The specialisation in Occupational Medicine includes:

• Practical training undertaken at the Occupational Risk Prevention Department, clinical rotations and rotations in Preventive Medicine departments.
• Theoretical training through the Advanced Course in Occupational Medicine.
• Part of the training is conducted outside the hospital but is guided by the Basic Occupational Risk Prevention Unit: Primary Care, Medical Inspection and other external prevention services.
• Acquisition of basic knowledge in radiation protection aligned with the provisions of the European Radiation Protection Guide 116.
• Undertaking monthly on-call duties.

Additionally, you will have the opportunity to train in disciplines you might not yet have had the opportunity to study in depth, such as: Occupational Safety and Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomics and Applied Psychosociology.

Also, during your stay:

• You will visit the professionals to conduct medical examinations and apply established protocols.
• You will review and advise vaccinations for professionals based on their exposure risks.
• You will learn to manage contact tracing following accidental exposure to biological agents.
• You will assess the protection of particularly vulnerable workers and pregnant staff.
• You will be involved in the prevention, early detection and diagnosis of occupational diseases and will collaborate in their treatment.

Other aspects you will develop during your stay: 

• You will conduct health surveillance and learn to adopt an epidemiological perspective.
• You will advise on occupational health issues and healthy habits.
• You will collaborate with healthcare institutions.
• You will participate in the training of workers on occupational risk prevention.

Why specialise at Vall d’Hebron?

• Because we are a world-leading healthcare complex where healthcare, research, teaching and innovation come together.
• Because we offer you specialist training in a tertiary-level Hospital with opportunities to train across the different areas needed to complete your training:
• A dedicated Occupational Health Department encompassing all risk prevention specialities.
• External rotations at the Medical Inspection and external prevention services.
• Access to continuous training.
• Because you will be integrated as an Occupational Medicine resident in the Occupational Risk Prevention Unit.
• Because you will learn to ensure the health of your colleagues, as well as promoting healthy habits within the Hospital.
• Because you will become familiar with the Hospital, a complex environment with various risks: physical strain, data display screens, biological agents, chemical agents, ionising and non-ionising radiation, noise, psychosocial risks...

The Occupational Health Nursing speciality includes:

• Practical training carried out by the Occupational Risk Prevention Service and other specialities within the Hospital, health centres and educational facilities associated with the Teaching Unit.
• Theoretical training in accordance with the training programme for Occupational Health Nursing.
• Acquisition of basic knowledge in radiation protection as set out in the provisions of the European Radiation Protection Guide 116.
• Carrying out monthly on-call duties.
• Additionally, you will also have the chance to train in disciplines on which you have not yet had the opportunity to study in depth, such as: Occupational Safety and Industrial Hygiene, Ergonomics and Applied Psychosociology.

During your two years at Vall d’Hebron:

• You will visit professionals to conduct medical examinations and apply established protocols.
• You will analyse the risks that professionals are exposed to and will indicate relevant vaccines. 
• You will learn to manage contact studies following accidental exposure to biological agents.
• You will assess the protection of workers in especially sensitive situations as well as for pregnant staff.
• You will be involved in early detection, prevention, and diagnosis of occupational diseases and collaborate in their treatment.

Also, during your stay:

• You will be engage in health surveillance and develop epidemiological judgement.
• You will advise on occupational health matters and healthy habits.
• You will collaborate closely with healthcare institutions.
• You will participate in training activities for employees on occupational risk prevention.

Why specialise at Vall d’Hebron?

• Because we are a world-leading healthcare complex where care, research, teaching and innovation come together.
• Because you will specialise in a tertiary Hospital and also have the opportunity to train in:
  • An in-house Risk Prevention Service covering all areas of risk prevention.
  • External rotations in Medical Inspection and external prevention services.
  • Access to continuous training.
• Because you will integrate as an Occupational Health Nursing resident within the Occupational Risk Prevention Unit.
• Because you will learn to safeguard the health of your colleagues and promote healthy habits.
• Because you will experience first-hand the Hospital, a highly complex environment presenting different risks: physical strain, data display screens, biological agents, chemical agents, ionising and non-ionising radiation, noise, psychosocial risks...

