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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Our activity at the Tobacco cessation (quitting smoking) Clinic is aimed mainly at hospital staff who smoke and who want help in giving up smoking, but also at patients and external hospital staff who want to kick the habit.
At the Tobacco Cessation Clinic, part of the Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Department at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, we have been providing care since 1990.
Our activity covers the following areas:
At the initial visit, we conduct a specific clinical history of the patient's tobacco use and start a series of supplementary investigations, which include: a tobacco dependency test, a motivational test and we gauge the mood of the smoker using a confidence scale. We also measure lung capacity with a spirometer and check blood pressure.
Next, we provide patients with information about the processes that can help them to quit smoking and the main reasons for quitting smoking. Finally, we draw up a joint plan for quitting, bearing in mind the level of nicotine dependency, and explain the pharmacological and non-pharmacological aids available.
At this point we schedule a control visit once a week during the first month. As of the second month, visits are monthly.
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If you want to stop smoking, you can visit:
At the Microbiology Department, we seek to maximise efficiency and sustainability to meet the needs of the public. We have a broad catalogue of services with state-of-the-art tools in clinical microbiology, in terms of both diagnosis and the monitoring of microorganisms in the population and the study of epidemic outbreaks.
The Microbiology Department works in two sections and across four transversal units: The Bacteriology and Mycology Section, the Virology Section, the Molecular Biology Unit, the Serology Unit, the International Health and Parasitology Unit and the Support and Innovation Unit.
We also respond to clinical problems in the field of infectious diseases, as we provide high-quality diagnosis and the necessary resources for research projects, which is one of our main objectives.
Our team is made up mainly of university professors committed to technological innovation, quality and safety. This places us at the forefront of diagnosis, and our laboratory is a leader both nationally and internationally in several areas:
In addition, the Microbiology Department has effectively implemented a quality management system in accordance with the requirements of UNE-EN ISO standard 9001-2008.
We aim to generate knowledge with our basic and applied research projects, as well as enhancing the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching of residents, and the continuous education of all our laboratory staff. We have a microbiology research group led by Dr Tomàs Pumarola dedicated to the study of microbial aspects involved in infectious diseases.
The Microbiology Teaching Unit is run by the Microbiology Department, with participation from the Paediatric, Intensive Care, Infectious Pathology and Primary Care Departments.
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.
The Clinical Laboratory Department receives up to 6,000 requests every day, more than 15,000 samples and processes up to 60,000 results. They are the largest laboratories in Spain and among the largest in Europe in terms of volume and complexity. They can boast the most innovative technology, allowing the response time to be improved. They have the most advanced diagnostic techniques and a catalogue that includes more than 1,000 tests.
Our Department is characterised by the extensive range of techniques we perform, along with our role as an important tertiary referral hospital. Our reference population covers some 1,200,000 inhabitants, a flow of 6,000 patients a day and more than 60,000 test results, adding up to more than 16,000,000 a year. We work with 15,000 to 18,000 samples a day.
At our Clinical Laboratories we have a catalogue of tests that includes a descriptive list of all the tests we perform (these can be scheduled or required on an emergency basis), the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) code, the unit price and the maximum response time. 30% of the catalogue is carried out in the Core Lab (an automated central laboratory) with fully automated tests and 70% is done in special areas with varying degrees of complexity.
The laboratories have been designed in accordance with the latest organisational trends. They span some 8,780 m2 in total, distributed across three adjacent buildings that are home to the Biochemistry, Haematology, Microbiology, Immunology, Pathological Anatomy, Genetics and Core Lab Departments.
The Core Lab works as a central laboratory, and the Clinical Laboratories are arranged around it. This means we are able to greatly improve work flows. The Core Lab includes all the departments, except Pathological Anatomy. Our system is based on creating working areas for samples, including the Automated Sections of Urine, Serum, Haematology and Haemostasis.
The Automated Urine Section is where these samples are processed, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and also where the automated selection for the urine culture is taken.
The Automated Serum Section has a system using high-capacity automated chains that mean we can perform biochemistry, immunochemistry and serology techniques rapidly, as well as handle urgent tests.
