Education and Training WG

The main objectives of the Education and Training WG are:

• Promotion and development of knowledge sharing and of training and educational activities for professionals, patients, caregivers and family members, including mobility programmes
• Assessment of the educational and training needs of ERN ReCONNET target groups

In order to reach these objectives, the WG on Education and Training manages, together with the ERN ReCONNET Coordination Team, the educational activities of the ERN ReCONNET. In particular, the WG will focus on:

• Organisation of educational webinars and accredited educational activities for the ERN ReCONNET target groups
• Development of dissemination material on rCTDs (such as leaflets)
• Support the ERN Exchange Programme

ERN ReCONNET Exchange Program – 3rd Call : Short Update

The second call for the ERN ReCONNET Exchange Program has been a great success. We are happy to announce that over the next two years 54 participants from 19 ERN ReCONNET centers and 9 different countries will visit one of the 14 hosting centers, which are located across 7 different countries. The participants will follow a three day to one week long training and interact with local partners. This will enhance the exchange of medical practices, skills and organisational knowledge within our network.
While the majority of the training sessions focus on the rCTDs covered by ERN ReCONNET, there is also a special session dedicated to patient education on rCTDs. Similarly, the majority of the participants are health care professionals, but two ePAGs will also be able to travel to another ERN ReCONNET center. We believe that by creating opportunities for members of the health care community and/or patients to interact and to learn from one another, we can enhance the quality of patient care and promote innovative practices throughout the network.
This call is led by Prof. Eric Hachulla and his team based at the CHRU de Lille – Department of Internal Medicine, Huriez Hospital. University of Lille (France), as part of the ERN ReCONNET Education and Training Working Group.

ERN ReCONNET Infographic on Videocapillaroscopy

The ERN ReCONNET Education and Training Working Group (WG) is glad to release its new flyer on nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), a new and informative document targeting patients and lay audience aimed at explaining such an important diagnostic approach.

The document was developed by the Network under the leadership of Prof. Maurizio Cutolo from IRCSS – Ospedale San Martino (co-chair of this ERN ReCONNET Education and Training WG) – Genova (Italy), Prof. Vanessa Smith from University Hospital Ghent (co-chair of the ERN ReCONNET Systemic Sclerosis Disease Group and EULAR Study Group on microcirculation in rheumatic diseases) – Ghent (Belgium), Prof. Francesca Ingegnoli from Gaetano Pini CTO (co-chair CAP-SIR SG) – Milan (Italy), therefore, it was done in collaboration with EULAR Study Group on Capillaroscopy and Microcirculation and the CAP-SIR Study Group.

Regarding the NVC approach, the test is mainly useful in rheumatology and in internal medicine, for an early or to-be-confirmed diagnosis of rare and complex connective tissue diseases such as Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD), Polydermatomyositis, Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD), AntiPhospholipid Syndrome (APS), and offers important information on microcirculation in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLA) as well as in Sjögren’s Syndrome (SS) and overlaps.

The flyer can be downloaded for free (pdf), and it will available soon in several languages.
ERN ReCONNET Capillaroscopy Flyer (pdf)

More details and info about NVC can be found here.

Webinar Season 2024 – 2025

ERN ReCONNET is glad to announce that its new Webinar Season will start on Sept. 11th under the leadership of Prof. Maurizio Cutolo and his Genoa Team (Italy), for the second consecutive year, as part of this Education and Training WG.
The events planned for this new exiting season are extremely interesting, topics are disease related as well as transversal targeting patients and caregivers, HCPs, or both. The invited speakers are top experts in their field and they kindly share with us their knowledge and expertise. The webinars are organized in collaboration with our ePAGs representatives that actively contribute as organizers, speakers, and moderators.
Registrations to ALL our webinars are FREE and OPEN, click here for more info, details, and links.
Recorded episodes are FREELY available on our ERN ReCONNET YouTube Channel. 

Éric Hachulla
(CHRU de Lille)

Maurizio Cutolo
(IRCCS AOU San Martino – Genoa)

The ERN ReCONNET Webinar Season 2023 – 2024

Since October 2023, the organisation of the ERN ReCONNET webinars is managed by the Team of the IRCCS AOU San Martino in Genoa (Italy) and in particular by Prof. Maurizio Cutolo and the Genoa Team.

All the details and info regarding ERN ReCONNET webinars (e.g., upcoming events, registration link, recorded versions uploaded on our dedicated Webinars Playlist on the official ERN ReCONNET YouTube Channel) can be found here.

PROF. CUTOLO PRESENTS THE
ERN RECONNET WEBINAR CALENDAR 2023 – 2024