We are a clinical unit that aims to offer high-quality, cross-cutting care and teaching, as well as developing research excellence in the area of musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases. We have extensive experience in training specialists in rheumatology. We guarantee rigorous, high-quality training in all the professional care, research and teaching skills in our area.

The training programme includes residents in the Rheumatology research group’s lines of research, so that they receive general training in research methodology, conventional and new areas of research, such as precision medicine, as well as evidence-based precision medicine, evidence-based medicine and research based on healthcare outcomes.  Furthermore, our residents have the chance to undertake training periods in internationally renowned centres in both Europe and the United States.

Experience in research allows us to offer students a high-quality doctoral programme to carry out a thesis project and become a Doctor of Medicine. We also offer the opportunity to actively collaborate on research projects assessed by national and European public research bodies, and to co-author the resulting papers.

Why do your residency at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital?

• Because we cover all specialisations in the area of Rheumatology, for adult and paediatric patients.
• Because we have a Rheumatology hospitalisation floor, where you can see and treat the most serious and complex cases. We also have a day hospital for outpatients under treatment with selective immunosuppressants administered via parenteral injections.
• Because we are a highly cohesive team, made up of doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, biologists, bioinformaticians, engineers and mathematicians.
• Because you can learn about rheumatic pathologies at all stages of life, from early childhood to senescence and even during pregnancy, given that we have a unit dedicated to pregnancy in patients affected by chronic inflammatory and systemic autoimmune diseases. Because the Paediatric Rheumatology Unit is a leading centre in Spain for juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other systemic and musculoskeletal diseases.
• Because we offer highly specialised care to patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis, and treatments with selective immunosuppressants, specifically for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthropathies.
• Because we care for a large number of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, especially systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory myopathies and cancer patients treated with immunotherapy. 
• Because you will be able to see patients with metabolic bone pathologies, collaborate with the Pneumology Department to control transplant patients with secondary osteoporosis and with the AIS Nord Fracture Coordination Unit (UCF).
• Because you can conduct activities associated with the Ultrasound rooms (diagnosis and intervention) and Capillaroscopy, as well as other highly specialised techniques, such as ultrasound-guided synovial biopsy or saliva gland, vascular and lung ultrasounds. In our department there are professionals who are professors in the Spanish Rheumatology Society’s Ultrasound School, for both adult and paediatric patients. 
• Because we are the leading department for patients with central sensitisation syndromes, more specifically for patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. In addition, we offer specialised, multi-disciplinary care to patients, so you can acquire the knowledge required for quality care provision.
• Because we work in a multi-disciplinary way with multiple services from various medical and surgical specialities (Paediatrics, Dermatology, Oncology, Pneumology, Nephrology, Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Anaesthesia, etc.)  and in close collaboration with the departments of Immunology, Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacology and Radiodiagnosis, among others. The multi-disciplinary work in all of these areas provides patients with better quality care.
• Because the unit's accessible and committed teaching enables continuous close assessment of residents, maximising their skills and providing support for designing their future careers.
• Because we have extensive experience of training rheumatology and paediatric residents from other teaching units, as well as residents from abroad.
• Because we are interested in providing high-quality training and we give our residents every facility for doing training courses, as well as attending national and international congresses. We also stimulate and support the preparation of presentations and papers at leading conferences, and encourage residents to acquire oral and written communication skills.
• Because we encourage stays abroad during the residency, at centres such as the Giannina Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy; Inselspital Bern Hospital in Bern, Switzerland; the NHS Trust Rheumatology Department in London, UK; and the Division of Clinical Rheumatology and Immunology in Birmingham, USA.