Internal Medicine
At the Internal Medicine Department, we offer comprehensive internal medicine care to adult patients in our region, both at the Hospital and in Primary Care. We are a leading point of reference in both Catalonia and Spain in systemic autoimmune diseases. In addition, the Ageing and Chronic Patient Section covers Geriatrics and coordinates and collaborates with social-healthcare provision throughout the region.
The Internal Medicine Department is the cornerstone of medical care at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital. It is key in providing support to the other medical and surgical departments and the Accident and Emergency Department.
Systemic autoimmune diseases are the main specialty of the Department. We have more than 30 years’ experience in these illnesses and are a leading centre in both Catalonia and Spain as a whole. In terms of care, teaching and research our professionals are leaders in diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, dermatopolimyositis, systemic vasculitis, Sjögren's syndrome and Behçet's disease. We have a multidisciplinary team of professionals offering expert, personalised care for patients with these diseases, both in diagnosis and in treatment and subsequent follow-up at the Outpatient Clinic. We also offer support to the Obstetrics Department in the management of pregnancy for women with these diseases and with primary antiphospholipid syndrome.
The Vascular Risk Unit is a leading point of reference in the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia and arteriosclerosis and their complications, and collaborates with all the other hospital departments involved in the management of these patients.
The Ageing and Chronic Patient Section is made up of the Geriatrics Unit of the General Hospital and the Orthopaedics Unit of the Hospital of Traumatology. This Section, in collaboration with the Primary Care Section, has recently inaugurated a new centre for chronic care (Chronicity Integral Support Team, or ESIC) that is located in the Casernes building in Sant Andreu, whose mission it is to bring the hospital expertise closer to the patients, thus avoiding unnecessary hospital trips and hospitalisation. This pioneering section is but the start of a whole network of such centres in the city of Barcelona and surrounding areas.
The Ageing Division coordinates and collaborates with centres for subacute patients and social-health centres in our region, in particular with the Pere Virgili Health Park.
The ultimate goal of our entire organisation is to ensure that the patient is at the heart of every action taken, to ensure continued care both in Primary Care and in our Hospital, as well as after the patient has been discharged.
Research
The Departmental Research Unit, which is part of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), brings together basic research projects in immunology, systemic autoimmune diseases and ageing from the various Departmental teams, and participates in national and international clinical trials, and projects with public and private funding.
Teaching
In terms of teaching, it is the mission of the Internal Medicine Department to help train doctors at the Vall d'Hebron Teaching Unit of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, to train residents in internal medicine and geriatrics and to train Postgraduate and continuing education students in systemic autoimmune diseases and in clinical gerontology.