European University Hospital Alliance (EUHA), of which San Raffaele hospital is co-founder and the only Italian hospital, launched an innovative fellowship program, dedicated to nurses in critical care areas at its partner hospitals.

This program, called EUCARE, represents an important three-yearly initiative aimed at facilitate exchange and clinical knowledge transfer among nurses specialized in critical care area in Europe.

The importance of nurses specialized in critical care area

COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted more than ever the crucial role of nurses in the management of crises and in post-pandemic phase. However, the pandemic has also underlined the need of adequate preparation of healthcare personnel in various European countries.

This is the reason why EUHA has identified the shortage of nurses specialized in critical care areas as a concern and weakness in our systems, underlining the importance of adopting innovative approaches, such as the institution of a European network of professional nurses specialized in the assistance of critical patient.

EUCARE project

The EUCARE project, officially launched at university hospital Karolinska on December 12^th, has been possible thank to ERASMUS+ program, which granted the projection and actuation of this initiative.

The primary goal of EUCARE is to provide a fellowship path that allows critical care area nurses to acquire advanced and specific skills in assisting patients during emergency situations, with a particular focus on pandemics. The program involves a practical approach through field training, participation in workshops and theoretical lessons, thus contributing to raising the professional standards of critical care area nurses.

All ten EUHA members support the EUCARE fellowship programme. Six of them, including Ospedale San Raffaele, are actively involved in the development and implementation of the program, while the others just support the project as associated partners.

An international collaboration

The EUCARE program will not only promote individual skill development, but will also create a network among participating nurses, thus allowing them to maintain ongoing professional interactions and prepare to operate across national borders. This network will be crucial in emergency situations such as pandemics, disasters or wars. In the long term, it could become a fundamental resource for specialists with transcultural skills.

“The core of EUCARE is to create a curriculum aimed at acquiring those essential skills fundamental to provide nursing care in critical care areas during pandemics or other emergencies. We aim to obtain recognition from European accreditation bodies, offering a fellowship model that can extend to other areas of nursing in the future", says Stefano Rolandi, representative for San Raffaele Hospital of the EUHA Nursing Network and nursing coordinator of the training area of the Direction of Health Professions.

The objectives of the project

The new EUHA project plans to establish a permanent network of critical care nurses who will actively collaborate on the development of evidence-based and emergency-focused standards of care, even after the end of the program.

“Our preliminary roadmap for the first year includes in-depth contextual analysis, stakeholder engagement and development of the curriculum. During the second year, we will focus on the logistical organization of the fellowship, while the third year will be dedicated to the practical actuation of the program, the evaluation of the obtained results and the dissemination of best practices", concludes Stefano Rolandi.

This detailed planning aims to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of the project and reinforces our commitment to improve skills and practices in critical care area nursing.