health. prevent and cure
Barcelona Hospital Internal Medicine Service
A great example of healthcare research Dr Yolanda Meije, a specialist in infectious diseases, is head of the Internal Medicine Service which is vital to Barcelona Hospital, not only because of its healthcare role, but also its extensive research activities. Daniel Romaní
The Internal Medicine Service (‘Servei de Medicina Interna’, or ‘SMI’) is essential to Barcelona Hospital which handles more than 32,000 patients every year. It mainly deals with the patients being treated by the service itself but it handles consultations from other specialists too. It also carries out daily examinations of the positive cultures of samples from hospitalised patients in order to optimise appropriate antibiotic treatment from immediately after a positive result is obtained which ensures no patient is left untreated. It also has a programme for making sure the handling of antibiotics is efficient in controlling the environment of the hospital and improve patient safety whilst it is also involved in the VINCAT Nosocomial Infection Control Programme of Catalonia, which allows it to compare itself with its neighbouring hospitals. The most comprehensive medical specialism
Dr Yolanda Meije, a specialist in infectious diseases, is the current Head of Barcelona Hospital’s SMI Infectious pathology. ‘’It is the area of expertise that I trained in, a subject that always fascinated me from when I first started studying medicine. My aim every day is for my patients to benefit from the knowledge I have built up over the course of my professional career,” says Dr Meije. Yolanda Meije is completely committed to her profession and her specialism, internal medicine. “William Osler, the guru of internal medicine in North America and throughout the world, predicted as early as 1897 that this would be the most all-encompassing medical specialism of the 20th century, the most sought-after and most gratifying and I think he was right. It is true that it is hard to know everything about everything but I also believe that we need to have a complete understanding of the patient and if you know what you are looking for it is easier to understand it. This is particularly the case with our globalised modern life that gives us access, not only to all the scientific literature and publications, but also allows us to link up with any specialist anywhere in the world to discuss a patient’s case.”
The Barcelona Hospital Internal Medicine Service team
The main task of the Internal Medicine Service is healthcare. However, given the nature of this prestigious Barcelona institution, the clinical research conducted by the SMI focuses very much on measuring clinical outcomes and their analysis and improvement as far as is possible. “We are involved in a number of multi-centre projects with other hospitals, mostly with Bellvitge and Vall d’Hebron nearby, and the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid. The areas we are currently looking at are pneumonia acquired in the community, infectious endocarditis and infections in patients with biological therapies. Meanwhile, we have a range of our own research projects addressing bacteriaemia caused by enterobacters and travellers’ diarrhoea.” Travel unit
The Barcelona Hospital dedicates considerable effort to caring for travellers hence the creation the Travel Clinic, a service which informs travellers of the measures they need to take in order to prevent health problems while they are abroad. It also advises patients with chronic conditions or those currently undergoing treatment on important issues such as adapting their medication to changes in time zone, information about hygiene, what to do in the event of injury and how to prepare a first aid kit depending on the country they plan to visit.
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