ESPEN’s Education Initiative
Aim
To provide ESPEN members with a web-based platform for clinical nutrition training opportunities, at national, regional and international level. The platform provides the name and first contact of training centres for clinical nutrition – developed for trainees to deepen their knowledge and abilities in clinical nutrition.
Training centres
Up to four centres per country have been identified and proposed by each ESPEN Council member for their country. Information on the training centres, including the contact persons, is available here: www.espen.org/education/training/espen-training-centres-in-clinical-nutrition.
All training centres have experience in teaching, space for trainees, and have at least two trainers in their team who are ESPEN members. Please make direct contact with the centre is suggested if more information is needed. ESPEN cannot provide any further information on the training centres than is found on its website.
Please note that training centres have no obligation to accept a trainee, nor to provide any kind of financial support, including any local-national insurances or assistance for recognition of professional qualifications. In case the training centre agrees to host the trainee, they commit to provide training in clinical nutrition, including routine enteral and parenteral nutrition options and techniques, in hospitalised and ambulatory patients. Additional arrangements can be made on a personal basis for specific topics of training if desirable for the trainee, and feasible and acceptable for the training centre. After agreement, the training centre will provide the trainee an invitation letter before their stay, regular feedback during the stay, and a letter of attendance at the end of the stay.
Training with an ESPEN educational grant
ESPEN offers a new educational grant of 1,000 Euros per person, with up to 15 people to be given the grant annually (www.espen.org/education/training/educational-grant). Grant awardees will be selected by the Educational and Clinical Practice Committee (ECPC) of ESPEN and submitted for approval to the chairperson of the Scientific Committee and Executive Committee of ESPEN.
Conditions and requirements for applicants
The conditions for applying to an educational ESPEN grant are:
- < 45 years old
- Background of dietitian, medical doctor, nurse or pharmacist
- ESPEN membership (www.espen.org/join-espen-as-a-member/join-espen)
- Not been a previous recipient of an ESPEN educational grant
- Letter of recommendation by the applicant’s national PEN society, not dated before January 1, 2021
- Commitment or intention for the applicant to be active in the national PEN society will be considered as an advantage. Of note, each national PEN society can only support two applications per year.
- Letter of invitation by the selected training centre. The latter should mention the aim of the training, the day of start and its duration. (www.espen.org/education/training/espen-training-centres-in-clinical-nutrition).
Curriculum vitae of the applicant
An application form for the ESPEN Educational grant can be found here: www.espen.org/education/training/educational-grant
Please be aware that if any document is missing, the application will not be considered for selection.
These four documents must be sent to the ECPC chairperson (laurence.genton@hcuge.ch). Deadline of application is March 27, 2022, at midnight CET. No late application will be accepted. The successful awardees will be notified by email and are responsible for communicating the result to their national PEN Society.
For the educational grant, ESPEN will act as provider of the platform containing the possible training centres, as indicated by the national PEN societies. ESPEN will select the awardees and is responsible for notification of the results. Please note that ESPEN cannot be responsible for any administrative procedures and workload, or for any issue related to training, including accreditation of professional and previous diplomas and credentials in case of international training, insurance, any financial coverage beyond the educational grant itself. ESPEN should receive a copy of the letter of attendance from the trainee at the end of the stay.
Training without an ESPEN educational grant
In circumstances where a trainee does not apply for an ESPEN educational grant they may directly contact the training centre of their choice to discuss opportunities and methodologies for training, including rules and obligations of both parties.
In this case, ESPEN should be considered as a facilitator by providing the training centre platform, with centres indicated by national PEN societies. ESPEN is not able to give assistance and cannot be responsible for administrative work related to the process of contact, selection, decision and practical administrative arrangements. As stated above, for practical reasons no training centre is under an obligation to accept or to provide training at any time; the training period, duration and modalities should be arranged between the trainee and their chosen training centre. Also in this case, please note that ESPEN cannot be responsible for administrative procedures related to training, including recognition of previous diplomas and professional qualifications in case of international training, local or national insurance, and any financial coverage.