The IDIAP 2024 Conference vindicates the values of Jordi Gol to humanize Primary Care

The city of Mataró has hosted the Institute’s biennial meeting, in which relevant projects have been presented and research grants corresponding to 2023 have been delivered

 

The IDIAPJGol 2024 Conference has brought together nearly 200 people from the field of research and Primary Care in the auditorium of the Tecnocampus of Mataró. The event, held every two years, is a meeting point for the Institute’s researchers, who have the opportunity to present their research projects and share experiences. This year, the Conference has been dedicated to Dr. Jordi Gol i Gurina, whose centenary of his birth is commemorated. The event ended with the presentation of the ICS / IDIAPJGol Research Grants for 2023, in which 24 researchers were awarded.

The event was welcomed by the Minister of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Manel Balcells; from the councillor for the Inclusive and Healthy City of the Mataró City Council, Laura Seijo, and from the director of the IDIAPJGol, Josep Basora.

“If the IDIAP did not exist, it should be invented”

In his speech, Josep Basora gave data on the Institute’s activity and stated that “if the IDIAP did not exist, it would have to be invented” and highlighted the fundamental role that Jordi Gol had in the development of primary care and evidence-based medicine. and person-centred.

The councillor of the area that has health responsibilities in Mataró has spoken about the Care City Lab service, in which the IDIAPJGol participates, which, as she explained, will position the Catalan City as a reference in the provision of care to citizens. Seijo has highlighted that this initiative brings together the direct intervention of caregivers, research and the transfer of knowledge and demonstrates that “Mataró is a caring city, which cares about people.”

The Health Minister has stated that Primary Care is being transformed to truly make it “the axis of the health system.” In this transformation, Balcells added, the IDIAPJGol, as a reference in research and innovation at the first level of care in the country, has a primary role. 

 

 

Science at the service of health

After the institutional speeches, the former scientific director of IDIAPJGol. Bonaventura Bolíbar, and the member of the Governing Board of the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONKA) and the External Scientific Committee of the IDIAP, Pilar Astier, have discussed the figure of Jordi Gol i Gurina and have highlighted that his thoughts and vision about health is still relevant and is more necessary than ever.

Bolíbar has reviewed the historical context that Gol i Gurina lived and his contributions in the definition of the concept of health, the role of the family doctor, the bioethical aspects of health, the bases of the reform of Primary Care and the development of tools to improve and humanize care for people from the first level of care. Although Gol i Gurina never dedicated himself to research, the former director of IDIAP has highlighted his defence of evidence-based medicine and his recommendation to “put science at the service of health and not health at the service of science.”

From the perspective of the “people’s doctor”, as Gol i Gurina was known, Pilar Astier has spoken about the challenges of Primary Care for the coming years: facing the emergence of new health needs of people, promote new services based on society’s values, develop new professional skills, adapt organizational models, determine and adjust the most appropriate resources and be results-oriented to meet the health needs of the population. 

 

 

Featured projects

Next, simultaneous discussion tables took place, in the auditorium and in the foyer, in which European projects, projects collaborated with other research institutes, projects that answer questions from Primary Care and projects with social, communicative and political impact were presented, in which attendees have been able to ask questions to the respective principal investigators.

At the table referring to European projects, moderated by the coordinator of the IDIAPJGol Project Management Unit, Mariona Pujol, and the coordinator of the institution’s Innovation Agency, David Verde, the following projects were announced:

• IMAGINE - Improving antibiotic use in long term care facilities by infection prevention and control and antibiotic stewardship, led by Carles Llor, from USR Barcelona.

• L-HEALTH - L-WORLD IN HEALTH: Filling knowledge gaps and promoting competent primary care for Lesbians (Anna Ponjoan, from USR Girona).

• DARWIN EU® - Data Analysis and Real World Interrogation Network (Talita Duarte, UTR Barcelona).

• E-Pro-Schools - ePlatform for Promoting Health in Schools (Mireia Gascon, USR Catalunya Central).

