Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Fellowship in partnership with AtriCure

This fellowship will be awarded to nursing and allied health professionals that would like to visit a centre of excellence specialised in cardiac and/or thoracic surgery in Europe. It is designed for the fellow to discover advanced practice roles that are not available in their country and experience other ways of working and share learning across organisations. Some of these roles are TAVI Nurse, Nurse Practitioner for cardiac or thoracic surgery and aortic diseases, Surgical Care Practitioner, Advanced Pharmacist, or Transplant Coordinator.

Other Intiatives

Summary

• 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.