Building a European Ultrasound Community

Dear Colleagues,

A question the EFSUMB Executive Bureau constantly ask themselves (and I am sure this is also true of many of our members) is: 'Where has EFSUMB got to and what is its role in the first decade of the 21st Century'? In many ways EFSUMB is in a very healthy state: it has an ever increasing membership - we are by far the largest member of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology - and we have a relatively stable financial base. But we need to build on this. Remaining stationary in a more and more rapidly changing world is not an option, and there are many challenges that we have to face. We need to continue to define our role, and adapt to changing circumstances. In the early days organisations such as ours championed the use of ultrasound, tried to persuade other of its benefits, and encouraged the widespread use of the technique. In this endeavour we succeeded, but the irony is that we were so successful that ultrasound has become such an integral part of medicine that most people working in the field no longer think of themselves primarily as ultrasound practitioners - ultrasound is simply part of their diagnostic (or therapeutic) armamentarium. We therefore face the challenge of maintaining a central role in ultrasound research and development, in ultrasound education, and in the exchange of scientific knowledge as mandated by our constitution.

Too much navel-gazing can lead to paralysis. It is important that we continue to examine our role, but there are many achievements we can celebrate, many reasons why we should continue to press for a stronger organisation, and many reasons for both individuals and National Societies to be members of EFSUMB. It is our belief that one of the most important roles of EFSUMB is to continue to build a European Ultrasound Community so that the individual National ultrasound societies can work together, can benefit from a much greater critical mass, can learn from each others experiences, and can play an important role on the World ultrasound stage.

What then are the advantages of being a member of EFSUMB? These can perhaps be divided into two categories, the advantages of the existence of EFSUMB as an organisation, because without individual members there would be no organisation, and advantages to individual members given the organisation exists.