We are a clinical unit that aims to offer high-quality, cross-cutting care and teaching, as well as developing research excellence in the area of musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases. We have extensive experience in training specialists in rheumatology. We guarantee rigorous, high-quality training in all the professional care, research and teaching skills in our area.

The training programme includes residents in the Rheumatology research group’s lines of research, so that they receive general training in research methodology, conventional and new areas of research, such as precision medicine, as well as evidence-based precision medicine, evidence-based medicine and research based on healthcare outcomes.  Furthermore, our residents have the chance to undertake training periods in internationally renowned centres in both Europe and the United States.

Experience in research allows us to offer students a high-quality doctoral programme to carry out a thesis project and become a Doctor of Medicine. We also offer the opportunity to actively collaborate on research projects assessed by national and European public research bodies, and to co-author the resulting papers.

Why do your residency at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital?

• Because we cover all specialisations in the area of Rheumatology, for adult and paediatric patients.
• Because we have a Rheumatology hospitalisation floor, where you can see and treat the most serious and complex cases. We also have a day hospital for outpatients under treatment with selective immunosuppressants administered via parenteral injections.
• Because we are a highly cohesive team, made up of doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, biologists, bioinformaticians, engineers and mathematicians.
• Because you can learn about rheumatic pathologies at all stages of life, from early childhood to senescence and even during pregnancy, given that we have a unit dedicated to pregnancy in patients affected by chronic inflammatory and systemic autoimmune diseases. Because the Paediatric Rheumatology Unit is a leading centre in Spain for juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other systemic and musculoskeletal diseases.
• Because we offer highly specialised care to patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis, and treatments with selective immunosuppressants, specifically for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and spondyloarthropathies.
• Because we care for a large number of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, especially systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory myopathies and cancer patients treated with immunotherapy. 
• Because you will be able to see patients with metabolic bone pathologies, collaborate with the Pneumology Department to control transplant patients with secondary osteoporosis and with the AIS Nord Fracture Coordination Unit (UCF).
• Because you can conduct activities associated with the Ultrasound rooms (diagnosis and intervention) and Capillaroscopy, as well as other highly specialised techniques, such as ultrasound-guided synovial biopsy or saliva gland, vascular and lung ultrasounds. In our department there are professionals who are professors in the Spanish Rheumatology Society’s Ultrasound School, for both adult and paediatric patients. 
• Because we are the leading department for patients with central sensitisation syndromes, more specifically for patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. In addition, we offer specialised, multi-disciplinary care to patients, so you can acquire the knowledge required for quality care provision.
• Because we work in a multi-disciplinary way with multiple services from various medical and surgical specialities (Paediatrics, Dermatology, Oncology, Pneumology, Nephrology, Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Anaesthesia, etc.)  and in close collaboration with the departments of Immunology, Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacology and Radiodiagnosis, among others. The multi-disciplinary work in all of these areas provides patients with better quality care.
• Because the unit's accessible and committed teaching enables continuous close assessment of residents, maximising their skills and providing support for designing their future careers.
• Because we have extensive experience of training rheumatology and paediatric residents from other teaching units, as well as residents from abroad.
• Because we are interested in providing high-quality training and we give our residents every facility for doing training courses, as well as attending national and international congresses. We also stimulate and support the preparation of presentations and papers at leading conferences, and encourage residents to acquire oral and written communication skills.
• Because we encourage stays abroad during the residency, at centres such as the Giannina Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy; Inselspital Bern Hospital in Bern, Switzerland; the NHS Trust Rheumatology Department in London, UK; and the Division of Clinical Rheumatology and Immunology in Birmingham, USA. 

Geriatrics residents must:

• Know the most prevalent diseases in elderly people, their symptoms, the diagnostic processes and the interdisciplinary pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapeutic approaches.
• Know and be able to identify geriatric syndromes: delirium, falls, immobility, malnutrition or pressure ulcers. -ç
• Know and be able to identify frail patients in routine clinical practice.
• Know and be able to use geriatric assessment tools. These are tools specific to the field of geriatrics.
• Be aware of the proper use of drugs, taking into account the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes that occur in elderly patients, the proper prescription of drugs, possible adverse events, polypharmacy and drug interactions.

Residents are thus trained to offer a high quality service whereby a strong focus on the patient, with the help of the interdisciplinary team (medicine, nursing, social work, physiotherapy, psychology, etc.) and coordination with other primary care specialists, the intermediate care hospital and acute care hospital are vital.

This 4-year specialisation programme is split into two training periods:

• Basic training period over the first two years of the residency, including general rotations in the Internal Medicine, Neurology, Cardiology, Psychiatry, Radiology and A&E departments in addition to various elective rotations.
• Specific geriatrics training period over the next two years, in which the geriatrics resident will rotate between intermediate and acute care facilities.
  • Intermediate care (third year): Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili Intermediate Care Hospital. Rotations in sub-acute, palliative, convalescent and long-stay hospitalisations. Specific outpatient appointments and home care services. Casernes-Vall d’Hebron Complex Care Support Team. Consultations and day hospital.
  • Acute care (fourth year). Functional Geriatrics Unit (consultation team). Acute Fragile Patient Hospitalisation Unit (acute medical hospitalisation). Orthogeriatrics Unit (acute traumatic hospitalisation). Cardiogeriatrics (external consultations). Oncogeriatrics (external consultations).

Both the basic and specialised formative periods offer ample opportunities for elective rotations, including an external rotation during the final year.

The Geriatrics Teaching Unit encourages research, and offers the opportunity to do a doctoral thesis at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Attendance at national and international geriatrics congresses, as well as that of the Catalan Geriatrics and Gerontology Society (SCGiG), is always encouraged.

Why practise this speciality at Vall d'Hebron?

• Because our residents receive training in a tertiary hospital that is considered world-leading in many areas.
• Because the volume of patients at our hospital offers great potential for teaching and gaining experience.
• Because the hospital covers most medical specialities, and you'll have the chance to study complex pathologies and apply cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment methods.
• Because you’ll have the opportunity to do rotations in other centres that specialise in geriatrics, palliative care and psychogeriatrics.
• Because in this unit we place an emphasis on the functional recovery of patients, allowing them to carry out their day-to-day activities with confidence.
• Because we understand the importance of the doctor-patient relationship and other recurring aspects in the field of geriatrics, such as the appropriate treatment of patients suffering from chronic pathologies.

Pneumology deals with the physiology and pathology of the respiratory system. Its principle purpose is the study of the aetiology, epidemiology, physiopathology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and rehabilitation of respiratory diseases. The therapeutic and diagnostic principles of respiratory medicine are similar to those of internal medicine, although there are differences that clearly distinguish each of the specialisations. The most important difference is their reliance on and mastery of specific techniques. Diagnostic techniques include lung function analysis, respiratory or thoracic endoscopy, polysomnography and cardiorespiratory polygraphy; while mechanical rehabilitation and ventilation are used therapeutically.

Why specialise at Vall d’Hebron?

• Because as a participant on the Pneumology training programme you will observe, study and treat patients (hospital admissions and outpatients) with a wide range of respiratory diseases.
• Because at the end of the residency you will be able to show competency and technical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of a broad spectrum of acute and chronic respiratory conditions, both within and outside the hospital environment.
• Because you will be able to implement programmes related to prevention, healthcare promotion and education with patients, their families and their communities.
• Because you will have come into contact with experimental and/or epidemiological clinical research that will help you approach scientific literature with a critical mindset and develop the foundation for continuous self-learning.