UEMS Section of SurgeryUEMS Section of Surgery
The Board of Transplant Coordination (referred heretofore as the BTC) has been created within the Division of Transplantation of the UEMS.
The main objective of the BTC is to guarantee the best standard of care in organ and tissue donation and transplant coordination in Europe by establishing homologous standards of practice and ensuring that training in donation and transplant coordination is maintained at the highest level by accrediting and examining transplant coordinators on their knowledge and practice.
The Board of Transplant Coordination is a non-profit entity and operates in close collaboration with the European Donation and Transplant Coordination Organisation (EDTCO), a section of ESOT (the European Society for Organ Transplantation).
The BTC achieves its objectives by setting and recommending standards to the UEMS and the European Board of Surgery and by encouraging health authorities, and national and international transplantation societies to live up to such standards concerning all aspects of professional practice in donation and transplant coordination.
The Board of Transplant Coordination is comprised of up to two practising transplant coordinators from each member state of the UEMS, or European country, preferably nominated by the competent professional health care organisation, in official communication with the UEMS/EBS.
Only one member has right to vote, the other may substitute when needed.
The BTC also has a representative from EDTCO who will be the Past Chair of EDTCO, or, if he/she is not available, a representative appointed by the EDTCO Board.
The Board of Transplant Coordination is directed by an Executive Committee comprised of a Chairman (President), a Vice Chairman (Vice President), two Secretaries (Senior and Junior), a Treasurer, a representative of EDTCO and a representative from the Division of Transplantation.
The Executive Committee communicates with the General Secretary of the UEMS through the Division of Transplantation, Section of Surgery.
The Executive Bureau of the UEMS shall communicate with the BTC through the Division of Transplantation, Section of Surgery on behalf of the European Union (EU) bodies.
The Division of Transplantation, Section of Surgery and the Executive of the UEMS shall be entrusted with communicating all opinions issuing from the BTC to the Commission of the EU and the Advisory Committee for Medical Training.
The Board of Transplant Coordination is financed by the fees of applicants for their assessment of eligibility and examination for accreditation in transplant coordination.
The BTC is also financed by any legal financial benefits for its contribution to various professional/scientific activities (i.e. meetings, publications).
The BTC can accept legal public (i.e. EU bodies, national government bodies, professional/scientific organisations) or private (i.e. gifts, contribution by the commercial sector) contributions/donations. A financial contribution/donation to the Board of Transplant Coordination can only be accepted under the strict rule that is offered in order to help the BTC to achieve its objectives and without any obligation of the BTC towards the body(ies)/ organisation(s)/ person(s) offering the contribution/ donation.
The Board of Transplant Coordination uses the Section of Surgery account for their finances to maximise transparency and facilitate administration.
Chairman
Nikola Žgrablić, MD, specialist of anesthesiology and intensive medicine
Position: Hospital transplant coordinator, President of the Donor Network of Croatia
General Hospital Pula
Negrijeva 6, 52 100 Pula, Croatia
Vice Chairman
Danica Avsec, MD, specialist of anesthesiology and intensive medicine
Position: Director of Slovenija-transplant
Slovenija-transplant, Institute for Transplantation of Organs and Tissues of the Republic of Slovenia
Zaloška 7
SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija
danica.avsec@slovenija-transplant.si
Senior Secretary
Franziska Beyeler
Position: Head of National Transplant Coordination
Swisstransplant
Effingerstrasse 1
Postfach | 3011 Bern, Switzerland
franziska.beyeler@swisstransplant.org
Junior Secretary
Dr. Sándor Mihály RN, MSN, CETC
Position: Director
Hungarian National Blood Transfusion Service,Organ Coordination Office
H-1113 Budapest,
Karolina út 19-21.
H-1513 Budapest, Pf. 44, Hungary
Treasurer
Barbara Uštar, BA
Position: Professional associate
Slovenija-transplant Institute for Transplantation of Organs and Tissues
Zaloška 7
SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenija
1. Introduction
The Board of Transplant Coordination (BTC) is part of the Division of Transplantation under the UEMS Section of Surgery and the EBS. The BTC operates in close collaboration with EDTCO. The BTC advises on issues relating to training and professional practice in transplant coordination within the EU as well as all member states of the UEMS, for the benefit of training in transplant coordination and patient care and the establishment of homologous standards of practice. The BTC is a not-for-profit organisation.
