Strengthening liver care across Europe: The EASL Nurses & Allied Health Professionals Task Force

Across Europe, liver disease continues to place a growing burden on patients, families, and healthcare systems, demanding coordinated, high-quality, and multidisciplinary care. Nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) are central to this effort, playing a vital role in prevention, education, clinical management, and long-term support for people living with liver disease. Within this evolving landscape, the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Nurses & AHPs Task Force works to strengthen professional collaboration, advance education, and promote consistent, evidence-based hepatology care across diverse European settings.

In this Q&A, Chair of the EASL Nurses & AHPs Task Force, Malene O’Connell (Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark) outlines their mission, key priorities, and how shared learning and professional engagement can improve patient care.

Q. What is the mission and role of the EASL Nurses & AHPs Task Force in improving liver care across Europe?

The mission of the EASL Nurses and AHPs Task Force is to strengthen liver care across Europe through collaboration on clinical, scientific, and educational initiatives.

As an integral part of EASL, the Task Force plays a key role in improving care for people at risk of, or living with, liver disease and their informal caregivers by promoting education, interdisciplinary collaboration, and knowledge exchange, while increasing the visibility of nurses and AHPs and supporting the implementation of evidence-based, interprofessional hepatology care.

Q. How does the Task Force support nurses and AHPs in enhancing patient care and clinical outcomes in hepatology?

The goal of the Task Force is to support nurses and AHPs by strengthening clinical competence through targeted education and access to up-to-date, evidence-based knowledge.

By offering interprofessional sessions at the EASL Congress, as well as EASL Studios and opportunities for professional networking, the Task Force creates spaces for collaborative learning, knowledge exchange, and practical skill development. Through these activities, research and best practices are translated into improved day-to-day clinical care and patient outcomes across multidisciplinary hepatology settings.

Looking ahead, a key goal of the Task Force is to systematically assess educational needs among nurses and AHPs across Europe, in order to better align and prioritise future educational activities, while further expanding the network.

Q. How does the Task Force help standardize liver nursing and AHP care across different European healthcare settings?

The aim of the Task Force is to contribute to greater consistency in care by promoting shared best practices and developing common educational frameworks, while encouraging dialogue across diverse healthcare systems.

Acknowledging that not all healthcare settings have access to advanced practice nurses or specialist liver AHPs, the Task Force aims to reach nursing and AHP communities across Europe to support knowledge exchange and alignment of care. In doing so, the Task Force focuses on sharing evidence-based knowledge and practical tools that can be adapted and implemented across diverse settings, according to local needs, contexts, and resources.

Q. What challenges do nurses and AHPs face in hepatology practice, and how does the Task Force help address them?

Nurses and AHPs in hepatology often face challenges, such as variation in roles, limited access to specialized training, increasing complexity of patients with liver disease, and differences in resources across countries. The Task Force addresses these challenges by advocating for professional development, increasing the visibility of nursing and AHP contributions in hepatology, and strengthening collaboration across Europe.

Q. How will your recent attendance at UEG Week help to advance the Task Force’s goals and translate into better patient care?

Attending UEG Week and the ESGENA programme was a great privilege and provided the Task Force with an important platform for exchange and learning across gastroenterology and hepatology. In many healthcare settings across Europe, wards are organized around mixed gastroenterological specialties, where hepatology is not the primary focus. Engaging with a broader gastroenterology community therefore offers a valuable opportunity to reach nurses and AHPs working with patients with liver disease across diverse clinical contexts.

The session on Liver nurses and allied health professions in Europe highlighted the diversity and added value of nursing and AHP roles across different healthcare systems. The discussions addressed key aspects of hepatology care, including advanced nursing perspectives in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma, the development of nurse-led counselling services across hospital settings, and approaches to improve nutrition and physical activity in patients with liver disease.

Participation at UEG Week and the ESGENA programme supports the Task Force’s goals by strengthening collaboration with related specialties, sharing clinical experiences and research results, and fostering professional networks beyond hepatology-specific settings. These exchanges contribute to improved, coordinated patient care and help inform future educational and collaborative activities within EASL.