• JACARDI - Joint Action on CARdiovascular diseases and DIabetes (Albert Sanllorente), USR Metropolitana Sud.

The table on projects collaborated with other research institutes has been moderated by the coordinator of the USR Metropolitana Nord, Pere Torán, and the coordinator of the USR Metropolitana Sud, Belén Salvador. These projects have been presented:

• GRASSIR. Línia de projectes vinculats a salut Sexual i Reproductiva (Gemma Falguera, USR Metropolitana Nord).

• DESVELA - Análisis del papel de las aptitudes personales como DEterminantes de la incidencia de morbilidad, eStilos de vida, calidad de Vida, uso de sErvicios y mortaLidAd (Ruth Marti, USR Girona).

• ISMiHealth - Delivering an Innovative Multi-disease Screening and Vaccination Tool to High-risk Migrant Populations (Alessandra Queiroga, USR Terres de l’Ebre).

• All4dem - Anàlisi integrativa de l’estil de vida i multiòmiques per a l’estudi dels processos metabòlics relacionats amb la funció cognitiva, el deteriorament cognitiu i la progressió demència (Sara Martínez USR Tarragona).

• Projecte Salsa - Salut, ALimentació i Sociabilitat: Xarxes comunitàries d’alimentació saludable, autonomia i interacció social (Anna Ruiz, USR Catalunya Central).

The first table that was held in the foyer was moderated by Francisco Martín, coordinator of the USR Reus-Tarragona; Miguel Ángel Muñoz, coordinator of the USR Barcelona Ciutat, and Carina Aguilar, coordinator of the USR Terres de l’Ebre, and has focused on projects that answer Primary Care questions, specifically:

• Tobbstop-Tobbgest - Efectivitat d’una app per ajudar a deixar de fumar (Cristina Rey Reñones USR Reus-Tarragona).

• Ecografia pulmonar - Ecografia pulmonar com a eina pronòstica en pacients amb insuficiència cardíaca crònica estable en atenció primària (Eva Leceaga USR Metropolitana Nord).

• PEU-TDI - Utilització de termografia dèrmica infraroja rutinària en el diagnòstic precoç de Peu Diabètic d’alt risc (neuropàtics, neuroisquèmics i amb trastorns angiosomals subclínics). Miguel Angel Diaz, USR Metropolitana Sud.

• FANTAS-TIC - Efectivitat d’una eina informàtica per adequar en tractament anticoagulant en fibril·lació auricular no valvular (Rosa Dalmau Llorca, USR Terres de l’Ebre).

Infiltració Ecoguiada - Efectivitat, cost-efectivitat i cost-utilitat de la infiltració ecoguiada a l’Atenció Primària per millorar el dolor i la qualitat de vida a persones amb patologia de membre superior (Marta Ortega, USR Lleida). 

 

 

The second table that was held in the lobby of Tecnocampus, moderated by the researcher of the Transversal Research Unit, Constanza Jacques, and the coordinator of the Lleida Research Support Unit, José María Palacín, addressed the following projects:

• ARTGRAN - Disseny i avaluació d’una intervenció d’art en museus i centres culturals per a fer front la solitud de les persones grans. Carolina Lapena, USR Barcelona.

• Menstrual Health and Inequity - Salud mental en el contexto de la inequidad menstrual en Cataluña: un estudio participativo de metodología mixta. Laura Medina, UTR Barcelona.

• SEACE - Anàlisi dels factors d'èxit a l’autoestima: visió des de l’adolescència i el seu entorn. Ester García, USR Lleida.

• MAC Arts i Salut - El cos és el meu enemic? Assaig pilot de factibilitat d’una intervenció comunitària d’Arts en Salut dirigida a adolescents. Cristina Cabistañ, USR Metropolitana Nord.

• IMPaCT - Plataforma IMPACT de Medicina predictiva. Marina Esquerra, UTR Barcelona.

During the break, in which refreshments were offered to attendees, the Institute’s research groups presented posters with the results of various studies.

