AC Minutes Prague, 2013

Minutes of the General Assembly and Administrative Council of EFIM – 2nd October 2013, Prague – Czech Republic.

General Assembly

1. Apologies and Welcome (Nica Cappellini)

Nica Cappellini thanked the Czech society for organising this meeting and welcoming EFIM in Prague.

Minutes of the General Assembly in Madrid 23 October 2012 were approved.

Nica excused the AC members who sent their apologies for this meeting. The following AC members sent their excuses: Arjet Gjika - Albanian Society of Internal Medicine, Herbert Watzke – Austrian Society of Internal Medicine, Kimmo Kontula – Finnish Society of Internal Medicine, Sotirios Raptis - Greek Society of Internal Medicine, Aivars Lejnieks - Latvian Society of internal Medicine,
AgrisMartinsons - Latvian Society of internal Medicine, Carla Araujo - Portuguesse Society of Internal Medicine, Primoz Vidali - Slovenian Society of Internal Medicine Verena Briner - Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, Bruno Fouqueray – Amgen Switzerland, Arnaud Perrier - Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, Harry van Hulsteijn - Dutch Society of Internal Medicine, Erdal Akalin -Turkish Society of Internal Medicine, Dowdle J Rhidian – UK, Roseveare Chris - Society of Acute Medicine.

2. Report of the President (Nica Cappellini )

Nica presented EFIM’s increased activities in the past five years mentioning the active working groups, establishment of the position papers, successful schools and interest from new societies joining EFIM. Nica introduced the case report journal, research projects and EJIM growing recognition and increased impact factor. However there are still weaknesses that need to be improved on the level of communication with member societies and follow up at the national level, inconsistent EFIM data base and lack of continuity between national societies. However EFIM is working in the right direction to overcome the current issues.

Nica welcomed Rijk Gans the President of the UEMS section of IM and explained the close collaboration between EFIM and UEMS in the future. She informed the AC members on the joint cooperation between EJIM and UEMS and the idea of creating European curriculum on internal medicine. To increase EFIM activities Nica proposed creating subcommittees which will involve not only EFIM Executive Committee, but also the representatives of the national societies. Following Subcommittees have been presented: Communication Subcommittee, ECIM subcommittee, ESIM subcommittee, EU affairs subcommittee and the Fellowship subcommittee.

Call for Subcommittees officers will be open to all EFIM members with a purpose to create a body, working together and becoming more efficient. The importance is to be present in Europe. Furtherm, ore Nica thanked Jan Willem for all his support given to EFIM and being prime contact for EFIM ever since the beginning.

3. Report of the Secretary General (Jan Willem Elte)

Jan Willem Elte presented his last secretary report to the Administrative Council mentioning the different teleconferences held between the EC members and the secretariat, EC initiatives, like meetings with potential web designers, Strategic sessions held in Brussels in February and follow up meeting in July 2013. Bilateral meeting with national societies were held in Turkey, Germany and Finland. Meetings with the congress organisers in Geneva and in Moscow were presented and AC members were informed on the very first EFIM 1⁄2 day session organised in Romania during the national congress of the Romanian society. EFIM has been very active in the past year promoting their activities and nothing would have been achieved without the great support from the people involved in organising and supporting this. Jan Willem thanked the participants for attending EFIM meetings. He than thanked all Executive Committee members in his past 10 years of activities, he thanked Janet, Irene, Caroline for supporting him in his General Secretary role and gave his warmest thanks to Aneta from Congrex Belgium on the invaluable support she gave to EFIM.

4. Report of the Treasurer (Faustino Ferreira)

Faustino thanked Jan Willem for his precious support and personality and his efforts and continuous support for EFIM.
Faustino Ferreira presented the financial report of 2012 stressing out the positive outcome from Madrid congress. Representatives of the Administrative council approved the budget for 2012.

Budget of 2013 was presented with slightly negative income due to the increased activities. Faustino thanked the member societies for paying the membership dues on time and sustaining the budget. Forecasted 2014 budget followed, presenting the increased activities and the cost behind them which will result in a slightly negative result. The raised expenses were presented due to investments of the new projects.

Administrative council members approved the budget for 2014.
Nica once again thanked the Spanish organisers for holding such a great congress and extremely positive result and hoped that Prague will bring similar results.

 

Administrative Council

1. Apologies and Welcome (Nica Cappellini)

Nica thanked the Czech Society for organising this meeting and welcoming EFIM in Prague. Nica welcomed the members of the Administrative Council in Prague and excused the AC members who sent their apologies for this meeting. The following AC members sent their excuses: Arjet Gjika - Albanian Society of Internal Medicine, Herbert Watzke – Austrian Society of Internal Medicine, Kimmo Kontula – Finnish Society of Internal Medicine, Sotirios Raptis - Greek Society of Internal Medicine, Aivars Lejnieks - Latvian Society of internal Medicine,

AgrisMartinsons - Latvian Society of internal Medicine, Carla Araujo - Portuguesse Society of Internal Medicine, Primoz Vidali - Slovenian Society of Internal Medicine Verena Briner - Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, Bruno Fouqueray – Amgen Switzerland, Arnaud Perrier - Swiss Society of General Internal Medicine, Harry van Hulsteijn - Dutch Society of Internal Medicine, Erdal Akalin - Turkish Society of Internal Medicine, Dowdle J Rhidian – UK, Roseveare Chris - Society of Acute Medicine.

Present: Please find list of attendees attached

2. Minutes of the Administrative Council Meeting, Helsinki 10 May 2013 (Nica Cappellini )

Members of the Administrative Council approved the minutes from EFIM AC held in Helsinki on 10 May.

3. EFIM Website development (Roger Duckitt and Tim Aldiss)

Roger gave presentation and introduced Think Search as the new EFIM website designer. He informed the AC members that tender was opened and six proposals were carefully reviewed. The decision was made by the Executive committee to work with Think Search. Tim Aldiss gave presentation on the new EFIM website functionalities mentioning the development of secure forums, EFIM working groups and raising profile of the Fellowship programme. There will be improved access to EFIM activities, bringing the conference sessions, ESIM programme, publishing updated EU news, showing community updates etc. First draft of the home page was presented, prioritising the newest content, rapid surveys, EFIM flagships, pull in news and articles. Another functionality will be the social media, comments, threaded discussion, search engine etc. The designing timeline was presented having the website running for testing in November. NC asked if any of the representatives are interested and would like to give suggestions and ideas to the website to contact Roger and Tim.

4. EU Affairs Project (N Cappellini)

Nica presented the EU projects as a necessity for EFIM to become the voice of Internal Medicine in Europe. EFIM can benefit from EU funds to finance some of EFIM’s projects. New services for National Societies and their members can be offered in a form of a newsletter.

Chris applauded the EU initiatives as very important. EFIM has something to show and it is imperative to accept and welcome this initiative.

5. Progress of communication with National Societies (F Bosch)

Frank informed the AC members on the positive outcome of the communication campaign that was launched in the summer. Most of the member countries replied and sent updated EFIM contacts which is the first step to better communication. EFIM Newsletter has been initiated in the spring and was distributed to the member societies. Some of the member societies circulated the newsletter to their members and some countries didn’t do anything. In this busy time Frank asked the AC members to have secretaries who will be circulating EFIM news and updates to the members by having dedicated time to EFIM of 1 – 2 hours per week. Frank introduced EFIM Secretaries meeting to be held in Brussels. The idea of the meeting is to bring together the secretaries and improve the communication with the societies members. AC members welcomed the idea of the Secretaries meeting and few countries replied positively confirming that they will be sending their secretaries to attend this event. Nica emphasised the importance of having permanent EFIM contact at the National society.

6. Call for subcommittee members

Nica introduced the subcommittees during her President presentation and she mentioned again that EFIM Subcommittees will have different goals than the Working Groups. The subcommittees will deal with different issues and involve members from national societies. Official call for subcommittee officers will be opened after the Prague congress.
Actions: Call for Subcommittee Officers to be opened in November 2013.

7. Approval of membership fee increase

Faustino mentioned EFIM initiatives letter that was sent to all AC members and asked the AC members to approve the increase of the membership fee from 1.25€ per/society member to 2€ per/society member.
Positive reactions were received from the representatives of the AC.

Increase of EFIM membership fee was approved by acclamation.

8. Election EFIM Secretary General: candidate Pedro Conthe (N Cappellini)

Nica presented Pedro Conthe who who applied for the Secretary General position. Pedro was invited to present himself to the AC members. Pedro has been involved with the Spanish society for more than 10 years as a Secretary General and President and also as an Executive President of the last EFIM Congress. Pedro is honorary member of the Royal College of Physicians and has huge support from the Portuguese Society of Internal Medicine. Pedro collaborated actively with the EFIM Exchange programme and he is fully involved with his hospital activities. Members of the Administrative council voted and approved Pedro Conthe as the new EFIM Secretary General. Pedro was glad to accept the Secretary General position. Pedro will continue on collaborating with the rest of the members to improve the recognition of EFIM in Europe. He asked Jan Willem’s assistance to guide him and share his experience in this journey. Pedro Conthe was officially accepted as EFIM Secretary General and official change of positions took place in Prague.

9. EJIM (S Malosio)

Silvia presented the editorial board, and mentioned that EJIM is still looking for diabetologist but the team is very strong already. The journal is enjoying steady growth, over 700 submission, the impact factor has increased from 2.000 – to 2.049. There is an increased efficiency in manuscript handling time to 3.4 weeks. Rejection rate has increased to 71% due to quality of manuscripts not necessarily improved, large backlog and control page budget. Elsevier allowed for extra 100 free pages in 2013 to reduce the backlog.

Waterfall project was presented with AJM but is still in development.
Added value are the clustered articles into special themed issue such as Geriatric Medicine, Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Vascular Medicine and Cardiology, and Thrombotic Microangiopathies .
Encouraging invited series and first flashcards were inaugurated in issue 6.
There was increasing number of review articles published in each issue. Silvia mentioned that EJIM tends to inform the author to wait for 2 years.
Submissions by countries in 2012 were presented having Italy, Spain, UK, Turkey and Israel and in 2013 Italy, Spain, China, Greece and Switzerland which showed growing importance of Chinese authors. However there is still strong absence of many European countries by a mere competition with National Journal. Silvia proposed that some articles important to the general press should be free online so journalists can access them. This might improve the view of articles and visibility of the journal. Silvia pointed out that EJIM is working on: finding reliable reviewers, improving quality through personal invitations and promoting the content on any possible occasion. Silvia informed the AC members that Pier Mannuci has approached the speakers from the congress to send manuscripts to EJIM. EJIM currently ranks 39th out of 151 in the category Medicine, General & Internal.

Case reports have not been considered for publication in EJIM but they will appear in the new EJCRIM which is starting as EFIM new project. Increase visibility display at the EFIM congress and involvement of National societies is very important.

10. Progress report EJIM (K Grundy)

Karena presented the progress report on EJIM and informed the AC members on the continued increase in submissions – a 6% increase on previous year is forecast . Top 5 countries that have submitted so far in 2013 are Italy; China; Turkey; Spain and Israel. There is continued drop in editorial handling times however faster publication times. Publication frequency is expanding to 10 issues in 2014. There is an increased impact factor 2.049.

Elsevier is planning the following new initiatives:

Internal Medicine Flashcards - offers a platform to publish educational and interesting materials, in the form of pictures (medical photos, clinical images, typical findings) and a brief clinical case, depicting classical medical conditions, and will be in the form of a quiz.

AudioSlides - Brief, webinar-style presentations in which an author explains what their paper is about, using slides and audio; complimentary, optional service to authors; freely available on ScienceDirect.

Daniel asked if there is any interest from pharmaceutical companies publicising in the journal on which Karena replied that they can advertise in the journal, and Elsevier is open to suggestions. Nicola Montano suggested adding a selection of subspecialty and emergency medicine in the journal. Chris posed the question on online access for the members’ progress. Karena informed the AC members that Elsevier is waiting for EFIM website redesign to continue with accommodating the possibilities of EFIM website. Jordi mentioned that the online access will include the members of the national societies. Nica thanked Karena for doing great job for EFIM and asked both Silvia and Karena to prepare summary on their presentation to be published on the following newsletter.

Actions: Karena and Silvia to prepare summary and send it to Aneta. 11. Case Report Journal (N Cappellini, S Malosio)

Leaflet was circulated with EJCRIM information.
Silvia presented the Editorial Board and introduced John Kellet as Editor-in-Chief for EJCRIM. The case report journal is published by SMC Media in Italy.
There is free access and it is online only.
Affordable submission fee has been offered and publication fee to cover basic costs. PubMed is indexing as soon as applicable.
The aim of the journal is to provide a forum to internal medicine doctors for the description of interesting cases, or a cluster of cases. The structured abstract should be describing a clinical presentation, history and findings that bear an interest from either a diagnostic or symptomatic, laboratory outcome or treatment point of view. Silvia said that EFIM is confident that the journal will be an important educational tool for the practice of the internists and a 'publishing gymnasium" for young authors.

Alexis requested not to limit the pictures on the CRC as very important. Silvia commented that one or two pictures are acceptable but it will be flexible based on what is received.

Nica added to this comment that EFIM should adopt the methodological approach. Ramon proposed the teacher should foster the best papers to be sent to the journal. Nicola Montano suggested selecting the abstract with the highest score from the congress and submitting it to the journal. Alberto Marra came up with another proposal suggesting the selection of the three most interesting papers from the school and publishing them in the journal. Nica thanked the AC members for all the proposals received and added that individual submissions should be encouraged too.

12. ESIM Report Winter School 2013 outcome and present ESIM 2014 (Werner Bauer)

Werner presented ESIM 2013 in Verena’s absence and passed her apology for not being able to attend the AC meeting. Werner gave short summary on Saas Fee and the beautiful resort, showed the programme and the social activities organized. The school was organized from 20 – 26 January and included 38 residents from 17 countries. Various teaching programmes in EU Internal Medicine were included

3CPC were very popular with YI. Werner thanked the Swiss society for sponsoring the Swiss knives gifts. In general the evaluations were very positive and the lecturers received very good ratings. The residents requested more CPC in future.

Werner informed the AC members that only 10 residents’ applications have been received for ESIM 2014. Werner asked the AC members to talk to their societies and send residents application as soon as possible. Werner pointed out the importance of encouraging the YI to come and attend ESIM motivating the head of departments to support their application. Application to send residents will be opened till middle of November. ESIM 2014 is taking place from 13 to 20 January in Saas Fee Switzerland.

13. ESIM Summer School 2013 (M Durusu)

Mine presented the highlights from the European School of Internal Medicine (ESIM) which was held in Cappadocia, Turkey in 1-7 September 2013. Cappadocia is well known with its ancient history which made this School experience an unforgettable event. As Turkey hosted the School for the second and the last time, 41 young internists in training from 19 countries attended this year’s Summer School. FDIME supported 3 residents. The scientific program consisted of lectures, workshops, (CPCs) and interactive lectures as well as innovative sessions such as poster discussions and small group workshops on leadership. The participants actively got involved in each lecture. Results of the evaluations were very positive and requests for increasing the CPCs to 4 were asked. The School director Erdal Akalin and the co-directors Mine Durusu and Mustafa Arici conveyed their special thanks to EFIM, to the Turkish Society of Internal Medicine, FDIME and all the national societies who had generously supported this flagship event of the Federation.

14. ESIM Summer School 2014 (N Montano)

Nicola Montano gave presentation on ESIM Summer School 2014 which is currently in preparation. The school will take place in Hotel Flamingo, Santa Margherita di Pula in Cagliari, Sardinia from 14 -21 June 2014. The school will maintain the general format of the previous very successful courses, with lectures, workshops, case presentations actively involving the students. School director is Nicola Montano working together with the Co-directors: Lorenzo Dagna, Giorgio Costantino, Gianmarco Podda, and the director at large Erdal Akalin. The overall cost for each participant will be 995€ which is enough to cover accommodation and meals, organised social programme, lecture facilities, speakers accomodation.

Nicola said that the mixture of culture, nature and human interaction will continue to maintain the ESIM School as a unique experience and welcomed all the member societies to send residents for ESIM 2014.

 

15. ESIM Winter 2015 candidates: Latvia and Norway

Latvia presentation

Ieva Ruza presented the proposal for ESIM 2015 winter school to take place in Riga, Latvia from 2015 - 2017. The school will contain the same format. Programme will be mixture of scientific and social. Prof. Aivars Lejniks has been proposed as the director of the school, following Verena Briner and Margus Lember as Co - directors. Ieva Ruza will manage the school secretariat. Dates proposed for the school are 18 - 24 January 2015 with two other alternative dates. The school will take place at the Welton Elefant hotel located in Riga which offers different meeting possibilities and accommodation in single or twin rooms. Estimated registration fee for the school is 800€ VAT inclusive. Ieva presented new workshop idea which is currently under discussion. The topic is introduction overview of ultrasound investigation in internal medicine. For the social programme there are two events planned: Opera or classical music concert and excursion. Ieva invited the AC members to vote for the Latvian proposal and welcomed all the future residents to Latvia.

Norway presentation

Stephen Hewitt presented the proposal from the Norwegian society of internal medicine to host ESIM Winter 2015 – 2017. The course will take place at the Montebello Centre in Lillehammer, in February 2015. Prof. Knut Lundin has been proposed as ESIM director who will work together with the President and the Board of the Norwegian Society of Internal Medicine, including ESIM/EFIM organisation, ESIM participants of previous years and Norwegian Young Internist Group.
The school will contain the same format. Programme will be mixture of scientific and social with topics of special interest like Epidemiology, Clinical handling of patients, Complications of diseases, Future challenges for internists etc.
The overall cost of 1500€ per resident is higher than in previous school however the location and the venue offer diverse activities for the residents. Stephen welcomed the members of the AC to vote for the proposal by the Norwegian Society of Internal Medicine.

Voting was conduced. Majority of the AC members voted for the Latvian proposal. Latvia has been officially voted as the next organiser of ESIM Winter 2015 – 2016.

16. Generalists and Specialists Meeting (Ramon Pujol)

Ramon presented the progress made on the project: Internists and specialists working together in Europe. Proposed dates for the event are October-November 2014. Following cities have been suggested to host this event: London, Brussels, Barcelona, Milan. The goal is to demonstrate that it is possible to reach consensus between internists and subspecialists on the benefit of patients, decide which activities are/should be exclusively specialised, involve internists in the management of complex clinical problems, make a final consensus document with the signature of EFIM and multinational groups for specific disorders. The format of the meeting is two days with 2 topics Monday; 1 topic Tuesday including 4 hours of topic combining lectures, workshops, debates etc.

Following three topics will be managed by internists:
- Venous thromboembolic prevention. Chair: Giancarlo Agnelli and Ander Cohen

- Rare diseases (transitional/organisational issues). Chairs: Nica Cappellini and Loic Guillevin

- Adult Vaccines. The role of internists. Chairs: Serhat Unal and Xavier Garau Funding for the project can be explored within Pharma companies, National Societies, individual delegates and European funds.
Congrex Belgium has been appointed as the technical secretariat for the project.
Nica invited AC members if interested to get in touch with Ramon and get involved in this project. Attendees for this meeting will be invited without any registration fees to be paid.
Mine raised the concern regarding the conflict from the guidelines produced few years ago.

17. Adult Vaccination Project (S Unal)

Serhat and Mine presented the ADVICE project. The primary aim of the project is to document the current adult vaccination practices and reimbursement strategies in the member countries of EFIM.
The second aim is to increase the awareness and to implement European practice guidelines on adult vaccination. A pilot study was completed in a single center among internal medicine residents in Turkey.

A second pilot study was done during European School of Internal Medicine, September 2013, in Turkey. Survey was presented and will be circulated among the EFIM member countries. Serhat and Mine invited AC members to be actively involved in the ADVICE project and provide their thoughts and contributions.

18. New members: Albania (N Cappellini)

Nica informed the AC members that the Albanian Society of Internal Medicine sent their apology for not being able to present their society to the AC and receive their membership certificate.

19. Upcoming congresses:

Geneva 2014 (J P Gaspoz)

Prof. Gaspoz presented the progress on European and Swiss congress on internal Medicine which is a joint effort of EFIM and SGIM. Palexpo conference and exhibition centre was presented as the venue of the congress with its convenient position located closely to the airport and the railway station. There will be around 60 workshops held in three different languages. Prof. Gaspoz presented the highlights of the programme, the symposia sessions, the "how to" sessions the special sessions and the learning centres. Different medical societies are invited and will be actively participating at the congress. ESCIM website is up and running including the latest information of the congress. Prof. Gaspoz welcomed all the EFIM members to register to the congress and spread the word among their societies members and welcomed everyone in Geneva. Prof. Gaspoz pointed out that EFIM have been actively involved in the programme and thanked Daniel and Frank and the SGIM for their efforts and making the ESCIM congress successful.

Moscow 2015 (V Kokorin)

Valenting presented the progress on the Moscow congress in 2015 confirming the final dates 13 – 16 October 2015. Russian National congress is going to take place at Crokus Expo centre expecting 4000 participants. Valentin introduced Prof. Martynov, the president of the Russian Scientific Medical Society of Internal Medicine who welcomed the AC members to Moscow. New congress flag was presented and promotional and marketing material has been distributed actively promoting the congress. KST Interforum is the selected PCO who are already organizing 31 events, with more than 45 000 participants in collaboration with RSMSIM. Valentin mentioned the two events organized by RSMSIM to take place in Yakutsk and Archangel with more than 700 participants (general practitioners). Nica was invited to participate in Yakutsk event. Valentin presented the potential social events - river cruises, ballet show , sightseeing tours in Moscow etc. Nica thanked Valentin on the efforts he put in the organization and informed the AC members that the work on the scientific programme will start shortly.

20. Clinical Research Course 2013 (D Sereni)

Daniel presented the Clinical Research Seminar which took place in Paris 8 – 10 July. 42 applicants from 15 different countries sent applications. 17 Young Internists were selected from 12 different countries to attend the Seminar to progress their career in Clinical Research. The seminar was sponsored by Amgen. The programme included talks by international experts on the different topics. Evaluations received were very high. Residents requested for the seminar to be longer and the sessions to be more interactive. Daniel informed the AC members that in the 2014 seminar, new topic will be added on:” How to write the results of your research” inviting Pier Mannucci as a speaker.

21. FDMIE Report (D Sereni)

Daniel gave brief presentation on the activities of the Foundation in 2013.
6 YI were supported by FDIME to participate in the ESIM Winter and ESIM summer school. The foundation offered to support EFIM Exchange programme by giving 8 scholarships. Daniel Sereni informed the AC members on the research grants that will be given to three Young Internists during the opening ceremony in Prague. The grants are given to the selected candidates who intend to develop research in the field of rare diseases in adults.
Benefit concert was presented with St. Petersburg foundation taking place in Zurich.

22. Young internists (F. Weidanz)

Frauke gave Carla’s apology who was not able to attend this meeting and presented the activities organised by the YI subcommittee in 2013. New YI member - Ewelina Biscup has been introduced as a representative from Switzerland. Map of countries was presented highlighting the 16 countries with active YI and representatives. YI Day and YI projects were presented to the AC including the: Working conditions survey and End- of-Life Decisions Survey. Frauke mentioned that the YI group has been very active promoting EFIM events on the YI website, through the social media etc. YI would like to be actively involved in additional activities within the federation as the YI share a common goal of promoting and strengthening Internal Medicine. Frauke thanked EFIM Executive Committee for all their support given.

23. Report Exchange Programme WG (Alberto Marra)

Alberto Marra presented the Exchange programme in Carla’s absence and informed the AC members on the development of the Exchange programme and the progress made in 2013. The objective of the exchange programme is to promote better knowledge of different internal medicines unites across Europe. The pilot experience in 2012 resulted in 6 scholarships from Portugal and Spain and 34 departments and tutors offered across 10 countries. In 2013 exchange programme has been actively promoted through the YI group, on EFIM website and on the EFIM congress distributing exchange programme flyer. FDIME offered 8 scholarships. 15 residents from five different countries participated in the exchange programme in 2013. The objective is to extend the exchange programme to more residents. As of 2014 EFIM offers 12 bursaries of 600€ to support the residents. National societies should support the residents with their accommodation and daily cost.

Alberto informed the AC members that the applications for 2014 Exchange programme are now open. Participants at the programme can observe for one month, but are not allowed to do any procedures. Pedro and Nica congratulated Carla on her active involvement in the exchange programme and they expressed their confidence in the future of this project. Nica said that Exchange programme was discussed at the Executive committee meeting with ideas to extend the programme from one to three months. Document will be prepared for the resident to fill in the experience from the one month programme.

24. Rare Diseases WG

Lorenzo informed the AC members that the 1st phase of the EFIM Survey on the Awareness of Rare Diseases in Europe has been completed. Lorenzo mentioned that the WG will work on finalizing the objective better and not working only on the scientific part. Lorenzo informed the AC members that EFIM sent and an application for an EU Call for experts in Rare Diseases to represent scientific societies working on Rare Diseases. The application was successful and Lorenzo was appointed as EFIM representative. Lorenzo asked the AC members to contact him and suggest experts in Rare Diseases from their national societies.

Action: Written report on the Rare diseases WG activities to be sent 25. Quality of Care and Professional Issues WG

Mark Kramer informed the AC members that the paper on The changing face of internal medicine: Patient centred care will be submitted shortly.
No presentation available

Action: Written report on the Quality of Care and Professional Issues WG activities to be sent.

26. Competences WG

Runolfur gave update on the meeting with the Competences working group. Future project is to create the Common European curriculum of internal medicine. The currculum will be Based on the similarities among the European countries and focusing on resent problems encountered by internists. Structure, policy and procedures were discussed in the meeting. Runolfur informed the AC members that Werner stepped in as a chairman of EBIM. Werner gave short explanation on the links with different organizations, and strategy which will be used for writing the European curriculum of internal medicine. A small writing group, comprising of 5 individuals and larger working group consisting of one delegate from each national society and the Young Internists Assembly, will be providing review of the work and recommendations. The goal is to complete the curriculum in 2 years time. Rijk Gans from UEMS section on IM pointed out that this is a major project for EFIM and if project is voted in favor by UEMS, it will be great achievement for EFIM. Runolfur is going to send letter to National societies to ask representatives from the member societies interested to get involved in this project.

Action: Written report on the Competences WG activities to be sent

27. Next AC Meeting ECIM Congress Geneva – date and time schedule (N Cappellini)

Next AC meeting will take place in Geneva, on 13 May during the European and Swiss Congress of internal Medicine. Further information will follow after the Prague meeting.

28. EFIM Autumn Meeting 2014 – Tartu, Estonia (M Lember)

Margus Lember informed the participants that the organisation of the AC meeting to take place in Estonia is in preparation. The AC meeting will take place at the end of September 2014. Detailed presentation will be given at the following AC meeting in Geneva.

29. Any other items: to be notified to the Secretary General in advance of the meeting (e-mail: info@efim.org)