Ladies
and Gentlemen,
I
have another function besides of the chairmanship of this Board as a delegate of
the two European surgical societies. On behalf of these societies, I
wholeheartedly welcome you to this First Conference on Perfusion Education and
Training. Allow me that my first words are addressed to our American colleagues.
We share our feelings with them. Those who intended to join this and the other
meetings, and who are not coming, have of course our full understanding.
This
event of the First Conference on Perfusion Education and Training is another
milestone in the development of the European Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion.
It is a celebration of its tenth year of
existence, of an existence of many successes. Successes, due to your
engagement, particularly of the engagement of the national delegates. And of
course of those who have spent their time and efforts to continue on this start
of a European harmonization. This allows the continuation of the process in what
is the sense of Europe: to harmonize the profession and the employment of
perfusionists. There are a few names connected to this successful development
and for this reason I would like to name two persons: the one, the preceder of
Kirk Graves, who is among us, Reg Hobbs. And the other is Professor Ludwig von
Segesser, who has joined this Board many years ago. Ludwig is not present, but I
still would like ask you to applaud for him.
There
are several reasons why the work of the European Board of Cardiovascular
Perfusion needs support. It even depends on the support from you. The world of
perfusion perfusionists embedded in the hospital has changed. Your daily
work is influenced and this enforces you to amelioration. There are reports of
work failure, of near misses, which provoke claims on surgeons, which they are
apprehensive of. There are economics that tighten the existence of departments,
even of hospitals. There is a public demand on quality. The slogan of these
years is total quality management. There is a world of competition even among
hospitals and of course among groups of perfusionists. Therefore certification,
recertification and site visits are important and help to certify the quality of
your work, to benchmark you against other groups and to fight for influences by
efforts of services under mercantile aspects and of dubious perfusion business
dealers.
The
European Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion is able to guarantee that you receive
the recognition and respect of your hospital administration and within your
team. These are the secret forces to continue and to ameliorate your work and
particularly to maintain the confidence you need for the surgeon. Last, but not
least, these secret forces give you the chance for your personal development,
your personal plans for the future.
Please,
continue to help those who do this work and spend their personal committment to
this job of harmonization of professions Europe wide. In this sense, I wish you
a very successful and informative, stimulating day.
Thank
you.
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