The Automated Haematology Section has two large-capacity processing chains, for both routine and emergency tests, as well as automatic formulas and classifiers for other techniques that are carried out using the same sample, such as glycosylated haemoglobin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), etc.
The Automated Haemostasis Section has a chain for routine processing, emergencies and special coagulation tests.
In accordance with current trends in laboratories, as part of our fusion project we have chosen an integrated model in a large laboratory located in the Hospital to help improve cooperation with clinicians. This centralised system of non-analytical areas has staff responsible for: Administration, Information Systems Unit, Preanalytics and Post-Analytics, relationships with primary care centres and the Hospital, which processes 15,000 samples a day. This central laboratory is highly automated and integrates biochemical work, haematology, immunology and serology.
Our Department promotes the generation of knowledge from a range of perspectives, with increased cooperation between services, the creation of transversal platforms to take advantage of technological resources and knowledge, optimisation of the use of information technologies and differentiation between production management and value added.
Our Laboratories are equipped with the most advanced robotics and information systems technology. In the Central Laboratory, cutting-edge automation technology has been implemented, allowing us to better manage samples throughout the process, offer faster processing and increase our capacity to 120,000 daily results. This achieves our twin objectives of improving response time and achieving better patient management. Tests take from 30 to 45 minutes. Tests for urgent patients are available in two hours and tests for critical units are available in three hours.
The extent to which we have incorporated robotics provides greater security and traceability of the samples, and has required significant investment. Unifying the activity of three laboratories into one large central laboratory means savings for taxpayers and allows us to take advantage of economies of scale, meaning we use growth for our benefit.
We give nutritional and diet support to hospitalised patients across all clinical departments at the Hospital, and carry out follow-up monitoring at outpatient care for those patients who need it. We also provide outpatient care for patients referred from other healthcare areas of the Hospital and primary care centres that require specialist nutritional and dietary support. Patients requiring nutritional support are treated at the Horta Primary Care Centre. We actively collaborate in educational programmes to detect nutritional problems and for home monitoring of enteral nutrition, that is, feeding via a tube.
As a transversal unit, we support the General, Maternity and Children’s and Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospitals, as well as the Primary Care Office in Sant Andreu; we also collaborate with a range of different medical and surgical specialties. We also participate in and direct a number of joint protocols with various other areas of the Hospital, and we maintain a very close working relationship with the Pharmacy Department, both in developing artificial nutrition and in selecting nutritional products. We act together with the Biochemistry Department in monitoring the nutrition of patients and in pursuing lines of research. We also provide support for the Pere Virgili Health Park.
We work to educate patients and family members, as well as providing courses for our staff through our continuing education programme, and we collaborate on continuing education in primary care. We organise training courses for primary care nursing staff, nursing staff from the Hospital and our orderly staff. We also educate patients and relatives about managing enteral nutrition, parenteral nutrition, as well as nutrition in cases of nephrology and inflammatory bowel disease.
During a hospital stay, the nutrition support we provide might cover:
Once a patient has been discharged, we continue to monitor nutritional treatment through:
In short, we prepare diets for hospital patients, always taking into account menu alternatives, menus for treatment and diet changes depending on patient cycles. We work together with the Catering Unit to organise and prepare the hospital’s catering operation.
Finally, we also take care of preparing and distributing baby bottles, baby food and special liquid meals for healthcare units, as well as collecting and cleaning utensils.
Our teaching work includes:
The Medical Physics and Radiation Protection Department is made up of graduates in physics who have qualified as specialists in hospital radiophysics and senior technicians in radiotherapy and/or radiodiagnosis.
The Medical Physics and Radiation Protection Department has accreditation from the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council to carry out radiation protection tasks throughout the hospital. The department is firmly committed to quality and safety, and it has obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification.
The professional activity of the members of the department comprises three main aspects: clinical care, research and teaching.
Our department offers support for all the departments at the hospital that use ionising radiation for patient treatment or diagnosis, and also for the professionals who use radionuclides in their research.
