Excellence in Professional Education Programmes

Summary of work

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) nurses are the first point of contact for patients with an existing diagnosis. Feedback from senior IBD nurses highlighted that, although newly appointed nurse specialists often come from endoscopy or GI wards, they are offered little additional training, despite taking on vastly different daily interactions with patients compared to previous experience.

Tillotts Pharma UK sought to address this with the Tillotts LOGIC Education programme, designed by IBD nurses, for IBD nurses. Initiated in 2016, the programme has gone from strengthtostrength, with an annual programme of 15–20 training courses held facetoface across the UK, including 13 in 2021 and 11 in 2020 despite the pandemic. To date, 700+ hours of training have been delivered to 500+ nurses.

Participants come together in small, supportive groups (max. 12), to enhance therapy area knowledge alongside other skills.

Leading IBD Nurses and expert skills trainers – specialists in their respective fields – provide targeted training through a mixture of presentations, practical learning and best practice sharing. Opportunities for networking continue through a closed Facebook group and participants are sent pre- and post-course materials alongside access to resources on the Tillotts LOGIC website (disease awareness, congress highlights and service development support).

Judges' comments

The LOGIC Education programme was a very impressive entry providing support for IBD nurses. Through consultation with nurses, the team identified clear gaps and educational needs. The needs were met through a comprehensive and robust course and the judges appreciated the use of social media to extend the reach of the programme.