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Background:\ud Robust research evidence should inform clinical practice of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) specialist nurses, but such research is currently very limited. With no current agreement on research priorities for IBD nursing, this survey aimed to establish topics to guide future IBD nursing research across Europe.\ud \ud Method:\ud An online modified Delphi survey with nurse and allied health professional members of the Nurses European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (n=303) was conducted. In round one, participants proposed topics for research. In round two, research topics were rated on a 1-9 scale and subsequently synthesised to create composite research questions. In round, three participants selected their top five research questions, rating these on a 1-5 scale.\ud \ud Results:\ud Eighty-eight, 90, and 58 non-medical professionals, predominantly nurses, responded to rounds one, two and three respectively, representing 13 European countries. In round one, 173 potential research topics were suggested. In rounds two and three, responders voted for and prioritised 125 and 44 questions respectively. Round three votes were weighted (rank of 1 = score of 5), reflecting rank order. The top five research priorities were: interventions to improve self-management of IBD; interventions for symptoms of frequency, urgency and incontinence; the role of the IBD nurse in improving patient outcomes and quality of life; interventions to improve IBD fatigue; and care pathways to optimise clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.\ud \ud Conclusion:\ud The prioritised list of topics gives clear direction for future IBD nursing research. Conducting this research has potential to improve clinical practice and patient-reported outcomes.

N-ECCO (Nurses-European Crohn's & Colitis Organisation) has been an active member of ECCO since 2007, with the purpose of providing nurse education and the opportunity for nurses to network internationally. N-ECCO aims through its activity to improve nurses' knowledge of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), share best practice and thus improve the quality of care accessed across Europe by patients with IBD. It has long been acknowledged in N-ECCO that nurses across Europe perform and provide varying roles in caring for patients with IBD, given the country-specific variances in role, title, salary and level of training. ### 1.1 Aims The intentions of the N-ECCO Consensus statements are to identify the positioning of nurses (adult and paediatric) in the care of patients with IBD and to provide a consensus on the ideal standard of minimum care that patients with IBD might expect, irrespective of the level of nurse training, title or country. The ‘ideal’ standard of nursing care was deemed an accurate measure and appropriate by the group in order to provide a standard for all nurses working with people with IBD. ### 1.2 Methods The N-ECCO Committee agreed the need for the consensus statements on the nurses' role in June 2011. Following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of ECCO (www.ecco-ibd.eu/) a proposal for guidelines, along with draft contents for the statements, was submitted to the Governing Board. This was approved in November 2011, with a recommendation to conduct a survey to gain a clear understanding of the current situation of nurses within Europe in caring for patients with IBD. The survey was developed and refined within the N-ECCO committee in time for N-ECCO February 2012, when all attending nurse delegates were asked to complete it. Results of this survey will be published separately. There was an official call from the ECCO Office for nursing participants to be …