BINAstoria

BINAstoria (Belgian IBD nurses and study coordinators association) is a national IBD association that connects IBD nurses, IBD study coordinators and other IBD paramedical professionals (e.g. dieticians, psychologists…) involved in the care of IBD patients. Working under the umbrella of the BIRD organization allows for a close collaboration between BINAstoria members and IBD physicians. 

The BINAstoria committee consists of 5 members including the BINAstoria chair. All BINAstoria members can apply to participate in the BINAstoria board with the goal having equal representation of the different language regions in Belgium.

BINAstoria members meet twice per year (May and October) during the BIRD general assembly and collaborate with BIRD to hold a BINAstoria-specific program for the BIRD Congress.  

The aims of BINAstoria include:

• to facilitate and provide an effective framework for communication and cooperation
• to support IBD nurses, IBD study coordinators and other IBD paramedical professionals so they can offer IBD patients:
• an accessible and low-threshold contact point
• holistic care, together with a multidisciplinary team
• to work in close collaboration and cooperation with
• gastroenterologists (BIRD)
• N-ECCO (Nurses - European Crohn and Colitis organization)
• patient associations (CCV and Association Crohn-RCUH)
• to obtain full recognition of the role of IBD paramedical professionals
• to optimize IBD research centers and enhance collaboration between research units
• to strengthen the position of Belgium for IBD clinical trials
• to develop educational material for patients and nurses

Since working together and building relationships is indispensable in taking care of our IBD patients, we strive for a good working collaboration with various stakeholders.

In February 2011 during the ECCO congress in Dublin, Belgian nurses with a special interest in IBD came up with the idea of creating a national group for nurses specialized in the care of IBD patients. After an in-depth meeting, BINA (Belgian IBD Nurses Association) was born.

In January 2017 the Belgian IBD study nurses also started to organize themselves under the name Astoria (Association of STudy coordinatOrs for IBD Research center optimizAtion).  Later In June of that same year, both groups realized that they had similar aims and goals and decided to merge. A new name was chosen to represent this union: BINAstoria.

The importance of specialized nurses is still growing, as is the number of BINAstoria members.  In 2023 BINAstoria counted over 140 members, representing over 40 healthcare organizations across Belgium.  Since 2022 BINAstoria is open to other paramedic professions involved in IBDcare (i.e. dieticians).

The activities and projects of BINAstoria are mainly located in the following areas:

• Education
• Research and studies
• Communication and collaboration

Some great examples of our achievements are various patient brochures and information cards, the development of educational material, the development of the e-learnings and the education program for our members (BINAschool, BINAstoria for dummies, Preceptorship IBD Tree) but also our collaboration with the various patient associations and participation in awareness projects (Music for Life, In Their Shoes, podcasts, Warmste Week, World IBD day).

Click here to learn more about our BINAstoria projects.