Volume 45 Number 4

« Vancouver is the closest you can get to magic on Earth. »
(Shane Koyczan)

As the 45th anniversary of the WCET^® Journal comes to an end, our next Biennial congress is fast approaching. It will be our 25th Biennial Congress, if we do not count the virtual Conference held during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. It will also be the Nurses Specialised in Wound, Ostomy and Continence Canada (NSWOCC^®) 45th Annual Congress, so quite an important milestone for both organisations.

The 2026 Congress scholarship applications have now all been allocated, noting that only accepted applicants attending Congress will receive it. Once again, we were obliged to align with the budget agreed upon during the 2024 General Business Meeting.

We would like to acknowledge and thank our colleagues of the Australian Association of Stomal Therapy Nurses (AASTN) for a significant donation, enabling us to create a new fund for members applying from low resource countries. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all donors, your contributions are very well appreciated and valued in helping continue WCET^®’s mission.

We thank all of you who have made your voices heard in the recent voting on the proposed motion to raise WCET^® membership fees for 1, 2, 3 or 4 years. Results are in, and it is time for us to focus our remaining time and energy towards the ongoing challenges. For more than 15 years the membership fee has remained the same, and still we offer Membership Scholarships, Members supporting a colleague to become a member, Congress Travel and Education Scholarships, focusing on our Charitable mission across the World.

We also thank you for voting to elect 2026–2030 WCET^® President Elect who will be our 2030–2034 President.

Now to the WCET^® Journal, as you read in the last WCET^® BullETin editorial, Coloplast^® China will no longer support the professional translation of this important publication. We would like to take the opportunity to thank them again for having done it over these last years, helping to spread the most update research and findings on stoma, wound and continence care into a language other than English, contributing to making the WCET^® Journal unique. As always when it comes to challenges, WCET^® come up with a new plan which will allow us to continue to make this resource available to people beyond our membership, and to continue to provide electronic versions of the Journal free-to-access.

The WCET^® Executive Board (EB) held its annual meeting and, as in 2023, it was a hydrid one. We used the time to go through our 2023–2027 Strategic Plan and acknowledge completed achievements, the projects underway and the ones still to emerge.

The meeting was, once again, a chance to team-build and to review and update some important documents, such as the Policy and Procedure Manual and the Congress Planning Guideline. A huge thank you to all EB members and supporters who joined us online, despite significant time zone differences, as well as those onsite. We also appreciate the organisation and organiser who made the meeting possible. Today the internet, its applications and other useful tools are taken for granted, even though we did not have them only a few years ago.

Many thanks also to those who sent in inspirational and amazing WCET^® Norma N Gill Day^® stories on 26 June, and for the World Ostomy Day^© (WOD) on 4 October. The growing number of pages and the diversity of countries we receive stories from shows how much you value the WCET^® BullETin and how global our reach is. We appreciate you.

You may have noticed that WOD¹ was supposed to take place last year but was pushed to this year: more of WOD’s history related to this event and their past mottos can be found under: https://ostomyeurope.org/world-ostomy-day1/.

There are other World Recognition Days or Weeks to help raise awareness on different themes related to our areas of expertise. These important times of the year are real opportunities for us, not only to celebrate, but to highlight our major contributions to patients’ quality of life and to the healthcare system in general. It reminds us of where our tri-specialty came from and helps us recall again the mission and vision of Norma N Gill, our founder. We are reminded of the outstanding person and educator she was, bringing her clear vision to the world and making it a reality. We have kept this alive for more than 60 years after her first pioneering step.² It is also a call to continue to fight for be better recognition, not only for the important visible daily clinical work that we do, but for our scientific expertise, our experience, dedication and leadership.³ It also helps to raise awareness of the burden carried by individuals who have stoma, wound, fistula and/or continence needs, and what they have to face on a daily basis. Issues which are still taboo and underestimated but have a massive impact on various aspects of their lives. Despite pharmacological, surgical and treatment advancements, and improvements in our expertise and in providing support and follow up, these people are still a little lost out there and have needs that we need to take into account.

