air and noise pollution are having on CVD. Research presented at Congress highlighted that pollution levels below the accepted standards are still detrimental: showing an increased incidence of heart failure hospitalisation during increases in air pollution. You can join the campaign: http://www.escardio.org/Congresses-&-Events/Upcoming-congresses/ESC-Congress/Congress-news/esc-in-environment-and-heart-campaign
The ESC Congress is multi-professional; nurses and allied health professionals will find much of interest with specific sessions for them as well as the other science and research on offer. Nursing and AHP sessions kicked off with a special programme on Saturday (3 sessions) and nursing sessions throughout the Congress, as well as nurses also speaking in and chairing other sessions in collaboration with medical colleagues. The Nursing and Allied Health Professional Investigator Award was held on Sunday. This Investigator Award was truly global, as the 4 finalists were from Chile, Taiwan, Ireland and the Netherlands. Congratulations to the finalists and CW Chen from Taiwan who won for her study on ‘Health care needs in adolescents into young adults with congenital heart disease: A Delphi survey of patients, parents and providers’. In a Clinical Trial Update session, nurse researcher Simon Stewart (AU) presented an analysis from 3 nursing studies. He found prolonged event-free survival in more complex cases of heart disease in 1226 patients enrolled in one of 3 RCTs of nurse-led multi-disciplinary home-based interventions compared to usual care.
In 2016 ‘all roads lead to Rome’ as the saying goes. The ESC Congress will be held 27 – 31 August in Rome, and I would encourage nurses and AHPs to submit abstracts (due 14 February 2016) and to consider attending this exciting meeting.