2. Title
The associate section shall be known as the Board of Transplant Coordination associated with the Division of Transplant Surgery, Speciality Section of Surgery of the European Union of Medical Specialists and the EBS.
3. Composition
3.1 BTC Members: There shall be up to two representatives, practising transplant coordinators, from each member state of the UEMS, or all European countries, preferably nominated by the Competent Authority (2010/53/EU Directive), or National Transplant Organization (CoE Recommendation (Rec (2006)15) of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the background, functions and responsibilities of a National Transplant Organisation) in official communication with the UEMS and the EBS. BTC accept all EU Member States and those States that were previously accepted as Member by another division within the UEMS. Out of this range any further collaboration must be accepted beforehand by Division of Transplantation. In any voting process, each country is entitled to only one vote. If a country has two members and one of them is present at the time of a vote, this member is entitled to vote without consulting the second member. If both members are present and consensus cannot be achieved, the most senior (longer serving member) is entitled to vote. The tenure of each BTC Member shall be for 4 years.
3.2 . Following completion of their term, the members of the BTC are responsible for ensuring their succession following consultation with their professional organisations. The responsible organization must inform the Vice-Chair of EC BTC about new or renewed BTC Member in every four years. This is to ensure proper representation of all countries at any given time.
3.3 In the event that none of the full members of a certain country are able to attend a meeting, they may nominate a deputy previously nominated bytheir national donor transplant coordination organisation to attend in their place, subject to prior approval of the Chairman.
3.4 Collaboration with EDTCO: The BTC has a representative from EDTCO who is the former president of EDTCO, or, if he or she is not available, a representative appointed by the EDTCO Board. EDTCO representative is automatically renewed, when the Chair completed her/his term. The representative of EDTCO is a member of the Executive Committee of the BTC, presents the views of EDTCO to the Executive Committee and the members of the BTC and vice versa and forward copies of the documents produced by the BTC to the EDTCO Board. One member of the EDTCO Certification Committee (preferably the chairman) is a member without vote of the BTC and also without vote on the Executive Committee. If the EDTCO representative cannot attend a meeting he/she should be represented by the EDTCO President.
3.5 Executive Committee: The BTC shall elect an Executive Committee from its members, which will include a Chairman, a Vice Chairman, two Secretaries (Senior and Junior) and a Treasurer. The representative of EDTCO, the former President, will also be a member of the Executive Committee, and the chairman of the EDTCO Certification Committee will be a member without vote.
3.6 The Chairman and Vice Chairman shall have tenure of 3 years each, the Vice Chairman automatically becoming Chairman when the Chairman retires. The tenure of the Senior Secretary will be for 3 years, and Junior also passing automatically to Senior when the Senior retires. The Treasurer shall have tenure of 6 years and shall not be eligible for re-election. The Representative of EDTCO cannot hold a second post in the Executive Committee of the BTC.
3.7 Election of Executive Officers: The election of the first committee will take place at the first meeting of the BTC. Subsequently, the following procedure will be followed:
Nomination phase: the Senior (or Junior) Secretary will notify members of the BTC of an impending vacancy six months in advance and ask for written nominations at the same time. All nominations should be proposed and seconded by two members of the BTC. The nomination period stops one month before the election. The Secretary asks all nominees, whether they accept nomination or not.
In case of election at the BTC Meeting, the Secretary reopen the nomination phase during the meeting, but only those BTC Members can get nomination, who attend the meeting and personally accept nomination.
Election phase: The Secretary will then arrange an electronic ballot to all members of the BTC via e-mail 3 months before the appointment will become active. It is also possible to organize anonymous election at the BTC Meeting, if 50% + 1 of the countries’ members of the BTC are represented. All valid nominees are present on the election sheet. Simple majority is necessary to achieve an Executive Officer position. In case of equal results between two, or more candidates, new turn must be arranged until simple majority can be achieved.
3.8 Evaluation Sub-Committee: The application will be considered by a sub-committee of the BTC. The sub-committee will have three members: the Senior and Junior Secretary and the Treasurer of the Executive Committee.