Research grants

The IDIAPJGol 2024 Conference has ended with the delivery ceremony of the 2023 edition of the ICS / IDIAPJGol Grants, presented by the deputy director of the IDIAPJGol, Anna Berenguera, and the coordinator of the Project Management Unit, Mariona Pujol.

This event has been enlivened by the artist Zazu Osés, singer, pianist, and composer, one of the most prominent voices on the Barcelona jazz scene. Just before the delivery of the aid, the coordinator of the IDIAPJGol Medicine Studies Unit, Rosa Morros, a member of the evaluation committee, explained the process of evaluating the applications received, which is “very rigorous, anonymized and avoids conflicts of interest.”

In the 24th ICS scholarship for research training and the completion of a doctorate in Primary Care, five grants have been awarded, with an endowment of 9,015 euros each, to Sílvia Burgaya Subirana, Victoria Cendrós Cámara, Aina Fuster Casanovas, Carla Chacón Valera and Aida Corpes Comes.

 

 

During the delivery of the grants the testimony of the family doctor Carme Vela was projected. Vela received in 2028 a predoctoral grant .

 

In the Intensification doctoral scholarship modality for the release of 25 % of the working days for two years, aid has been granted to Robert Panadés Zafra and Mònica Rodríguez Barniol, and in the SIDIAP predoctoral scholarship modality, in which two free data extractions for the completion of doctoral theses, aid has been granted to Dúnia Bel Verge.

In the research intensification aid block, this year the 20th edition of the ICS Aid to promote research strategies of groups through the intensification of researchers has been announced, which consists of the release of up to 50 % of the working day for the intensification of research for two years.

Of the 13 applications submitted, 9 have been granted, to Pilar Montesó Curto, Zojaina Hernández Rojas, Antonio Santigosa Ayala, María Teresa Peñarrubia María, Elena Hernández Boluda, Francisco Alós Colomer, Javier Busquet Duran, Anna Ruiz Comellas and Yolanda Rando Matos,

For the fifth consecutive year, Aid has been called for the creation of stable release positions for senior researchers, which consists of the release of between 50 % and 100 % of the working day for the intensification of research for four extendable years.

This is the grant that represents a greater release of care tasks for dedication to research and, therefore, a greater stabilization and consolidation of the research career in Primary Care of the Institut Català de la Salut. Two grants have been awarded to researchers Carles Llor Vilà and Pilar Montero Alía.

 

 

Video with the testimony of José María Verdú, who explains what it meant to receive stable release aid in 2021 to investigate

 

In the 19th Call for a stay in foreign or state research centres, which consists of financing transportation and remuneration during a stay of up to 12 months in a foreign or state research centre, two scholarships have been awarded, to Laura Illamola Martín and Encarna Sánchez Freire, who has also been granted complementary aid for her stay in Cardiff.

This year, the call for Aid to research projects in Primary Health Care has reached its 26th edition, consolidating as the most important competitive aid for the promotion of research in Primary Care in Catalonia, aimed at financing the best research project led by new researchers or emerging research groups from IDIAP Jordi Gol. The winner of this aid is Alícia Ares Vilar, who will carry out the project “Experiences and needs of trans* people in Primary Care” and will receive a financial award of 14,000 euros to carry it out.

 

 

The nurse Teresa Pujol received a research grant in 2017

Finally, the First grant for Barbara Starfield projects, aimed at accredited research groups to promote the realization of projects in international collaboration, has been for Josep Franch Nadal and the doctoral student Berta Fernández Camins, who are carrying out the project “Characterization of subgroups in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in diagnosis, a necessary step towards precision medicine in diabetes. COPERNICAN Study”, with an endowment of ten thousand euros.

The event ended with the recognition of the researchers who retired during 2023: Enriqueta Pujol, Carlos Martín, Lorenzo Caballería, Maite Alzamora, Rosa Forés, Gabriel Coll de Tuero, and Àngel Vila.