HNA shows a blue card to its rising stars

So that’s it, HNA done and dusted for another year. Save for a few little niggles, HNA 2015 in Birmingham was another fun event. The feedback has been pretty amazing.

It probably says something about the annual HNA meeting that Trish Bell came hot foot and fresh(ish) off the plane from Malaysia to read her opening poem (which was brilliant, even if she seemed to mention everyone but me in it!)

Overall, the more interactive approach we used in some of the sessions went down really well and proved that you don’t need fancy technology to get people interacting. Dan Hart from the Royal London got everyone rethinking their preconceived notions of how the new longer-acting factor products would be introduced. Anna Farrell from Bristol highlighted the range of job titles among HNA members and pushed people into thinking about what it means to be a haemophilia nurse, something that the HNA committee will be revisiting throughout this next year. Despite posing more questions than answers, people really seem to have appreciated the way that both Dan and Anna (each in their own inimitable ways) got them thinking and enthusiastically waving red and blue cards.

Of course we had some more didactic sessions too, which were also much appreciated, but once again it was Snippety Bits that scored highest on the evaluation forms. Barbara Subel (below) was voted the winner for her well presented and evocative case study on a girl with plasminogen deficiency (I didn’t get to vote but would have voted for Barbara as she said she was already writing it up for The Journal of Haemophilia Practice!).

We have heard lots of positive feedback from our industry supporters, which bodes well for future meetings. One company sent an email saying she had really enjoyed the meeting, “It’s the first time I’ve attended, and as well as a really pleasant atmosphere, it seemed to have a good mix of topics and speakers too. I’ve seen many meetings in many different countries over the past few years, and this is certainly one of the best ‘all-rounders’.”

Another of our industry partners has, in the recent past, felt our sponsorship costs to be a little steep but this year was full of praise that “in only 3 years we had UK nurses doing and presenting research.” It was precisely because of those sponsorship packages that last year we were able to award the first HNA research bursaries to Alpha Barrie from GOSH and Melanie Wilkinson from Basingstoke.

Alpha chose to look at the factors that influence and motivate parents of children with bleeding disorders to participate in clinical trials of new recombinant factor concentrates and earlier this year presented his work at EAHAD. Melanie undertook a pilot study to explore parental confidence when dosing children with severe haemophilia with long-acting factor products, before they participate in sporting activity. The work is progressing well and she says she’s been approached by a company offering to fund a full study!

This year, the HNA awarded two further research bursaries. Anna Farrell (left) from Bristol will explore the use of videotelephony to visually assess bleeds or possible bleeds among patients in the geographically diverse southwest region. Anne Wareing (below) from St George’s in London plans to address the DDAVP challenge, by undertaking an audit to assess current practice in UK haemophilia centres.

Education and networking remain consistently the main reasons people attend HNA each year. This year’s meeting attracted quite a few newbies, many of whom wrote enthusiastic comments. But probably my favourite comment was from an established nurse who returned to HNA after three years. “This year’s has been the best”. Best of all, they said they would be back next time.

Of course, there were things that could be improved. Some were not wild about the kazoos, but then in the interests of balance we have to admit that some loved it as a form of “homespun” (and entirely ABPI compliant) entertainment.

So a very big thank you to everyone who came, whether as delegates or speakers. And of course, thank you to our sponsors – Baxter, CSL Behring, Pfizer, Bayer, BPL, Grifols, LFB, Sobi, Octapharma and Novo Nordisk – without whom it certainly wouldn’t have happened.

Next year we will try to go back to tables rather than rows of seats though we might retain the red and blue cards. But I promise to make sure we don’t leave you looking back to 2014!

Mike Holland is medical writer and the founder of Haemnet, Sixvibe and The Journal of Haemophilia Practice