3.9 The Chairman and Senior Secretary of the BTC shall attend meetings of the Division of Transplantation of the UEMS and the EBS as ex-officio members. If the Chairman or the Senior Secretary cannot attend the meeting, the Chairman can authorise any other member of the Executive Committee to represent the BTC.
3.10 The BTC and EC of BTC may appoint working groups to prepare draft documents or recommendations on specific topics for consideration by the full BTC.
3.11 EDTCO has a Certification Committee, inside the EDTCO structure, is a scientific advisory committee to update and define the curriculums of the modules.
3.11.1 The EDTCO Certification Committee shall have a president and 4 experts nominated by the EDTCO Board.
3.11.2 The chairman of the EDTCO Certification Committee will be an ordinary member of the BTC without vote and sit on the Executive Committee of BTC also without vote.
4. Objectives
The main objective of the BTC is to guarantee the best standard of care in organ and tissue donation and transplant coordination in Europe by ensuring that training in transplant coordination is maintained at the highest level and homologous standards of practice are established.
5. Accountability
5.1 The BTC shall report to the UEMS Management Council through the Division of Transplantation, UEMS Section of Surgery and the EBS.
5.2 Relationswith any organisation or institution outside the UEMS shall be in accordance with article 11 (III) of the statute and article 24 (III) of the current rules of procedure.
6. Functioning
6.1 The BTC shall meet at least once per year and the minutes of the meeting shall be forwarded to the Division of Transplantation (Section of Surgery and the EBS). The date and place of every meeting is to be decided at the end of the previous meeting. The meeting and the examination process will take place during the EDTCO annual congress. Extraordinary meetings can be called by the Executive Committee or following the request of three or more members and approval by the Executive Committee.
6.2 Meetings shall be organised in such a way that will allow the maximum possible number of members to attend and to entail the minimum of expense. Members’ national associations will cover the cost of their travel and stay.
6.3 Meetings may be attended by the Chairman of the Division of Transplantation or the General Secretary of the UEMS or a nominated deputy who shall be a member of the Management Council. Meetings may also be attended by the President of the UEMS Section of Surgery or the President of the EBS or a nominated deputy who is a member of the Management Council of the UEMS Section of Surgery. The BTC should be informed beforehand in all cases.
6.4 The agenda shall consist of subjects proposed by the Executive Committee of the BTC, the members of the BTC, the chairman of the Division of Transplantation, the UEMS Section of Surgery, the EBS or the Secretary General of the UEMS.
6.5 The agenda shall be circulated to the members and the Secretary General of the UEMS, the UEMS Section of Surgery and the EBS at least 1 month before the meeting.
6.6 The minutes of the meetings shall be circulated to all members, the Chairman of the Division of Transplantation, the President and Secretary of the UEMS Section of Surgery, the President of the EBS, the General Secretary of the UEMS and the Management Council of the UEMS within 1 month of the meeting.
6.7. Documentation and dissemination: BTC creates and maintain transparent traceable documentation system led by the Executive Committee.
Vice-Chair of the BTC Executive Committee manages the BTC Members list. Member States officially communicate all changes about representatives with Executive Committee through the Vice-Chair.
BTC Executive Committee operates a subpage on the EDTCO and UEMS site to disseminate the followings:
– BTC statutes
– actual BTC Member list
– Executive Committee Members and accessibilities
– general information on CETC application
– CETC application forms, documents.
7. Financing
7.1 The BTC is a non-profit organisation and is financed by the fees of the applicants for the two parts of the accreditation process: eligibility and examination. The Division is also financed by any legal financial benefits for its contribution to various professional/ scientific activities (i.e. meetings, publications). The Division can accept legal public (i.e. EU bodies, national government bodies, professional/ scientific organisations) or private (i.e. gifts, contribution by the commercial sector) contributions/ donations. A financial contribution/ donation to the Division can only be accepted under the strict rule that is offered to help the Division to achieve its objectives and without any obligation of the Division towards the body(ies)/ organisation(s)/ person(s) offering the contribution/ donation.
7.2 The BTC uses its own bank account managed by the Treasurer to facilitate administration. The Treasurer of the BTC will keep the books and has access to the account. The Treasurer will present a financial report at the BTC annual meeting and will forward each annual report to the Treasurer of the Section of Surgery of the UEMS and the EBS to maintain transparency.
