Our Vision: To be the leading professional organization, recognized globally for advancing excellence in enterostomal therapy nursing care in Hong Kong, fostering innovation, education, and highest standards of practice.
Our Mission: To promote quality healthcare services in stoma, wound, and continence care through professional development of Enterostomal Therapists and Wound & Stoma care nurses, while strengthening collaboration with healthcare teams and the community.
Our Values:
HKETA was established to meet the evolving needs of specialized enterostomal therapy or Stoma, Wound and/or continence nursing within Hong Kong’s dynamic healthcare landscape. Our journey reflects continuous growth and adaptation:
We have evolved from a small, dedicated association into a pivotal force within Hong Kong’s nursing community, successfully adapting to contemporary healthcare challenges including population aging and the increasing prevalence of chronic conditions.
Before the establishment of Enterostomal Therapy training, nursing knowledge and skill in caring ostomates was relatively primitive. The standard in the management of stoma, wound and incontinence was varied. Consequently, clients might not receive optimal care from health professionals. At that time, it was difficult to identify any organization which could offer educational program, consultancy service to clinical practice and professional network which facilitate knowledge enhancement and professional growth. The above experience stimulate nurses to recognize the essence of continue nursing education, specialty development and establishment of professional network for sharing of knowledge and skill.
There were two ETNEPs in Hong Kong, one is organized by the Princess Margaret Hospital and the other organized by the School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE) of the University of Hong Kong. In 1995, Princess Margaret Hospital had held the first Enterostomal Therapist training course in Hong Kong but the school was closed later due to administrative reason. In 1997, another ETNEP course had been started by Queen Mary Hospital and Hong Kong University-SPACE. The two ET school have altogether trained more than 120 ETs (both from HK and overseas) in the past ten years.
The British Government had built a westernized health care system under her regime. However, before the 70’s, the knowledge and skill in caring patients requiring stoma care was relatively limited. In 1980, the first stoma care service was started in Queen Mary Hospital in a voluntary basis. Until 1985, the first stoma care clinic had been set up outside the hospital. The growth of ET service raised dramatically since 1994. In 1994, there was only 6 ETs working in the health care system. In 1996 there was only 12 trained ET working in the public hospitals. By now, there are about more than 100 ETs in Hong Kong. Some of them were trained from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia but most of them are trained through the local ETNEP. Eleven of them are working as full time ETs in the hospitals while the others are working in dual roles both in the hospitals and community. A few of them are working in the commercial firms related to ET. The ET service in Hong Kong has been widely developed since 1990 and the patients can receive proper care from the ETs in most of the hospitals.