Nurse symposia

Overall, more than 600 nurses from all over the globe attended EBMT 2025 creating an interesting and vibrant environment for nurses to learn from their peers and ultimately improve the care for their patients. During EBMT 2025, Ms. Marijke Quaghebeur, clinical nurse specialist at the Ghent University hospital chaired an interesting series of sessions dedicated to nurses working in stem cell transplantation and cell therapy. These different sessions were organized around four pillars:

The first pillar zoomed in clinical practice, providing a platform for nurses to share their personal experience. More specifically, the presentations in this session addressed to the care for critically ill patients, the management of acute GVHD and the assessment and treatment of pain. Finally, the monitoring and management of toxicity during conditioning therapy was discussed in this session.

The second pillar turned the attention to leadership, providing advice for nurses on how to take up a leadership role in safeguarding quality and safety on their ward. In addition, attention was given to the empowerment of patients and their caregivers.

In the third pillar several sessions explained how new research and innovations related to central venous catheters, oral mucositis and infections can be translated to the daily clinical practice. Furthermore, examples were given on how nurse led follow-up programs can be designed to organize the long-term monitoring of patients after a transplantation.

The fourth and final pillar addressed the importance of continued education for nurses. In this session, examples were given on how nurses can leverage the experience and knowledge of patients in the education of other patients. Finally, several presentations provided guidance on how nurses can best inform patients before, during and after their hospital admission.