Action Points 2007

Scientific Committee Regulations

Scientific Criteria for Presentations

Sponsor Contract

Election Procedure

Nomination Forms (3)

Reimbursement Protocol Off.

Officers' Reimbursement Form

Reimbursement Protocol Mem.

Members' Reimbursement Form

Membership Numbers' Form

EFSHT Hand Therapist Profile

The delegates were housed in a former prison which is now a very trendy hostel in the centre of town…a novel experience for all of us! Each evening we had the chance to spend a little time exploring the city and trying out Slovenian food so although a lot of hard work took place, there were compensations!

The main administrative side of the meeting ie. reports from the executive, finances etc. took place on the first evening to allow time for the very full agenda the next day. The Treasurer, Glykeria Gounaropoulou from Greece reiterated the fact that financially the Federation is dependant on the capitation fees from member countries and urged countries to send the annual fees in on time.

The second day started with Italy being welcomed as a full member and geographical boundaries being set for consideration of future applications.

A full discussion followed the report from the Education sub committee chairman, Angel Harth. The ESC have been working on a proposal towards an European Hand Therapist qualification and Angela presented both the results of a survey that had been done to gauge the level of interest amongst member countries and also the comments from a document ‘Hand Therapists Profile’ that had been circulated to all countries.. On the whole the response was very positive the ESC were given the mandate to continue with their work of developing a portfolio based system that could be used throughout the EFSHT. This will be in addition to and perhaps more stringent than any national qualifications that countries have developed already.

The Chairman of the Permanent Scientific Committee, Ton Schreuders, then presented his report. In recent years the main role of the PSC has been to review abstracts for international conferences. However Ton felt that with approximately 1880 members across Europe there was scope for achieving much more. He presented the resulted of a Delphi study on rehabilitation following flexor tendon injuries that he had done on a small group of European therapists as an example. After much enthusiastic discussion it was agreed to give Ton the mandate to continue with his idea. The proposal is that we work towards an EFSHT Recommendation on Assessment Methods and Treatment Protocols. By having standardized assessment methods for reporting treatments it would be much easier to compare outcomes.

The role of corresponding members, the EFSHT website and the idea of developing a database of potential speakers and their topics of interest were all discussed. The meeting closed with a presentation by the Swiss delegate on the next EFSHT meeting which will take place in conjunction with the EFSSH in Lausanne, Switzerland in June 2008.

The last session of the Council meeting was a clinical session. A presentation by our Slovenian host, Mojca Marincek on CRPS, was followed by a lively discussion. We were then taken to the hills near Ljubljana for an opportunity to see a bit of the countryside, stretch our legs and partake of excellent traditional Slovenian food. All in all this was a successful meeting addressing a lot of issues that Council members have been working on in the last year. Of course the Council meeting is also a time to get reacquainted with European colleagues, meet new ones and share ideas and experiences. This opportunity cannot be underestimated.

Our thanks go to our host Mojca for almost single handedly making all the arrangements and giving us such a wonderful experience of Slovenia.