We used a special design for Norma N Gill Day^®. Following our strategic plan, last year we introduced four complementary logos, the first with our corporate green colour reflecting our efforts to imporve professional development and education, and the red, yellow and pink versions focussed on wounds and skin; continence/urology; and stoma/gastrointestinal issues.^4. We were more than happy to introduce our new designs for World Ostomy Day^© and they were used in the promotion of this event, and  also one for World Ostomy Awareness Day (WOAD) is held in years in between the two WODs.

WODs and WOADs are good opportunities to recall the benefits and challenges of the peer-to-peer support, and the great work undertaken by patients’ support/advocacy organisations, or through forums and/or by other events. We truly take the time, here, to acknowledge, recognise and celebrate them as they deserved. They have something most of us have not, the lived experience of stoma, wound, fistula and/or continence issues.^5-9 We will be taking the time to honour these heroes at Congress.

Speaking of Congress, we continuing to work on finalising the 2026 joint WCET^®–NSWOCC^® Congress program details. Vancouver is known for its magnificent natural beauty, its vibe is to be welcoming and friendly. If you have not yet made your plans, it is time to do it now. Registration is now open and early bird offering will remain until early next year. You will find more information on: https://www.wcet-nswocc2026.com

We can already announce that some surprises will be waiting for you as attendees, to make it memorable and to bring some magic to the event. Be sure not to miss it.

In this issue, you will be find more about our progress regarding the WCET^® International Ostomy Guideline, 3^rd edition; you will hear even more news at Congress regarding this impressive peace of work.

In addition to the WCET^® Congress Travel Scholarships and the General Fund Scholarships, for the first time we are able to provide a 10% discount on the non-WCET^® or NSWOCC^® member price to groups of 25 or more individuals, under the condition the full names of participating individuals for each group were provided for validation purposes. NSWOCC^® chief executive Cathy Harley and Megan Brouwer from the management company working with the organising team will monitor this and provide guidance throughout this process to get it.

In memory of Sally Gill-Thompson, and in recognition of her contributions to WCET^®, and in keeping her mother, Norma N Gill’s legacy alive, we are introducing a new WCET^® Biennial Congress Award. The award will be open to all first time international presenters speaking in person at the event. Many thanks to the Norma N Gill Foundation^® (NNGF^®) Committee for working on the eligibility criteria, the author application and assessment tool which will be used by the Scientific Committee to judge the award. The winner will be acknowledged on stage at the closing ceremony, along with the Poster prize winners. The 2026 application form should be completed and sent to the NNGF^® Committee chair and Central Office by 30 December 2025. The WCET^® Biennial Congress Award prize will be a free registration for the upcoming WCET^® Biennial Congress 2028.

We take this opportunity to deeply appreciate our partners from the NSWOCC^® team, led by Cathy Harley, for the amazing work undertaken in preparation for the Joint Congress. Members of the scientific and organising committees are representative of both associations. It has been a real team effort working alongside our management company represented by Susan Barber, and our new Congress and meeting Planner Megan Brower. We also take this opportunity to thank Louise (Sam) Samuel, our 2026 Congress Coordinator, who is working closely with Alison Crawshaw, 2024 Congress Coordinator and WCET^® Life Member, and Dee Waugh our past Congress and Meeting Coordinator. Thank you to all.

We would also like to mention the important projects that WCET^® has been honoured to support, review or lead since Congress 2024:

• Australian Stoma Appliance Scheme¹⁰
• National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP), European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP), Pan Pacific Pressure Injury Alliance (PPPIA) International Pressure Injury Guideline 2025¹¹
• EPUAP’s 2025 Declaration to Stop Pressure Injuries¹²
• Skin diseases recognised as a global public health priority by the World Health Assembly from the World Health Organisation¹³
• Exercise and Physical Activity after Stoma Surgery (EXPASS) Best Practice Recommendations 2025, a piece of work published by our colleagues from the Association of Stoma Care Nurses United Kingdom (ASCN UK)¹⁴
• American Academy of Dermatology Association (AADA)-Post Acute Wound & Skin Integrity Council (PAWSIC) Skin Failure ICD-10-cm Code Proposal¹⁵
• Letter to the Brazilian Enterostomal Therapists Nurses Association (SOBEST^®) to support the Brazilian Consensus on the Care of People with Elimination Ostomies which has undergone a cross-cultural process by being translated into Spanish
• Letter to the Spanish Association of Stomatherapy (SEDE) to support the recognition of the Stomatherapy as a specialty in Spain
• Wound Cleansing Delphi Study from Erin Rajhathy, Doctoral Student of the Swedish Center for Skin and Wound Research (SCENTR), Nursing Science Unit, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Sweden.
• And more to come.

