Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Fellowship in partnership with AtriCure
Summary
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Application Dates:
1st March – 1st May 2025
- Grant:
€5,200
- Location:
TBC
- Duration:
3 weeks
- Start Date:
From January 2026
Fellowship Overview
The fellowship will empower nurses and allied health professionals to acquire the necessary skills, knowledge, and resources to excel in their own practice via learning experiences, mentorship and collaboration.Advanced professional development: In-house training, education and hands-on experience with host advanced practice professionals to enhance their knowledge, skills and expertise. They could attend courses and national society meetings in the host country.
Leadership: Provide the required leadership skills to influence their own centre policies, drive organisational change and advocate for improvements in patients care and nursing or allied health practices.
Interdisciplinary collaboration: Establish a network for sharing knowledge and best practices.
Research: Encourage professionals to participate in research activities to address healthcare challenges, develop evidence-based interventions and contribute to improve patient’s care.
Professional recognition: Help to promote advanced roles, continuous learning and career opportunities and hopefully expand roles within the healthcare system.
International exposure: Gain international exposure to different healthcare systems and learn from diverse cultural perspectives. This exposure will enrich their professional development.
Patient outcomes: By providing more specialised knowledge, skills and resources, nurses and allied health professionals can improve patients’ outcomes, increase patient satisfaction and overall quality of healthcare services.
The fellowship will support the professional’s growth, leadership development, collaboration, research and ultimately excellent patient care.
Syllabus
The syllabus will be created based on each fellow’s individual needs.
This will include;
- Definition of advanced roles
- Core clinical capability by speciality including knowledge and clinical skills
- Personal performance, complaints and medical errors
- Education opportunities and development of new programmes for advanced roles
Learning Objectives
- Understand the role of advanced nursing/ allied professions in cardiothoracics
- Acquired advanced skills and knowledge in cardiothoracics
- Promote research
- Leadership and service development
- Collaboration within European healthcare leaders and networking
Specific Learning Objectives
- Recognise the specialised advanced clinical knowledge in the management of cardiac and thoracic surgery patients.
- Understand the extended skills of the advanced practice including for example clinical examination, surgical skills and ultrasound skills.
- Understand the importance of research and discuss the resources available to collaborate in research or conduct own research. Also discuss funding opportunities available in Europe and potential collaboration projects in the field of nursing or allied professions.
- Identify new ways of working and potential service development that could impact patient’s journey and satisfaction. Learn the process of implementing changes.
Funding
An award of €5,200 for the three week placement will be granted to cover the travel and living expenses for the Fellowship period.
In addition you will receive free registration to the EACTS 2025 Annual Meeting along with a travel bursary to attend the meeting.
Application and Selection
In order to apply for this fellowship there are some essential criteria you must meet:- Be an EACTS member
- Qualified nurse or allied health professional with 5 years working experience in the cardiothoracic field
- Ability to communicate in English
In order to complete your application, you must submit the following documents*:
- Application and letter of support from applicant’s own institution
- Letter of interest (detailing how you are in a position to apply the skills and knowledge obtained during the Fellowship in your own centre)
- Curriculum Vitae
*Please ensure that all documents submitted are written in English, and that they are submitted either as word documents or PDF. We do not accept images or handwritten applications. We are unable to provide advice or guidance about visa applications, so please ensure that you understand the visa requirements before applying for this Fellowship.
Evaluation and Feedback
There will be periodic communication with the Fellowship director to ensure feedback from the trainee.
At the end of the Fellowship, the Fellows will produce a full report on their experience based on the Francis Fontan Fund Committee guidelines.
Terms and Conditions
- You cannot apply for more than one fellowship in a single year.
- You cannot apply for a fellowship if you have been awarded one in the last two years.
- If you do not submit all requested documents your application will not be reviewed.
- If you do not follow the application guidelines (document format, essential criteria etc) your application will not be reviewed.
- If you submit any false information your application will be immediately void (regardless of application stage).
- Once your fellowship start date is confirmed, 80% of the fellowship grant will be transferred to you.
- On completion of the fellowship and receipt of your final report, the remaining 20% of the fellowship grant will be transferred to you.
- Should your fellowship include third party fees, EACTS will pay this directly from your initial 80% grant payment, with the remaining balance being transferred to you.
- If for any reason you find you are unable to complete or attend training, you should notify EACTS at your earliest convenience. If the grant payment has already been made, you will be asked to repay the monies received based on incurred costs to date. Proof of expenses will be required.
The Francis Fontan Fellowship programme fosters the continued growth and development of cardiothoracic surgeons by providing opportunities to learn from the highest standards of cardiothoracic care and gain knowledge of novel techniques and innovative technologies used by other institutes around the world. Successful applicants will use the valuable learnings and collaborative relationships developed through their Fellowship to further the progress of cardiothoracic surgery at their home institution and support the delivery of the highest quality patient care.
- The fellowship needs to be completed within the year that it was awarded.
- Awardees need to be in full time employment throughout the fellowship.
NB. The Francis Fontan Fund Committee will consider any fellow who falls outside of this condition on a case-by-case basis. All decisions are final, and the Committee are not obliged to share the reasoning behind any decision made.
- Grant: