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Tumiene B, Peters H, Melegh B, Peterlin B, Utkus A, Fatkulina N, Pfliegler G, Graessner H, Hermanns S, Scarpa M, Blay JY, Ashton S, McKay L, Baynam G. Rare disease education in Europe and beyond: time to act. Orphanet J Rare Dis 2022; 17:441. [PMID: 36536417 PMCID: PMC9761619 DOI: 10.1186/s13023-022-02527-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
People living with rare diseases (PLWRD) still face huge unmet needs, in part due to the fact that care systems are not sufficiently aligned with their needs and healthcare workforce (HWF) along their care pathways lacks competencies to efficiently tackle rare disease-specific challenges. Level of rare disease knowledge and awareness among the current and future HWF is insufficient. In recent years, many educational resources on rare diseases have been developed, however, awareness of these resources is still limited and rare disease education is still not sufficiently taken into account by some crucial stakeholders as academia and professional organizations. Therefore, there is a need to fundamentally rethink rare disease education and HWF development across the whole spectrum from students to generalists, specialists and experts, to engage and empower PLWRD, their families and advocates, and to work towards a common coherent and complementary strategy on rare disease education and training in Europe and beyond. Special consideration should be also given to the role of nurse coordinators in care coordination, interprofessional training for integrated multidisciplinary care, patient and family-centered education, opportunities given by digital learning and fostering of social accountability to enforce the focus on socially-vulnerable groups such as PLWRD. The strategy has to be developed and implemented by multiple rare disease education and training providers: universities, medical and nursing schools and their associations, professional organizations, European Reference Networks, patient organizations, other organizations and institutions dedicated to rare diseases and rare cancers, authorities and policy bodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Birute Tumiene
- grid.6441.70000 0001 2243 2806Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Harm Peters
- grid.6363.00000 0001 2218 4662Dieter Scheffner Center for Medical Education and Educational Research, Dean’s Office of Study Affairs, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany ,Association of Medical Schools in Europe e.V., Berlin, Germany
| | - Bela Melegh
- grid.9679.10000 0001 0663 9479Department of Medical Genetics, and Szentagothai Research Center, University of Pecs, School of Medicine, Pecs, Hungary
| | - Borut Peterlin
- grid.29524.380000 0004 0571 7705Clinical Institute of Genomic Medicine, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Algirdas Utkus
- grid.6441.70000 0001 2243 2806Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania ,Association of Medical Schools in Europe e.V., Berlin, Germany
| | - Natalja Fatkulina
- grid.6441.70000 0001 2243 2806Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - György Pfliegler
- grid.7122.60000 0001 1088 8582Centre for Rare Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Holm Graessner
- grid.10392.390000 0001 2190 1447Institute for Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany ,grid.411544.10000 0001 0196 8249Centre for Rare Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sanja Hermanns
- grid.10392.390000 0001 2190 1447Institute for Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany ,grid.411544.10000 0001 0196 8249Centre for Rare Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Maurizio Scarpa
- grid.411492.bRegional Center for Rare Diseases, University Hospital of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Jean-Yves Blay
- grid.7849.20000 0001 2150 7757Centre Léon Berard, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1& Unicancer Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Sharon Ashton
- grid.433753.5EURORDIS - Rare Diseases Europe, Paris, France
| | - Lucy McKay
- Medics4RareDiseases, High Wycombe, England, UK
| | - Gareth Baynam
- grid.1012.20000 0004 1936 7910Telethon Kids Institute and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Division of Paediatrics, He University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA Australia ,grid.413880.60000 0004 0453 2856Western Australian Register of Developmental Anomalies and Genetic Services of Western Australia, Perth, WA Australia ,Rare Care Centre, Child and Adolescent Health Service, Perth, WA Australia
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