Dear Young and Early Career Nurses,
With a deep sense of respect, gratitude, and responsibility, it gives us great pleasure to initiate our 2-year term as co-Chairs of the newly established EONS Early Career Nurses Working Group (EONS ECN WG) and to briefly share our vision of the EONS ECN for the next two years.
The EONS ECN WG is a remarkable team of enthusiastic nursing colleagues fully dedicated to contributing towards the achievement of the EONS strategic goals and to acting as platform to young and early career cancer nurses at a national and European level to strengthen their leadership skills. Considering the success of the many ongoing initiatives, including several important projects started in the past years under the great leadership of Nikolina Dodlek, Bethany Maynard, and Michaela Popelkova, we would like to reinforce our commitment to activities in all areas of cancer nursing, research, practice, continuing education, communication, and advocacy for better recognition of cancer nursing across Europe.
We look forward to further developing our relationships with National Young Cancer Nurses ambassadors from around Europe, to discuss challenges, exchange ideas and experiences and to identify common ways for how to overcome these barriers.
We are aware that not all of us have the same opportunities for relevant resources related to our professional development, such as specialised education, research or leadership. In addition to the many EONS projects and programmes (European College of Cancer Nursing, EONS-ESO masterclass; research workshops etc.), the EONS ECN will be discussing ways to encourage European and international collaboration to facilitate new initiatives.
As co-Chairs of the EONS ECN, we promise to be fully committed to this privileged position and will give all our energy and enthusiasm to this role.
We are looking forward to collaborating with all EONS members and to meeting you at the upcoming EONS events and ECN activities!
Dimitrios Protogiros, Greece
RN, BSN, MSc, Cancer and Palliative Care Nurse
Irati Rodriguez Matesanz, Spain
FNP-BC, Nurse Practitioner, Breast Oncology