European Primary Care Cardiovascular Society
Second EPCCS Council Meeting: expanding the impact for European GPs

Second EPCCS Council Meeting: expanding the impact for European GPs

News - Mar. 15, 2018

Prior to the annual EPCCS CV Summit, held this year in Barcelona, Spain, the EPCCS Council convened for the second time to discuss the developments of the Council since the first meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon in December 2017 and the plans for the future.

19 country representatives attended this second Council Meeting. Some of the attendants of the first meeting could not make it, while some new countries now joined the Council, namely Poland, Czech Republic and Serbia. The representatives of these new member countries gave a brief presentation of primary health care organization in their country, like the other country representatives had done during the first EPCCS Council Meeting.

Thus, the Council now represents about 30 countries. Countries not represented in the Council thus far include Austria, France, Turkey, Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Bosnia. Persons interested in taking up this active role to represent their colleagues in the EPCCS Council, are encouraged to contact us at info@medconinternational.com.

Ideas were exchanged on how activities of the Council can be expanded and be visible in independent countries. One idea was to record brief videos to promote EPCCS in separate countries, to make the Society known to more people who may benefit from it. Another way for individual members to tell their colleagues about how the Society can support them in their work, is downloading a slide set about EPCCS, which will be made available for download on this website.

Part of the efforts of EPCCS to support GPs across Europe is the publication of several Practical Guidance Documents for Primary Care. Three documents have been written so far. Translations in Ukrainian and Slovak have been made, and are also available for download in the respective country sections on the website. Other countries are highly encouraged to send us translations in their local language. Because understanding of English appears to be a limiting factor in some countries, these translations form an important factor of outreach to GPs in all corners of Europe. Thus, the website will continue to upload resources helpful for European GPs in general, as well as documents relevant to specific countries. If you have country-specific resources you would like to make available through the EPCCS website, contact us at info@medconinternational.com.

Other ambitions regarding the EPCCS Guidance Documents would be to compose briefer versions of the guidance, which focus less on the exact evidence leading to the recommendations, but rather on the practical aspects of implementing the recommendations. Country-specific or cultural adaptations can also be valuable. Council members will likely need to play an active role in these ambitions.

In addition to summarizing the existing evidence, the Council may consider to contribute evidence. This could be done by conducting surveys among GPs in various countries. Moreover, it could be envisaged to even set up clinical research projects in the future. Another idea to explore in the future may be how to involve or empower patients, and how to operationalize this.

Next steps in the near future will include face-to-face meetings prior to each Annual CV Summit Meeting. At least one extra attempt to connect will be made in between the Annual Summits, likely through a teleconference. Plus, EPCCS may become involved at national meetings, which may also provide opportunities for further live meetings.

Check #EPCCS18 on Twitter, or follow @EPCCS

Share this page with your colleagues and friends: