The ERN Preceptorship experience in the Archbishop Makarios III Hospital

«We had the pleasure to host in our Thalassaemia Clinic at Archbishop Makarios III Hospital a participant from Poland. The participant had the opportunity to see our day-to-day clinical work, interact with the patients in the English language and see how our clinic manages the patients with b-thalassaemia, H-disease and Sickle cell syndromes and Hereditary Spherocytosis. The hosting included a visit to the Institute of Neurology and Genetics, which collaborates closely with our clinic. He had the opportunity to see the procedure of molecular diagnosis performed there and all the other projects,  they running. Additionally, he visited our Thalassaemia Screening laboratory, which runs a huge public health program on Thalassaemia screening in Cyprus. During his stay, he participated in our clinical work and got clinical exposure to the protocols we use for initial diagnosis, treatment of iron chelation, transfusion, management of transfusion-related complications, management of diabetes mellitus in haemoglobinopathies, management of osteoporosis, management of pregnancies, protocol on splenectomy, management of transfusion-exchange in sickle- cell diseases etc. We summed up all our protocols in a booklet translated into English and gave it to him as a reminder of his experience in our Thalassaemia clinic.  It was a pleasure to host him and we hope that he enjoyed his Preceptorship experience. It was also an opportunity for us to be informed about the  Thalassaemia management in his country and his experience. We look forward to hosting more participants in the future.» Dr Soteroula Christou, Coordinator of the Preceptorship (Archbishop Makarios III Hospital, Cyprus).

«It has been a great pleasure and invaluable experience to participate in the ERN- EuroBloodNet preceptorship program on Thalassemia held in Archbishop Makarios III Hospital (Nicosia, Cyprus). The training was carried out from 10th to 14th October 2022 and was coordinated by Dr Soteroula Christou and Prof. Marina Kleanthous, PhD. Dr Christou and her team at Archbishop Makarios III Hospital have introduced me to real-life experience with thalassemia patients and basic diagnostic techniques. Prof. Kleanthous' team at the Cyprus Institute for Neurology and Genetics (CING) familiarized me with advanced diagnos5c tools (e.g., Next Genera5on Sequencing), RADeep database, ITHANET platforms and new treatment options using CRISPR/Cas9 system. Other activities included a visit to the blood bank and a very interesting meeting with Thalassemia International Federation (TIF) authorities. Worthy of note is hospitality and friendliness of staff in each of the places mentioned above which made my experience even more pleasant. While most of my colleagues were surprised with my choice of preceptorship (one can't deny that transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients are extremely rare in Poland) I believe it was a very good choice for a couple of reasons of which the two most important are first, due to global migration the number of thalassemia patients in Poland is and will be growing and I feel well prepared to help them now. Secondly, as a devoted academic teacher who has students from areas where prevalence of thalassemia is significant, I feel urge to teach about thalassemia the best way possible - now I can. I am looking forwards to applying for upcoming preceptorship programs and strongly encourage others to do so.» Dr Krzysztof Baran (University Clinical Centre, Poland).