Medical students to discuss current health issues at the UAB & UB Med Summer School

The rectors of the UB, Joan Guardia, and of the UAB, Javier Lafuente, will inaugurate the UAB & UB Med Summer School 2024 with a short welcoming speech on 5 July at 9:30 a.m. Antoni Trilla and Salvador Navarro, deans of the faculties of Medicine (UAB) and Health Sciences (UB), will speak at the closing ceremony on 6 July, after the participating students present their conclusions and evaluate this first edition.

With regard to the conferences, Antoni Trilla and Clara Prats, professor of the Department of Physics at the UPC, will speak at the opening session, entitled "Per què, on, com i quan poden arribar noves pandèmies" [Why, where, how and when new pandemics may arrive]. Then, at 11:30 a.m., Salvador Pedraza, lecturer in the Department of Clinical Foundations of the UB, will give the first workshop, entitled "Intel·ligència artificial o natural en medicina?" [Artificial or natural intelligence in medicine?]. After a break, in the afternoon, the meeting will continue with the workshop "Atenció inicial al pacient politraumatitzat" [Initial care of the polytraumatised patient], which will be given by Dean Salvador Navarro, at 2:30 p.m., followed by a session of practical case scenarios.

On the second day, the event will resume at 9:30 a.m. with the workshop "To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question...", coordinated by Alex Iranzo, lecturer in the Department of Medicine of the UB and director of the UB Ad Salutem Institute of Sleep and its Disorders. At 12 noon, the closing session of the UAB & UB Med Summer School 2024 will be given by Antoni Bulbena, professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB, who will give a talk entitled "La salut mental dels professionals sanitaris: sabem cuidar-nos?" [Mental health of health professionals: do we know how to take care of ourselves?].

A broad healthcare network

The UAB & UB Med Summer School is part of the collaboration established by the two universities in the agreement signed by Rector Guàrdia and Rector Lafuente at the beginning of the 2023/24 academic year. The joint work of both universities in the practical training of different health specialties is the first area in which this agreement, presented at a meeting in Barcelona with representatives of health institutions in September 2023, is being developed.

The UB and the UAB are known for linking training and research activities in health sciences to the main health institutions in the surrounding area. At present, the UB has five university hospitals and twelve associated hospitals and centres, while the UAB has four university hospitals (and five hospital teaching units, including the one on the Bellaterra campus) and six associated hospitals. These include the most important university hospitals in the country, such as Bellvitge, Clínic, Sant Joan de Déu, Mutua de Terrassa, Moisés Broggi, Vall d'Hebron, Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Germans Trias and Parc Taulí.

The UB Faculty of Medicine, the oldest in Catalonia, and the UAB Faculty of Medicine have trained the vast majority of the country's doctors, and are always at the top of the list of medical schools in Spain and in international rankings.

The agreement includes, in addition to joint training activities such as this summer school, the exchange of internships in hospitals and health centres for sixth-year medical students. Each year, both universities will offer a certain number of places for this exchange and those who wish to apply must follow a selection process. In this way, students, in addition to having as possible internship destinations the hospitals and healthcare centres of the university in which they are enrolled, will also have the option of requesting one from the other institution. There are also plans to launch new joint elective courses with teaching staff from both faculties.