The primary responsibility of members of this department is to ensure effective, risk-free management of radiation, in order to attain the best results in diagnosis or therapy in accordance with what had been prescribed for the patient. This includes protecting the patient, the staff and other people present, as well as the environment, from potential risks or excess radiation exposure.
In order to carry out this task, we establish suitable dosimetry and quality control, measure and characterise radiation, determine the dose administered, and define procedures to ensure good image quality. We also carry out quality assurance programmes and collaborate with other health professionals involved in optimising the balance between the benefit and the risk of using radiation.
Our Department was accredited as a teaching unit for specialisation in hospital radiophysics in 1995. Internationally, this specialisation is known as "medical physics" and involves the application of physics to the field of medicine. The title of specialist in hospital radiophysics is obtained after three years of training as a resident. The Medical Physics and Radiation Protection Department has three residents, one for each year of training.
The main objective of the Pharmacy Department is the safe and efficient use of medication with the utmost excellence. Our Department supports care activity and is recognised as a collaborating centre of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), thanks to our role in preventing medication errors.
Our Department offers a consolidated portfolio of services, and we have a pharmaceutical team that monitors all registered prescriptions and pharmaceutical treatments.
We are responsible for distributing, dispensing and preparing medications with automatised systems and robotics, with one of the most significant technological systems in Europe. We use a system of drug-use indicators based on case histories to assess use of medication. This helps us detect opportunities for improvement, both in terms of security and reducing variability in clinical practice, meaning avoiding differences in the way our staff prescribe treatments.
The Department enjoys ISO 9001-2008 certification, which specifically covers prevention of medication errors. We have established a quality policy aimed at satisfying the needs and expectations of patients, and providing the services that contribute to improving quality of care through personalised attention for effective, efficient and safe drug treatment, while improving our systems.
Our main objective is to ensure our Department continues to contribute value to patients, bearing in mind the conditions at any given time in the Hospital, the Catalan Health Institute and the Catalan Health System in general. For this reason, between 2009 and 2015 we followed a strategic plan that uses the Balanced Scorecard methodology. This strategic plan takes into account new scenarios, social changes and emerging trends, which all necessitated a thorough review of our methodology, in a spirit of critical creativity and continuous improvement.
Rapid evolution in concepts and technology has resulted in the Pharmacy Department receiving several awards and honourable mentions for our clinical innovation and excellence.
At the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery and Transplant Department, we dedicate ourselves to hepatic (liver), pancreatic and biliary surgery, as well as cancer surgery. This mainly involves surgery related to the surgical and onco-surgical treatment of tumours or liver metastases, liver and bowel transplants in children and adults, and intestinal transplants. Our Children’s Liver Transplant Programme is the only one of its kind in Catalonia, and one of just five in Spain. Our excellent results make us a national leader.
The Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery and Transplant Department is highly specialised, and is independent of the General Surgery Department, which is not very common in general surgery departments. We are organised into two sections: one section devoted mainly to liver surgery and liver and intestine transplants, and another aimed at pancreatic surgery and advanced laparoscopic surgery.
Vall d'Hebron was the first health centre in Spain to carry out a paediatric liver transplant in 1985. With more than 30 years of accumulated experience acquired since the first transplant was carried out, the hospital is home to an amazing group of professionals: anaesthetists, intensivists, radiologists, gastroenterologists, hepatologists and more, all trained to treat the most complex cases with very high survival rates. This survival rate is more than 90% at five and six years after the transplant. We are deeply proud that we have been able to achieve such figures.
To do so, and to offer the best service to our patients, we work closely with other hospital departments, mainly with Internal Medicine and Hepatology, Intensive Care, Oncology, Gastroenterology, Radiology and Pathological Anatomy.
The Clinical Biochemistry Department analyses six million tests a year, and our goal is to generate useful information for the prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases.
Every year, the specimen collection department handles more than 180,000 outpatient cases, more than 80,000 admitted patients and 150,000 emergency cases. With our wide range of high-tech analytical systems and an extensive catalogue of highly complex tests, we can cover any and all diagnostic needs for all medical and surgical specialties.
