We are the combination of four hospitals: the General Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, the Women’s Hospital and the Traumatology, Rehabilitation and Burns Hospital. We are part of the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus: a world-leading health park where healthcare plays a crucial role.
Patients are the centre and the core of our system. We are professionals committed to quality care and our organizational structure breaks down the traditional boundaries between departments and professional groups, with an exclusive model of knowledge areas.
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The commitment of Vall d'Hebron University Hospital to innovation allows us to be at the forefront of medicine, providing first class care adapted to the changing needs of each patient.
Hospital nurses.
Nurses and assistants in the Hospital cafeteria.
By the time of the Hospital’s inauguration, nursing had not yet become a formal profession. Nurses had diverse educational and training backgrounds, poorly defined functions, and were always subordinated to doctors.
The first patients were referred to the Hospital’s Surgery and Traumatology departments from small clinics in the Barcelona districts of Sarrià - Sant Gervasi and Gràcia. These patients were cared for by nursing nuns from the Order of the Carmelite Missionaries, some nurses from the Red Cross, other unqualified nurses, and a few female volunteers.
According to an agreement signed in May 1955, 33% of the new Hospital’s nursing staff had to be sisters from this religious community, provided they held the required official qualification to practice the profession.
The first Head of Nursing— then referred to as ‘Enfermera Jefe,’ [Head Nurse]—was Sister Carmen Giral, who reported directly to the hospital’s Medical Director. The private quarters of this religious community were initially located on the 11th floor of what is now the General Hospital. However, they were relocated to the School of Nursing after its inauguration.
Before then, the educational background of nurses was highly varied. For example, there were the ‘Damas Enfermeras’ [Lady Nurses], trained by the Falange Española; ‘Enfermeras’ [Nurses], who trained at the Escola Santa Madrona de Barcelona and the Escola de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya; ‘Damas de la guerra’ [Ladies of War], trained during the Spanish Civil War; and ‘Enfermeras de la Cruz Roja’ [Red Cross Nurses], trained by the Red Cross, most of whom came from outside Catalonia.
Starting in 1953, the training pathways for practitioners, midwives, and nurses were unified into a three-year programme to become Healthcare Technical Assistants (ATS).
In the early years, the uniform was blue for nurses and brown for clinic assistants, consisting of a coat, apron, cuffs, cap and cape.
The first steps towards professionalising nursing were not taken until 1966 when the School of Nursing was inaugurated.
According to an agreement signed in 1955, 33% of the hospital’s nursing staff had to be nuns from the Order of the Carmelite Missionaries.
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