he ISEN was founded in 1985 by a group of dedicated Endoscopy Nurses who decided that there was a growing need for an organisation to provide support, information and biannual educational meetings for Nurses and Nurse Managers working in Endoscopy Units in Ireland. The historic event of our first meeting took place on the 6th June 1986 in University College Cork. This inaugural meeting included a talk titled “Why Endoscopy” by our esteemed colleague, Professor Gary Courtney.
Historically, we have always held our meetings in conjunction with our colleagues at the Irish Society of Gastroenterology and members can also attend the ISG talks if they choose to. Every Autumn the ISEN sponsors 2 members to attend the European meeting (ESGENA). The society also supports members who have had posters accepted by ESGENA.
“By 1988, our society boasted 38 members and on average 80% of members attended meetings. The 1988 registration fee was IRL£12.”
Over the last decades there have been many changes in Endoscopy and we have seen our roles expand considerably. Several pivotal events in our field will be occurring in the near future and we are delighted to continue to provide support, educational resources and opportunities to our members.
2013 saw the planned role out of the colorectal screening programme. Our Endoscopy units participated in an accreditation scheme and new decontamination guidelines. The introduction of mandatory continuous educational units “CEU” by An Bord Altranais, continues to be supported by our education programme.
Our aim is to carry on the superb work of our previous committee members, by continuing to provide biannual educational meetings and also to further develop the ISEN website to enable easier access of information to members and to other links. This newly designed website contains a members only forum where we can post queries about any Endoscopy issues and get feedback from other members all over Ireland.
Committee
