ESPEN Initiative on Educational Training
ESPEN Training Centres
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, for trainees who would like to deepen their knowledge and abilities in clinical nutrition.
TRAINING CENTRES
Up to 4 centres per country have been identified and proposed by each ESPEN Council member for his/her country. Information on the training centres, including the contact persons, is available here. All training centres have experience in teaching, space for trainees and have at least two trainers in their team who are ESPEN members. ESPEN cannot provide any further information on the training centres than that found on the website. Direct contact with the centre is suggested in case more information is needed.
Please note that for practical reasons the 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 hospitalized 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 to the trainee an invitation letter before the stay, regular feedback during the stay, and a letter of attendance at the end of the stay.
TRAINEE – TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
The trainee has two options to apply for training in clinical nutrition in training centres:
- TRAINING WITH AN ESPEN EDUCATIONAL GRANT
The trainee applies for an ESPEN educational grant. ESPEN has instituted and offers a new Educational grant of 1.000 Euros per person, with a maximum of 15 people granted by year. 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
The conditions for applying to an educational ESPEN grant are:
- < 45 years old
- No previous recipient of an ESPEN educational grant
- Background of dietitian, medical doctor, nurse or pharmacist
Requirements
The requirements for applying to an ESPEN educational grant are:
- ESPEN member
- Letter of recommendation by the applicant’s national PEN society, not older than January 1st 2021. Commitment or intention for the applicant to be active in the national PEN society will be considered as an advantage. Of note, a 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.
- Curriculum vitae of the applicant
- Application form for the ESPEN Educational grant to be found here
Please be aware that if any document is missing, the application will not be considered for selection.
These 4 documents have to be sent to the ECPC chairperson (laurence.genton@hcuge.ch). Deadline of application is September 26th 2021, at midnight CET. No late application will be accepted. The awardees will be notified by e-mail and are responsible to communicate the result to the 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 letterof attendance from the trainee at the end of the stay.
- TRAINING WITHOUT AN ESPEN EDUCATIONAL GRANT
In this option, the trainee does not apply for an ESPEN educational grant. The trainee may contact directly the training centre of his/her interest to discuss opportunities and modalities 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 the national PEN societies. ESPEN is not able to offer 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 can be obliged to accept to provide training at any time; the training period, duration and modalities should be arranged between the trainee and the potential 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.