We have an automated central laboratory, as well as functional labs distributed across the specialised units for the various areas of knowledge. We provide support for the Hospital’s catchment area and the primary care laboratories of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) in the city of Barcelona, which covers approximately one and a half million inhabitants. We also act as a reference laboratory for certain tests for other hospitals in Catalonia and the rest of Spain, for both public and private hospitals.
We should highlight our work on studies monitoring drugs, the screening of prenatal chromosomal abnormalities (a test using foetal DNA in the mother’s blood), as well as the quantification of viral load in hepatitis cases, studies of congenital metabolic defects, disorders of lipid metabolism (such as cholesterol and fatty acids), among many others, applied to both adults and children.
The laboratory is accredited by the Department of Health and complies with all the requirements set forth in Decree 76/1995 of 7th March, which establishes the specific procedures for administrative authorisation of clinical laboratories and the regulations governing the activities carried out therein.
We also have a quality management system that has been ISO 9001: 2008 certified since 2005.
The Anatomy Department studies diseases through direct microscope observation of tissues (biopsies, surgical samples, clinical autopsies) and body fluids (cytologies, fine needle aspiration punctures), to obtain the most accurate diagnoses to ensure proper treatment of the illness. Our mission is to offer the patient all the benefits of the best in medical, prognostic and predictive diagnosis using the most advanced molecular technologies.
Surgical pathology and cytopathology are a key part of diagnosing patients receiving treatment at our hospital. Our pathologists are highly specialised in a diverse range of pathologies, are internationally recognised and are leaders in the different fields of anatomopathological diagnosis. Our professionals can be found on commissions, committees and clinical management teams throughout the Hospital. We have a wide range of technological resources, histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques, electronic microscopy and molecular pathology, which means we can carry out morphological diagnosis with both prognostic data and treatment targets, which form the basis ofpersonalised medicine. We also perform diagnosis reviews with second opinions for samples from other centres.
We receive the highest volume of samples of all Catalan public hospitals (more than 90,000 biopsy and cytology samples a year). We are a leading centre, and are proud to receive the most complex and specialised pathologies in all clinical and surgical areas. Our focus is on:
We are leading and/or actively participating in multiple research projects, both in collaboration with other hospital research departments and units as well as in national and international multi-centre clinical studies and trials.
We have a basic research unit at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute that pursues several lines of research into cancer pathology. Our research into foetal and developmental pathology should also be highlighted.
We have a Tumour Bank and a Foetal Tissue Bank, as well as a Brain Bank, which are all part of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital Biobank (HUVH Biobank).
Thanks to the availability of advanced technology and the collective experience of our pathologists in interpreting tissue disease, we play a key role in the translational research by the various applied clinical research groups at the Hospital.
We offer undergraduate and postgraduate education with comprehensive educational opportunities for students of the Autonomous University of Barcelona’s (UAB) Faculty of Medicine, practicum for biology and biotechnology students, as well as participating in various UAB master's degrees, and directing Doctoral Theses within the Doctorate in Surgery and Morphological Sciences Programme at the UAB.
We also host practicum for professional training for specialists in pathological anatomy and cytodiagnostics, from different schools and colleges in Barcelona.
Our teaching unit is accredited by the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality for specialist training of 3 residents a year in the pathological anatomy specialty. This training lasts for 4 years and consists of rotation between the areas of knowledge pertaining to the specialty, such as autopsy pathology, surgical pathology, cytopathology and molecular pathology. Residents have the possibility of taking part in research projects in the field as part of their training. The Department promotes their attendance at scientific congresses and events where they can present the results of their studies, and actively promotes their participation in scientific publications. We encourage the 4th year resident to complete a three-month training period in a leading European or American Pathological Anatomy department in one of the areas of knowledge in order to provide them with complementary training.
For professionals working in our department we organise continuing education refresher courses in pathological anatomy to promote innovation in clinical health care. We organise training placements for both domestic and foreign professionals, especially in transplant pathology, paediatric pathology and molecular pathology.
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