We are a leading healthcare campus encompassing all fields of health: from healthcare and research to teaching and management.
Professionalism, commitment and research by professionals on the Campus are the key elements in offering patients excellent care.
We are committed to research as a tool to provide solutions to the daily challenges we face in the field of medical healthcare.
Thanks to our healthcare, teaching and research potential, we work to incorporate new knowledge to generate value for patients, professionals and the organization itself.
We generate, transform and transmit knowledge in all areas of the health sciences, helping to train the professionals of the future.
We are defined by our vocation for communication. We invite you to share everything that happens at Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, and our doors are always open.
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The Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Department provides individual and collective care for patients in this field. It is a public health service whose mission it is to serve the hospital community and catchment area.
The Department, which was created in 1976, has led the way in Catalonia and Spain in the organisation of systems for the epidemiological supervision of nosocomial infections, which are contracted at the hospital during the patient’s stay. It has also been a pioneer in the supervision and prevention of biological risks in healthcare staff. It is also a national reference centre for vaccinations, and stands out for its Tobacco Cessation Unit.
Several educational institutions are involved with the Preventive Medicine and Public Health Teaching Unit programme, such as the Experimental and Health Sciences Department at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), which runs a Master’s programme in public health. Vall d'Hebron University Hospital also works with the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia to provide training in specialised centres and primary care units and medical centres (CAP) in Barcelona. This focuses on public health research centres and administrative services. The Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Department at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital was founded in 1976 and was the first of its kind to be created in Catalonia, and the second in Spain.
Training itinerary for preventive medicine and public health
The Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Department is a national leader in the creation of vaccination campaigns for at-risk patients with chronic illnesses. Residents’ training lasts four years. Residents must acquire knowledge in epidemiology and environmental and workplace health to be able to efficiently resolve problems and for public health control and cancer prevention. At the primary care level, residents spend their rotation on the monitoring and control of environmental contamination and hospital acquired infections, and notifiable diseases. The Vaccination and Epidemiology programme for communicable diseases and the Smoking Prevention programme are run in parallel.
As part of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), we are an established research group in the field of Epidemiology and Public Health, carrying out research in the epidemiology of infections related to healthcare and their risk factors. We are lead research for the creation of new preventative vaccines. This achievement is the result of working on international multi-centre clinical trials. These include pre-pandemic and pandemic influenza vaccines such as the current seasonal flu vaccines, in addition to trials for human papillomavirus and shingles (herpes zoster) vaccines both in healthy and immunodeficient patients, and the meningococcal meningitis B vaccine. The department's involvement in preventative vaccines has led to the organization of an annual course in advances in vaccinations of recognised international prestige.
At the same time, we continue to work on the prevention of common community infections such as whooping cough, tuberculosis, chicken pox, bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and shingles.
In 2015, ten research papers were published as a result of our work, and four projects were begun as a result of being awarded grants.
The Department’s research work also plays an active educational role in the Resident Medical Intern Programme at UPF, the Phoenix Project Master’s in Community Health at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Master’s in Public Health at UPF and UAB, the Master’s in International Health at the University of Barcelona and UAB, the Master’s in Community Health from the University School of Nursing at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, and the Vaccinology Diploma Course in Epidemiology and Public Health research (IES) diploma.
Why should I specialise at Vall d’Hebron?
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