We feel very honoured to have been part of these amazing projects and want to express our thanks to all organisations, researchers, industry partners, members and non-members for your requests, for demonstrating the value you put into our contribution and expertise, and for your involvement and support in such important documents. You have made us very proud.

These and additional projects will be presented at our 2026 Congress.¹⁶ One more reason not to miss it, join us and be part of this magical, inspirational and meaningful moment in WCET^® history.

Author(s)

Laurent O Chabal
BSc (CBP) RN OncPall (Cert) Dip (WH) ET EAWT
WCET^® President 2022–2026

Denise Hibbert
MSc-WHTR RGN BSc DipHE ONC STN FSSCRS
WCET^® President-Elect 2022–2026

References

1. European Ostomy Association. World Ostomy Day Postponed.EOA; 2024, Aug 7. https://ostomyeurope.org/world-ostomy-day-postponed/
2. Erwin-Toth P and Krasner D (Eds). Enterostomal Therapy Nursing: Growth & Evolution of a Nursing Specialty Worldwide - A Festschrift for Norma N. Gill-Thompson ET. Commemorative Edition. WCET. Cambridge Media; 2020.
3. Heeschap C, Duff V. The value of nurses specialized in wound, ostomy, and continence: a systematic review. Adv Skin Wound Care. 2021;34(10):551–559.
4. Hibbert D, Chabal L, Barber S. Introducing WCET® complementary tri-specialty logos – a Norma N Gill Day® initiative. WCET® Journal. 2024;44(2):12–13.
5. Ayaz-Alkaya. Social determinants of health influencing the health of patients with a stoma: a discursive paper. Int Wound J. 2025; 22(4):e7038.
6. Sen KC. Human wound and its burden: Update 2022 compendium of estimates. Adv Wound Care. 12(12):657–670.
7. Hu YC, Peterson YC. Enteric fistula: An overlooked but significant healthcare burden. Am J Surgery. 2021;221(1):25.
8. European Association of Urology. The annual economic burden of urinary incontinence could reach €87 billion in 2030 if no action is taken. EAU; 2023, Nov 8. https://uroweb.org/press-releases/the-annual-economic-burden-of-urinary-incontinence-could-reach-87-billion-in-2030-if-no-action-is-taken
9. Assmann SL, Kimman ML, Breukink SO, Kesztheyi. The burden of fecal incontinence: evaluating the societal impact in terms of economic burden and heath-related quality of live. Neurogastroenteroloy & Mobility. 2025;7(9): e70036.
10. Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Stoma Appliance Scheme. Australian Government; 2025. https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/stoma-appliance-scheme
11. National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel. About the 2025 International Guideline.  NPIAP; 2025. https://internationalguideline.com/2025
12. European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. EPUAP Declaration.  EPUAP; 2025, Oct 6. https://epuap.org/epuap-declaration/
13. World Health Organization. Skin diseases as a global public health priority. WHO; 2025, Feb, 10. https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB156/B156_(24)-en.pdf
14. Association of Stoma Care Nurses UK. EXPASS Best Practice Recommendations. ASCN UK; 2025, Oct. https://ascnuk.org/expass-best-practice-recommendations/
15. Krasner DL. Skin failure: The AADA-PAWSIC ICD-10-cm code proposal and implications for nursing practice worldwide. Nursing World Conference; 2024. https://nursingworldconference.com/program/scientific-program/2024/skin-failure-the-aada-pawsic-icd-10-cm-code-proposal-and-implications-for-nursing-practice-worldwide.
16. WCET®, NSWOCC®. 2026 Joint Congress. WCET–NSWOCC; 2025. https://www.wcet-nswocc2026.com