An ESUN course in your own language: It is possible!

Dutch national society successful in organising ESUN courses in Dutch

The EAUN organises ESUN (European School of Urology Nurses) courses since 2015; the first course was about UTI and was held in Amsterdam. In the Netherlands, the English language is a barrier and thus in 2016 the Dutch national society for Urology Nurses (V&VN – Urologie) organised the Dutch version of the ESUN UTI course. That way, it is easier for the nurses to follow and understand the course. The course was a great success; immediately afterwards nurses asked when it would be repeated. This year the course is organised for the second time. 

How was the course organised?
The Dutch society contacted the EAUN and they organised a meeting during the EAUN congress in 2015. The EAUN has formulated several rules for the national societies to follow if they want to copy a course. They are free to translate it into their own language and host it in their own country. Some of the rules are that it has to be organised by the national society and that the high standard of the programme should be maintained.

The programme and the presentations are available for the national society to use for their own programme. The Dutch society chose to make a copy of the course and change as little as possible. They invited the Dutch speakers from the ESUN course to give a lecture during the Dutch course. Instead of inviting foreign speakers they looked for national urologists to give presentations.

One-day programme
The EAUN ESUN course was given on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, to allow participants to fly in the morning and return in the late afternoon, requiring only one hotel night. In The Netherlands the course was organised in 1 (long) day, because the driving distance in the Netherlands allows it to be organised in only one day. Thus, it was not necessary to book hotels and so the costs of the course dropped. The sponsors of the Dutch annual symposium were recruited to sponsor the course. Several sponsors reacted positively and wanted to support the course financially. The course took place more than a year after the original one, in September 2016.

Networking dinner
After the course a networking dinner was organised, for which the participants could apply separately with additional costs. This way they could meet each other informally and skip traffic jams. The motivation form was translated into Dutch and used to select nurses who wanted to join the course. This stimulates nurses to think about why they would like to do this course, and they can also use it to apply for financial support from their employer.

All applicants who were admitted received a confirmation letter by email with the literature they had to study beforehand. After the course, the participants received a survey for evaluation and they rated the course with very good grades and remarks. The only ‘negative’ remark was that it is a long day!

Organising board
The board of the Dutch society and the symposium committee of the society organised the course. They do everything in their free time, besides their work. It is quite a lot of work, but it was very rewarding. Immediately after the course, the board of the Dutch society decided to organise the next ESUN courses in the Netherlands as well, and so they did. The second course about neurogenic and detrusor overactive bladder was organised about a year later, in September 2017, almost a year after the original ESUN course was held in Italy. This course was also fully booked.

Regular activity
Nowadays the Dutch society regularly organises the ESUN course for its members and other urology nurses in Dutch. The fourth ESUN course about holistic care for patients with prostate cancer was held last June. The UTI course will be repeated in September 2019 and the other courses will follow; there is now a fixed annual scheme of one new course and one course being repeated. It is very rewarding to organise the courses in cooperation with the EAUN. The positive reactions of the participants and the interesting subjects of the courses are an inspiration to continue organising them!

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Jeannette Verkerk, RN, Nurse practitioner, Chair V&VN – Urology, Board Member, EAUN, Nieuwegein (NL), j.verkerk@xs4all.nl